That is one beautiful Cornish Cross chicken. He is weighing in a 2 pounds right now and is almost 7 weeks old.
What does this tell me? It tells me that D-Day for these guys is going to be sometime at the end of April. I was honestly hoping for it to be sooner but these meaties are a little slower growing than the last batch that we did. That's OK because you can't rush perfection and we are wanting these guys to be perfect.
The formula for breeding and raising Cornish Cross chickens is not an exact science. Each batch is different and I think a lot of that has to do with where you get them from. This batch came from Murry McMurry hatchery and I can say that so far, we will order another batch from them again.
With the larger number, there are going to be casualties and yep, we have had 4 so far. 1 perished in the great chicken escape before the pen design was altered because this group can actually fly. 3 have been casualties of the gluttony that these birds are so well known for. Found laying on their backs, dead as doornails with those funny looking yellowish orange feet sticking straight up in the air, a sure sign that they ate until their crops broke.
Right now we are at 22 live, healthy, happy meaties.
I did make some changes after losing the last bird. I took them off of fermented mash feed and put them back on the dry crumbles. This causes them to drink more water, 2 gallons a day between them all, but it has also stopped the crop breaking issue. I'm not sure what happened with the mash, I read so many good things about it but it obviously wasn't working for us. They are eating more feed now but they are also being fed 3 times a day with a smaller amount each time.
I'm hoping that the weather is good enough to give them some outside time this weekend in the dog pen. I'll need to cap it first of course since these guys can get air borne. That will be a really good live stream because these guys really are idiots and funny to watch so I'll make sure all of their antics are caught via live video.
When this is over, I'm taking a chicken vacation. :)
Happy Thursday!
*hugs*
~Lanie
