Raising Cornish Cross Chickens for Meat
Raising your own meat birds is a wonderful way to be more self-sufficient on your homestead. You know what your birds are being fed and you give them a good life before it is time to eat them. The Cornish Cross is one of the most popular meat chickens. These are the large chickens you typically purchase from the grocery store.
A common misconception with the Cornish Cross is that they are genetically modified (GMO). They are not. The Cornish Cross are simply a cross between two breeds chosen by their traits, and selectively bred over time to create this hybrid. As a result, you get a meat bird with amazing feed conversion and an ability to mature in eight weeks. When butchered, this breed gives you high quality, very tasty meat high in protein.
When receiving your chicks, always provide them with a brooder that is enclosed, with a proper bedding of shavings, a towel, or pine pellets. A non-skid shelf liner can be used as well. Provide a heat bulb so the brooder is at a 95 degree F temperature. The lamp can be raised or lowered as needed. If the chicks move away from the heat source they are too hot. If they huddle around the heat, they are too cold. You want the birds to be scattered comfortably throughout the brooder. Reduce the brooder temperature by 5 degrees F each week until the birds are comfortable at room temperature. Having a thermometer in your brooder is highly recommended. Purely Poultry sells a chick starter kit as well as other accessories to help you get started.
**IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT FEEDING YOUR CORNISH CROSS
Feed and water your chicks daily. Because the Cornish crosses grow so rapidly, special care must be taken regarding their feeding schedule. For the first five days, give them free choice of food. At the end of the 5th day, remove their feed. 12 hours later, put their feedback and allow them to eat at will for another 12 hours. Remove the feed again that night. The exact time does not matter, as long as it is in 12-hour intervals and is consistent from day to day. You will continue this interval feeding until it is time to butcher the birds. Failure to do this can lead to growth and heart issues. A chick starter of 20-22% protein is an ideal feed for feeding the birds for the first 5 weeks of age.
When the birds are between the ages of 2-4 weeks, or when they have completely grown in their feathers, they can go into a grow out pen. Make sure they have shelter and proper fencing to prevent predator problems. A heat source should be added at night if the birds show behaviors of being cold. An 18% chick grower should be fed to the chicks from 5 weeks until butcher time.
The Cornish Cross are typically butchered between 8-9 weeks of age based on your preference or the weight of the bird. At 9 weeks of age, males will be around 10 pounds, females around 8.
Cornish Game Hens are the same bird but butchered around 4 weeks of age or around 2.5 pounds. Despite the name hen, these can be male or female.
Key Pointers
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It is recommended to have the feed and water easy to reach as the birds are short and can’t move much due to their body conformation
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Roosting bars are not recommended because it causes sores and blisters on the breasts
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Follow the proper feed guidelines. These birds grow fast and you do not want them die off early on due to overeating
Looking for an alternative to the Cornish Cross, you can try the slower growing heritage dual breeds or our free range broilers.
So, knew nothing about these chickens until I read this. Just bought 25 today not knowing they were fast growing meat chickens. Not for sure how old they are. Half are a little bigger. Since the meat tenderness is based on making sure I don’t wait past 10 weeks old, and size can vary so much based on everything I read here, how can I tell when they are ready to butcher when I am not sure how old they are? They are all still fuzzy. No real feathers yet.
How much feed do I put out for them to eat on for that 12 hours? I have 25. I’m guessing it will vary by their age and size? This is so new to me. I’ve always focused on egg layers…mostly rhode island reds so this is new territory for me.
My son is raising 10 Cornish Rock for a 4H market project. This is our first chicken experience. They are 1 week old. 1/2 have broken and/or missing belly feathers. What happened? What do we do?
Dear Debra,
I really hope you might consider emailing or calling us regardig this as well. I can’t determine the exact cause without additional information, is why I asked that you contact us, but I will guess that it’s one of two things. Either it’s typical feather growth of a CX, as the protein you give them will go to their deveoping bodies and not their feathers, like most birds, and they will have bare patches with no feathers. (Very typical of Cornish Cross) or they are being fed too much. Overfeeding is detrimental to the birds in that, with Cornish Cross only, they need to be fed 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Any more than this will cause them to gain too much weight too fast and they are likely to have a plethora of health issues because of it. I hope this helps! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us ( here or anywhere you please) if you can think of anything additional we can help with.
~Shannon
We have been talking about getting chickens for awhile now and my husband went to Tractor Supply and surprised me with 6 white leghorn chicks. Here we are 7 weeks later and we realize that they are not leghorns, but Cornish Cross. I didn’t feed them according to the 12 hour plan and now I’m wondering what to do. Do you think they’ll be ok to butcher in a week or so?
Hey there, Retha!
Yikes! I bet your “leghorns” grew VERY fast! 🙂 Cornish Cross can be processed whenever they reach the correct weight for what YOU prefer. Birds dress out at about 80% of their undressed wieght so if that’s week 6, so be it! That said, they can go until 11 weeks without being stringy but will likely be huge. Unti then, try to get them on a 12 on/ 12 off schedule for feeding and let us know if you have any more questions! We are always here to help. ~The Purely Poultry Team
My grandson has 7 Cornish rock chicken he is raising for 4 H this is his first year, they are 4 weeks old, market weight is 4.5-7 lbs, they are 3-3.5 lbs now fair is July 14 for weigh in, will they be in good shape by then. Do we need to put them on 12 hours on feeding schedule,, don’t want them under weight but don’t want them over weight either. Thanks
Hi there Teresa and thanks for the question! Yes,absolutely, your cornish should be on a 12 hour feeding schedule. We recommend beginning this schedule by no later that two weeks of age. I know this seems a little young, but they can be ready for processing by 6 weeks in most cases. Because the cornish cross broilers grow so very fast, everything in their lives is amplified, including their food intake. I’ll include a link below to our Cornish Cross Broiler infor page. There’s a chart located there that won’t copy well to this comment page, but it might help you for reference purposes.
https://www.purelypoultry.com/cornish-cross-broilers-p-207.html
I hope this helps! ~Shannon
What have you found for a temp range for scolding? I believe last year I did 135-145 for water temp with 3-4 seconds dip intervals until wing feathers came out easy? Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Cory,
We do recommend the following for scalding temps and times. I hope this helps!
SCALD & PICK
After birds are bled, they should be scalded then picked as soon as they can be added into your picker. SCALD AND PICK WITHOUT DELAY. The scald is the key a good pick. When analyzing damaged birds, please note: If bird shows a bruise, the bruise happened before the bird was killed or during death shudder. A bled bird will not bruise. The darker the bruise the older the injury. If a broken bone has blood around it, the breakage occurred while the bird was alive. The darker the blood, the older the injury.
Pick only long enough to pull feathers. Extending pick risks skin tearing. Excessive skin tearing in the breast and inner thigh are signs scald is too hot or to long. Fatty tissue under skin should not liquefy. If fat breakdown occurs, scald is too hot. To check if scalded long enough, tail feathers should pull out easily.
Recommended Scalding Time (Note temps below)
Broilers 1 minute
Pheasants 1 minute
Hen Turkey 1 minute
Tom Turkey 1 minute
Quail 30 seconds
Duck 1 minute
Recommended Scalding Temp
Broilers 1¼ minute @143 ° F (63° C)
Quail 30 seconds @ 127° F (53° C)
Duck 1 minute @ 155° F (68° C)
Hi Laurenda! Birds are all shipped out at 1 day old which means they are between 2 and 4 days old on arrival. We typically suggest allowing them to grow until 6-8 weeks depending on the size of the final product you desire. Most will grow them to about 6-7 lbs before butchering.
When feeding cornish cross, the chicks are allowed unlimited feed for 12 hours with feed being removed for 12 hours after. You can continue this right up until butcher. Many will not feed their cornish cross or other meat birds for 12-24 hours before butcher.
I have always done layers and thought I would try meat birds. I got the Cornish cross, I didn’t know about the 12 hour on/off schedule and mine had food continuously. We had them processed at 7 weeks. We prepared one the same day it was butchered. I was sadly disappointed that the meat was really tough. It had good flavor but tough to chew and eat. Any idea why the meat would be so tough?
I am new to meat birds…I bought 10 cornish crosses in the middle of October. They will be about 9 weeks on the 13th. I fed the 21% chick starter for the first month or so and switched to an 18% grower like I had read to do. However, they don’t seem to be growing like they should. I weighed one a couple days ago and it was about 4 pounds. I have some a bit smaller than that one and some bigger. I thought they would be much bigger by now. What am I doing wrong? I am giving them free choice feed because they are small. They also don’t finish what I give them. (Coffee can full) I ordered them from Tractor Supply. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!
How much space is recommended per bird? I don’t want to do more than 25 birds at a time, what is the square footage recommended? Also, are they heat hearty, I am in Florida?
Hi Wendi and Thanks for your comment! We recommend at least 1 square foot per chicken in the coop for birds that are allowed to free range or be out in a large pen during the day, or 2 square feet per bird if they are cooped at all times. With proper ventilation, shade, and water your birds will do well even in the heat of Florida. They are hardy birds. I hope this helps!
~Shannon
Hi Jennifer,
I am so sorry this is happening. I would assume that the breed you got were likely not proper cornish cross. Without further information, I would say to contact Tractor Supply. A standard Cornish Cross,fed free choice for 24 hours, should be so large that they are having leg problems and are unable to move by 9 weeks. This is why we always recommend feeding 12 hours on and 12 hours off. I hope you are able to find a solution.
~Shannon
Hi Cynthia,
My guess would be because they were growing at such a fast rate because of being fed too much. The meat needs to develop slowly and then butchered off before it has time to become stringy and tough. I would highly suggest to try again and feed at the 12 on/12 off schedule and see the difference. Also, provide a little corn with their feed now and then and a little more in the final week to allow tenderizing fats to develop and don’t feed them anything for the final 24 hours before butcher, only give water. Keep them happy while they are growing and you should have a much better experience. I ended up letting mine go too long once and the meat got tough so I canned it and it was wonderful! I hope this helps!
~Shannon