rock cornish hens?

bornthrifty

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ok I am raising some meat birds and boy are they hungry (or greedy really)

has anyone here got experience with this particular bird?

I heard that I should give them a 12 hour fast at 4 weeks,
but they sure eat heavily at only 2 weeks

what would you recommend as a feeding schedule so they don't go and give themselves heart attacks by overeating...

(I think I will go with a more natural breed next time...

I was for the first 2 weeks just refilling the food bins whenever I saw they were low,
but now I am thinking about putting them on a schedule so they literally don't hurt themselves...

any pointers I would appreciate, thanks...
 

pioneergirl

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I fed morning and night....basically 10-12 hours in between.....had 50 of them and they dressed out at about 8lbs each. Big thing is all the water they can drink! They look big now, just wait! LOL Enjoy :D
 

Buster

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bornthrifty said:
(I think I will go with a more natural breed next time...
:thumbsup

You might want to post your query over on the BYC Meat Birds forum. I won't touch the little nasties. Heritage birds all the way for me!

I drive them nuts over there. :gig

Especially look for Jaku. He has their feeding down to a science. If anybody would know, he would.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=21
 

Farmfresh

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I raise the Cornish Rock meaties every year with great success.

I start mine out on 24% un-medicated chick starter free choice with water and fresh daily grass chopped fine with scissors.

After the clean up the first sack of feed I move them to a 20% starter until they are feathered up. While they are still in the brooder I start using a timer on my heat lamp, giving them dark rest periods, as soon as they can stand the short cool down times. This gives them a time to rest, so they sleep and stop eating.

As they get bigger and move out into the tractor they get more and more greens, also any scraps and leftovers we might have. I sometimes move them onto a 15% grower ration at this time. Right before butcher I add cracked corn to the ration for the last couple of weeks to finish them with a little yellow fat. I always feed mine free choice, however I do not use lights on them other that during brooding. This way they sleep all night instead of eating. I also hang my feeder at just under head height which encourages them to stand while eating.
 

patandchickens

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I've raised them a few times and had zero losses, but I suppose maybe I have just been lucky. I *think* however that it probably helped a lot that mine had lots of space, including a run (I put a feeder out there, and their waterer and other feeder was indoors), so they got as much exercise as couch-potatoes like that are *going* to get.

JME, good luck, have fun,

Pat
 

Farmfresh

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I agree. Plenty of space to move about, fresh air, sunshine, a clean place to live and access to fresh greens (whether you pull them or they nibble them) makes all of the difference between a delicious healthy (considering the gene pool) home grown bird and that goo of a bird that other people eat that is a commercial bird.

I actually get mine to eat MORE greens if I pull it for them and chop it up some. They are THAT lazy. Plus I usually put a couple of low perches in for them or a hay bale to sit on, but very few will be energetic enough to use it. That is why you have to maintain a clean dry bedding area - the lazy birds will sleep in their own poo and get sores.
 

ohiofarmgirl

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just pitchin' in what Bourbon Red told me yesterday - i have some meaties also (they totally creep me out):

After those nasty meat chick types are 3-4 weeks along I switch them away from the comercial broiler starter onto 14 % hog mash until they're big enough to eat whole corn. Then it's whole corn and greens - Oh - and milk of course - hog mash and milk - then whole corn and milk and greens. If you want roasters (and why would anyone wnat anything else...) you can easily and cheaply (if you have extra milk) take them to 12 weeks when they make GREAT roasters - huge! I don't have any leg problems, etc. at 12 -14 weeks with HUGE roasters fed 'natural' feed (milk being the key....)
and FF had some great thoughts too - which she listed here. i had one flop over dead for no apparent reason (altho i thought i fed too much that day) and FF said to not feed LESS but reduce the protein... very wise.

now that we are out of the supercold phase (hopefully) and mine are feathered out, and i got off my butt and moved the brooder/tractor outside, i'm moving them to greener pastures. they are actually pretty flippy-flighty around so hopefully more space will be good for them. i'm especially going to be working on getting more greens and goatmilk for them.
 

Aidenbaby

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I read this for curiosity and I must ask. Are these birds really as "gross", "nasty" and "lazy" as you guys are saying or is there just a bit of exageration to it?
 

ohiofarmgirl

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no they are really gross.

normal chicks are happy and pip poppy and bouncy aroundy - curious and interested in everything. these are just weird. i'm not sure lazy is the right word... but they dont seem to peck around much. but they totally swarm the feed when i put it down.

we had the red broilers last year and they were actually pretty good at free ranging and are a good half step between the meaties and the 'natural' chickens.

but

people swear by them so we're giving it a go.
:)
 

Wolf-Kim

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Aidenbaby said:
I read this for curiosity and I must ask. Are these birds really as "gross", "nasty" and "lazy" as you guys are saying or is there just a bit of exageration to it?
Honestly, having read about them for years and actually getting my first batch this year. I haven't heard them called affectionately by anyone. People love them for their efficiency and their growth rate, there really isn't much else to love about them. They were designed to eat and be eaten, and have been bred generation after generation for such, doesn't leave much room for cleanliness or personality.

This is just what I have read and collected over the years of reading about them, I will get my first hand experience in a couple of weeks.

-Kim
 
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