food for thought

[ncguy]

Next time you go to the store and buy chicken think about this.
Some of you may know this, but I'm sure some don't.
A family friend of our raises chickens commercially for case farms. Now he get the chicks when they are 2 days old and in 9 weeks he has a 9 to 10 pound bird . And they wounder why young girls are developing so young. Like i said a lot of you know this, but 10 pounds in 9 weeks .

[Deleted]

I raise my own poultry. The thing is, he is raising a breed called the Cornish Cross. They are a mix between the Cornish (or Indian Game chicken from England) and the White rock chicken. Todays Cornish Cross is a second generation (or F2 "hybrid") although they are not ACTUALLY a hybrid becasue they CAN reproduce and are not sterile. But this particular cross has a realatively short life...mostly because their bone structure cannot support them. This breed...or cross breed, naturally grows at that rate. It has nothing to do with hormones or the feed they get. It is simply how they convert the feed they get.

A person can order Cornish Game birds and White Rocks and hatch their own Cornish Cross chicks. Those chicks would be raised up and bred to create the same fat white chickens we get today from hatcheries called the Cornish Cross and the same ones people buy from the grocery stores. They would be white, a few might have a speckle or so of darker color on a feather or 2...but they would be 99.9999% white, and grow from o-100% butcher size in 7-9 weeks. Roos will be ready at about 7 weeks, poults at about 8-9 weeks.

You can use the heritage chickens like any of the "Rock" chickens (barred, red, white, black, plymouth, etc), Dominique, Rhode Island Reds, Americanana, Anacona, Brahma and other meat or dual purpose breeds for raising up to butcher, but it takes longer for them to reach a suitable carcass size. The extra time it takes causes the meat to get tougher and more stringy..making the not so ideal for frying and sometimes even roasting. It usually takes a minimum of 16-24 weeks to get a heritage bird up to a large enough size to butcher.

The feed conversion when comapring the breeds is very drastic. You can feed them the same amount of feed, but the Cornish Cross, which is a much lazier bird, and not very good at foraging, will eat and lay around and the food is converted to muscle and carcass weight. The other breeds are more active and since it takes so much longer to feed them out to a propper butcher weight, you will actually be feeding them much more.

If you are lucky enough to be able to turn your birds out for a little free range time every day...you will have to watch closely for predators...the heritage breeds will easily blend in with the surroundings and forage quite well on bugs, seeds, grass, weeds, etc. The Cornish Cross will scatch and forage some, but mostly they will find a cool spot to lay down and dirt bathe, and being white, they will easily attract hawks and other predators, and they will not run for cover like regular chickens...mostly because they are to big or to lazy.

I butcher Cornish Cross every year...but I also hatch chicks and butcher any I do not sell or keep for my own stock. I now have bantams as my primary flock, but I even butcher them for my personal use...and get a carcass similar to that of a large quail or chuckar.

I guess its all dependant on what you want to have, how much you can afford to spend on feed, and personal preferance. But you are right...the Cornish Cross do grow veryfast...but it is just that particular breed.

Sorry to rattle on.

[ncguy]

Your right about the breed being big, but I was talking about the hormones in the feed and steroids too. They say its not in the feed, but it is. I know all they do is eat and sleep in a chicken house but come on 10 pounds in just 9 weeks. Its just like cattle in feed lots when they put the implants behind the cattle ears to make them grow off faster. I have helped do this to cattle. And it puts weight on them in a hurry.