Our first batch of Cornish Cross came in a couple of days ago. We used the same hatchery that gave us the Red Broilers after a weak performance from another hatchery. The Red Broilers are going to take 12 weeks….way too long at today’s feed costs. The Cornish Cross is ‘the’ meat birds in the industry, in fact, it is unlikely you have ever tasted another breed over the last 20 years. The chicks came in smaller but all seemingly healthy. Unfortunately, we have lost 4 of 87 so far. One was never able to open it’s eyes and never made it’s way to feed. We could finger water the little guy for a while, but the feed was too much. We have lost 3 others from unknown causes (meaning we didn’t really notice anything going wrong). These were daytime deaths and with the warm weather we doubt suffocation.
Overall, the chicks are very mellow compared to the Red Broilers. When the cover comes up for a quick peek they do not panic, in fact, they seem more curious than terrified. We will see what they act like in a couple of days. Reading up on these guys this may be the most active they will get. It is all about the belly from here on out for these guys. We are hoping to process this batch in 8 weeks- luckily we have more orders than birds right now so we should be able to get good feedback on the differences between the two breeds.
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