The Truths About Raising Meat Chickens

Now that I've been coined the crazy neighborhood chicken lady, we have people reach out on occasion inquiring about advice for raising meat chickens. Meat chickens, and homesteading in general, are a huge trend right now. And while the idea of raising your own food sounds great, it's not all that easy. Time and time again I see posts of people who purchased discount chicks at the box stores and ended up with Cornish X Rocks and refuse to face the cold hard reality of the breed. There's also lots of interest with people looking to raise their own food, which is great! This post is for you.

The Truth: It is not for the faint of heart.

This article is raw and honest for people looking to embark on this journey of raising chickens. This also may offer some a little insight on our operation and our personal priorities as producers. However, this may also be an exit point for some not wishing to expose themselves to the sensitive content as we dive in.

We will discuss the breed difference and purpose of a Cornish X Rock chicken, why we raise them, the issues they sometimes have, and what we can do to promote animal health and provide these animals with a quality life during their time here.

The Cornish X Rock is a crossbreed between the Cornish and Plymouth Rock Chickens. This hybrid breed was not created to be a forever living, egg laying, pet chicken. Overtime this hybrid has evolved to provide a fast growing, high yielding, tender juicy meat chicken catered to the food production industry.

So, why do we raise Cornish X Rocks? The answer is simple. Because they taste GOOD. There is no other breed or crossbreed of chickens that can provide the same quality of meat in the same turnaround time as a Cornish X Rock. The quality of meat is incomparable to any of the other breeds. Quite frankly, the quality of a farm raised meat bird is incomparable to the meat available for purchase at the store in my opinion. I am a firm believer that the quality of life an animal leads has a direct correlation to the quality of meat that animal provides. My goal is to provide the animals under my care the BEST environment possible for them.

If you fall down the rabbit hole of mass production poultry facilities, you may see one of the motivators we had to raise our own poultry. Yes, these animals we are raising are meat production animals, but they are still living beings and deserve a healthy living environment. Our animals get sunshine, space, grass, and all the bugs. They are also provided a quality, plant-based protein feed from a local mill and fresh water daily.

A few of the downfalls of raising Cornish X Rock chickens is they are highly unintelligent and are extreme overeaters. They are also genetically susceptible to leg and heart issues, which ties in somewhat to their eating habits. As someone who didn't grow up around livestock, one of the things that was hard to overcome was the higher mortality rates that come with the meat breeds of poultry. As with all livestock, some animals are going to die. And with that, no matter how hard you try, some of them simply cannot be saved. In a normal year, one can expect a 10-15% mortality rate. We have had batches far exceede the 15%, but also found success with mortality rates as low as 6%. Factors such as weather, a bad hatch, delayed chick deliveries, and illness can increase that percentage. As farmers, we are simply able to do the best we can with the equipment and knowledge available to us. However, there are sometimes things go beyond our control.

Although these animals have some factors working against them, there are many things those of us that chose to raise them can do to promote animal health and provide a low stress environment.

Brooding

Fresh bedding and a reliable, consistent heat source are the basic necessities of a brooder. A brooder can be something as simple as an old stock tank or a tote. It does not need to be fancy, or expensive. Approximately 1/2 square foot per bird is needed at this point in growth. For the first week of life, the brooder needs to be kept around 100 degrees F. You can gauge the comfort level of the birds based upon if they are huddling or spaced comfortably. After the first week, you can begin to drop temperature around 5 degrees or so per week. Depending on the time of year and outdoor temperature, I begin unplugging our lamps during the warmer days, and plugging them back in before nightfall. We keep thermometers in our brooders so we can monitor temperatures. Our chickens stay in their brooders until they are approximately 4 weeks old.

Food and Water

Quality food and fresh water are basic necessities. Choosing a 22-23% chick starter feed, milled with strictly plant-based proteins, will promote a fast-growing bird with good flavor. Medicated feeds are sometimes available, but we find it more economical to purchase unmedicated feed in bulk and supplement with Corrid powder in our drinkers for 10 days when the birds first arrive and then again when the birds are moved to their outdoor pen. 1 tsp of Corrid powder per gallon water. Corrid is the only medication we give our birds. We personally choose not to raise birds during the hotter months of the summer due to the elevated stress and higher mortality rate that follows, but electrolyte additives can also be added to promote hydration for those who may be raising birds for 4-H projects during the hottest months of the year.

The most important advice about feeding Cornish X Rock is FASTING your birds. We have found the fasting method to be very effective and promote healthy growth in our birds. Fasting helps develop bone density and allows muscle strength to catch up to the rapid weight gain these birds experience. We feed our birds on a 12-hour schedule. We place their feeders out every morning between 5:30 and 6:00 am and pull between 5:30 and 6:30 pm. The second most important part of feeding Cornish X Rocks is placing food at one end and water at the other. Cornish X Rocks are extremely lazy. By placing these at opposite ends of their brooders or pens, it encourages exercise to keep them mobile and their legs strong. We choose to feed our birds to the 7.5-week mark before processing.

Outdoor Living

The first choice to make in outdoor living conditions for Cornish X Rocks is if you want a stationary or a mobile pen. Birds need a MINIMUM of 2 square feet per bird, but you will prefer much more than that if you choose a stationary pen. We prefer more for our mobile pens also to avoid relocating daily. We have had both types throughout our experiences. Our first pen was a stationary pen. We used a dog kennel with a couple small shelters inside it for the birds to escape the elements. This option worked well for a smaller batch of birds and was fairly inexpensive. This is a great option for someone looking to do 1-2 smaller batches a year. The downside was it required a lot of straw and pitching to keep living conditions clean. With this pen, we quickly learned the threat of aerial predators after a midnight owl attack claimed a few of our birds. We topped our dog kennel with cattle panels wrapped in chicken wire to help keep off the hawks and owls. We have found for our operation that the chicken tractors (mobile pens) work best. Our chicken tractors are half tinned, with the other half a mixture of woven wire and chicken wire covered cattle panels with access doors that open up for feeding and watering. The chicken tractor method allows us to provide fresh grass access to our birds, while prioritizing their safety from predators. Regardless of your choice of a stationary or mobile pen, bird netting or chicken wire overhead is necessary to protect birds from aerial predators. We will do a future post to highlight our brooder and chicken tractor designs.

Processing

The recommending grow-out period for a Cornish X Rock is 4-8 weeks. We have found our sweet spot to be around the 7.5-week mark. Our customers typically like the larger birds, but the closer you get to the 8-week mark, the more birds you are likely to lose due to genetic issues. Because we sell a majority of our birds, we also choose to take our birds to a USDA certified processing facility. All of our birds are inspected and shrink wrapped for sale. This works for us, but due to limited availability of poultry facilities, may not work for everyone.

With the information we have shared above, we have found our feed conversion to run around $1.30 per pound on a finished bird. This confirms that YES, you can BUY chicken at the store for cheaper than you can raise it yourself when it's on sale ($2.30 per pound at the moment). However, what can be purchased at the box store is nowhere near the same quality or the peace of mind you get from raising it yourself. We enjoy growing an ethically raised product for ourselves, our family, and our customers and we enjoy teaching our children the importance of animal husbandry, the humane treatment of animals, and the responsibility of chores.

If you are someone looking to embark on the journey of raising your own meat chickens, I hope you can find the same success and enjoyment that we have of being able to raise and provide quality food for yourself and your family. Please always feel free to reach out with any questions you may have via our site or via Facebook / Instagram message.