diehn.net/blog

What I wrote as a comment at http://vituperation.com/

I ordered 35 cornish X from Welp Hatchery two months ago. They specialize in Cornish X and have the best prices I found – spoke with twelve hatcheries. Anyway, they sent me 40. Two died in the first day or so – normal attrition rate, I think. Then in week 5 I lost one I wasn’t expecting – heart attack, maybe. Lost another to a broken thigh bone a day later. And another the following day. Another mystery death. Two more died in week 6 from – uh – who knows what.

So, we processed (killed) ten that were looking peaked last weekend, at week 7 + 3 days. Those are all at about four pounds dressed. I have 21 more to “process” this weekend and next. They’ll be at 8 weeks + 3 day and probably about five pounds dressed.

My last batch – my first, actually – I raised during July and August. They did much better compared to these. After week two, I had them outside in the sun for most of the day, foraging on their own. I put some regular dual-purpose birds in with them to – what? encourage them? Yeah. Well, it worked. Cut way down on feed consumption and mortality. Their droppings were normal, they kept themselves beautifully clean. And they raced around with the other birds like normal, albeit large, birds. And I had no deaths. There’s pics of them up on our web site at http://diehn.net/gallery/spring-2008 – all those birds are the same age, by the way. Oh, it wasn’t spring, it was late summer and fall.

So, if I do any more Cornish X, I’ll only start them during the hot months when I can get them outside early and keep them active. Late in fall is *not* the time to start Cornish X chicks. OK, maybe it’s not a great time to start any chicks, but these in particular – no.

Thanks for the thought provoking post.

He reposted it as an example of someone not having bad experiences with the Cornish Rocks. I got ramped up to write another long comment and then decided it would be more appropriate to put it here and put a short comment there with a pointer here. Isn’t that the “done thing?” So….

I’ve got a small flock of eight layers. I have five Hi-Line Brown commercial layers and three normal birds. Four of the Browns are laying now. I’m pretty sure the other and two of the normals will be starting up soon. The normals are a Silver Laced Wyandotte, a Araucana and a Barred Rock.

If you haven’t seen it, you gotta have a look at the Hy-Line.com web site. It’s fascinating. Like really weird things are fascinating. It’s like they’ve completely forgotten they deal in living animals. But hey, that’s commercial egg – uhm, production – for you, I guess.

I like my Hy-Line birds. I got them at five months and they came with clipped beaks. I’d heard about that practice but it never occurred to me the birds I’d ordered would have had it done. Dumb, but there I was – shocked. Birds with clipped beaks look really, really odd. Anyway. They’re all named Hennie. Sometimes if there are a few together that I’m talking to, one is Hennie and another is Cluck. They talk a lot.

I’m ambivalent about commercial breeds like the Cornish Rock X and the Hy-Lines. I feel like maybe I shouldn’t be supporting the industry – as if I knew enough to judge it. On the other hand, they are well – uhm, well designed, I guess I’d have to call it. The Cornish Rock X are good – they’re kinda dull, kinda vanilla, and they’re not around long enough for me to form an attachment.

On the other hand, I’d like to try some larger, longer-lived birds as meat birds too. See if they taste any different. We’ll see. Here’s one I just found out about: The Delaware. Seems they were a common breed for meat birds before the CRX. The Wyandottes are apparently also good dual-purpose birds. Mine is about the largest bird I have right now – probably three to four pounds at six months she is. She’s a layer for me, but shows that the breed has potential for meat.

Well, back to the coop. Gotta clean their ramp again. Maybe I shouldn’t have built it under their perches….