I think the two words to describe week 5 would be ugly and messy…….I might throw in smelly too!
I’m moving their pen two and three times a day now to keep them on fresh clean grass. Sadly we had our first casualties this week…..yes, not just one but two. 🙁 I went out early Thursday morning and there was a dead chicken?? We don’t know why it died, but this breed is prone to heart attacks so I’m guessing that was it. Saturday morning I went out and a barn cat had some how reached under the pen and snagged one of them and had managed to eat half of it……super grooooss!! I also lost two hens this week….it was NOT a happy chicken week around here…..sigh.
The eight remaining Cornish cross are doing well and gaining weight FAST. We are now taking extra precautions to make sure they are cat proof!!!!
If you would like, you can read about the first four weeks of our meat chicken experience….they were much cuter on week 1 and 2! 😉 Week 1 – Week 2 – Week 3 – Week 4
Here is a link to Week 6
Other’s chronicles of raising meat birds always reminds me why *I* don’t do it! Yikes!! One of the bloggers calls them Creepy Meats…
Unfortunally you’ve lost a few of them 🙁 I hope that all the other ones will grow big! Do you have these chickens for meat? (I do not know the breed)
Greetings from Hthe Netherlands, Marike
Yes, they are meat chickens, Thanks so much for dropping by Marike!
Thank you for linking this post at Tuesdays with a Twist! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Sorry to hear about your losses!
Thank you for sharing at the HomeAcre Hop!
Hope to see you again Thursday!
http://www.mittenstatesheepandwool.com
Did you keep the chickens in the outside pen overnight or did you have to bring them in every night?
We left them outside at night. We only brought them in once when it rained and that was the day before we butchered them. I would recommend bringing them in at night if you have a good place for them. We lost one from a predator one night.(they reached under the coop) This year we have a indoor coop for them so they will be secure at night.
What do feed them %wise?
My vet said take food away from them at 5 pm. I found best to feed every few hours verses leaving food. They eat there selves to death . Body temp 106 when I took to vet. He said inormal. Have to be cooled with fans and more then one water station close to them. I make electrolyte solution all the time. I believe due to man trying to genetically /engineering these birds caused them to suffer a lot and effected more then body problems.We made them dumb. Most die From a TRIPLE AAA annerisum common cause of death. Body grows to fast. That is why the vet said to slow them down or you will lose them.
This is the second post I have read about Cornish x hens. Mine are 6 weeks old. This is our first year on a farm! I was raised on a hobby farm while we had a cattle farm a few miles from the house. I never knew more than how to feed the chickens and nothing about breeds. Internet just gained its every house status at the end of my time at home, I was too busy with school work to bother with chicken research! We purchased our chickens the last day they were selling them at the feed store. For $.50 a piece we had our choice of 3 types, we bought some of all 3! Layers, meat and bantams! I never knew that these chickens were any different besides what the nice chicken farmer told me! “They grow really fast and you control that by feed”. After reading your post I now know who the other post was referring to. I was too busy moving and building a coop until today to read up, I’m happy I didn’t. So much controversy!! (Articles, not posts) I like you took this journey blindly, I admire your adventure!!! I was lucky enough to have someone tell me from the get go to limit feed. I’m sorry you delt with the dirty side! But now you know and are going again next year! I feed mine in the mornings and just let them range the rest of the day. They are happy little foraging ladies! They were by far the most curious during my painful building process!!! They were also the ones who survived the dog attack. The bantams and the layers were reduced by 75%!!! The x’s were the only ones with the survival instinct to hide in the coop! So to sum this up, thank you for sharing! We all have something to learn and something to teach! And I have NO IDEA why anyone took your comments as crudely and hatefully as they did! Honest learnin’ words they were! Oh wait I do!!! It’s why we are all raising our own meet birds!!! Hormones are a crazy thing! I really appreciated what I learned from both of you!
WOW, It sounds like you’re on quite the adventure! 50 cents per bird is an awesome deal! We just ordered meat chickens and decided to go with ranger broilers this year (we’ll probably try more Cornish X later in the summer) and they cost $4.00 a piece. Good luck on your new chicken investment….they are so fun!(and yummy)
Love raising the Cornish X for meat. The flavor is amazing! I don’t waste anything and make stock from the bones. Luckily, I was just offered 6 meat chickens for FREE that are a month old. Score!