[Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)

Ludi

Are these Cornish Cross (Cornish X) ?

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/jumbo_cornish_x_rocks.html

They are notoriously hard to raise without the right feed. If you don't feed them right they sort of grow out of their hearts and die. They must have high protein feed.

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Cornish-Cross.html
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SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 835

Our local hatchery advertises the White Rock Cornish X as difficult to raise. Their problem is that their cardio vascular system cannot keep up with their rate of growth so they drop dead of heart failure.

I'll stick to the old dual purpose breeds, thank you very much.

buffy · Tar Sands Joined: Nov 24, 2004 Posts: 42

Thanks for the input! They are the cornish roasters.

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/cornish_roaster.html

I got these because they said they grow slower that the jumbo cornish so don't have as many problems.

The wierd thing is that I though meat chickens were supposed to grow fast and get bigger. My Lay hens that are only about a week and a half older are MUCH bigger than the meat chicks. Heck, some of the meat birds still look like 3 week old babies and they are 2 months old! Bad genetics?

I also had fits with them getting heat stroke! I had them in the shade with plenty of water to drink, pen covered with a wet sheet, fan blowing over them, and STILL had them colapsing from the heat. I had to check on them every 2 hours and bring in any that were sick from heat and cool them off inside. Not once did I have to bring in a lay hen.

I had been feeding them the chick crumbles for the first six weeks then switched slowly to grain and pasture. (chicken tractor)

I'm just not sure what else to do. This is the first time I've tried meat birds. From now on its the old dual purpose for me too!!!

wisconsin_cur

Ever since the shed fire last winter my chooks have, if they are motivated, been able to get out of their fenced area. So my Jack Russell Terrier (JRT) has been watching me catch the occassional bird and tossing it back into the fenced area.

I also have three hens out who are raising chicks.

Earlier this week it had gotten to the point that where I had a lot of chickens out so I caught one as 3 others that should be penned up ran away.

The JRT came up to one of the chickens and using only his front paws knocked another chicken to the ground and kept it there until I could pick it up. He did this three more times never hurting a bird. Smile

i am now able to get him to do it when he recognizes I am chasing chickens. This week I hope to be able to get him to do it on a verbal command.

What amazes me the most, however, is he never tried it with one of the hens raising chicks. That little pooch recognized that those hens were to be left alone.

I am amazed and thankful.

gwen2 · Coal Joined: Mar 27, 2008 Posts: 3

This has been an interesting thread. Thanks to all the veterans for posting all their experience. We are moving this fall and will want to get chickens next year. I would like to free range the chickens. Most of the books say that you can free range them to replace about 30 percent of their feed, but from first hand accounts, I have heard people say that they free range and barely have to give anything other than scraps, spare veggies, etc.
I was wondering if anyone here free ranges their chickens. Does anyone completely free range with no store bought feed? I know they need salt and grit and calcium, but I am talking about grains or lay ration.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
GWen

wisconsin_cur

Ludi

Oh dear, buffy, those birds look like complete losers. Sad

I've never had significant trouble from McMurray birds, but I have had some batches that seemed to have poor genetics - not true to type and off in color. I suggest you definitely write McMurray a letter detailing your problems, making sure you include your order information.

I've only ever raised the older breeds.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

careinke

I tried to raise some Cornish X's last year (bought from McMurry). I had about a 30 percent success rate. Never again, those are the dumbest, dirtiest, laziest birds I have ever seen. They would not even stand up to eat. The ones that survived, got HUGE (13lbs and bigger).

My theory is those birds were bred to be stuck in tiny cages with no freedom or life. They are definitely not cut out to be raised in a chicken tractor.

Now I'm raising (I mean my hens are raising), mutts. I know they are all half speckled Sussex, (because that's what Mr. Speckles is), but no clue what the other half is. I have several varieties of layers that contributed their eggs. So far letting momma hen raise the chicks is a LOT easier.

Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden)

burtonridr · Intermediate Crude Joined: Aug 03, 2007 Posts: 536

Our neighbors raise chickens, and they always are running around the neighborhood. They run into my yard on almost a daily basis, I dont like them being in my yard so I usually chase them off.

I do however have my own chickens, which I actually caught when they were a few days old. I was hoping to get 1 rooster and 2 hens for laying. But instead I ended up with 2 roosters and 1 hen. So one of the roosters will have to end up as dinner...

The brothers and sisters of the ones I caught still run around, I was wondering if there is a way to catch them and get them accustom to being in a new pen.

I was thinking I could catch one more hen, then clip her wings and put her in a cage for a few weeks so she got use to being in a new area and then when I let her out she wont hop the fence and leave.

Can it be done or will she always want to rejoin her old group of chickens?
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LittleBoPeak · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 18, 2008 Posts: 24

Have I mentioned today how much I HATE ants?!

OK, now that I feel better . . .

Maybe I missed it looking through the archives, but I need some expert guidance on dealing with this problem. My chickens live in a tractor that is in an electric mesh fence that is moved weekly. The ants literally swarm anything that the chickens leave on the ground. They are all over the nesting boxes and if an egg gets broken, they come by the millions.

I want more than a deterrent. Seems like the ant hills move daily. And when they move into the chicken yard, I want them dead.

What can I use in the nest boxes and the roosting area to kill the ants but not harm the chickens?

burtonridr · Intermediate Crude Joined: Aug 03, 2007 Posts: 536

Ludi

Our chickens usually wipe out ant hills. They seem to be a pretty good way to get rid of fireants. Not young chickens, though. They need to be adult and active foragers, and have a roost or other way to escape the ants if they need to.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

darwinsdog · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 27, 2008 Posts: 170

My duck ate ants when it was younger but seems to have developed a distaste for them.

You shouldn't hate ants. Ed Wilson, who is considered the world's foremost authority on ants, says that if every human suddenly dropped dead, there would be no major environmental consequence other than that biodiversity would slowly begin to recover. But if every individual of ever species of ant suddenly died, terrestrial ecosystems would be in freefall collapse within a week. The biomass of humans & of ants is of the same order of magnitude.

Ludi

I like ants. Smile

Except fireants. We have at least six different kinds of ants on our place, including the fireants. Supposedly if you have fireants you won't have other kinds of ants, but we don't see that to be true. We never poison the fireants (or any others). Maybe if you poison fireants you won't have other kinds of ants....
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

LittleBoPeak · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 18, 2008 Posts: 24

I'll try the cornmeal.

My chickens do eat some of the ants, but I don't think they eat lots of them. My frustration comes mainly from the ants swarming the nesting boxes if an egg gets broken. They seem to come out of nowhere by the droves. Last week, a new ant hill cropped up overnight inside my tractor and I had ants all over the roost.

I'm just afraid they will hurt or kill some of my girls. I've seen small, injured animals devoured by the ants. I sure don't want that to happen.