Meat Chickens - Raising Poultry - page 128

can't go wrong with the different strains of these meat crosses. These strains do have
problems with conditions such as breast blisters, sore hocks, and ascites , in which the
bird grows so fast its immune system can't keep up. This has become a serious issue
in the broiler chicken industry. Because the rate of bodily development is so rapid with
the immunity rate lagging behind, the birds are susceptible to many ailments, the most
obvious being sores on the legs and feet and breast blisters that are slow to heal.
Birds affected by ascites suffer high mortality rates when stressed, usually during
periods of extreme heat and rapid temperature changes. It usually occurs at a time when
you think everything is going perfectly normally. Then you go out one morning and find
that after a cold spell most of your birds are laying there dead for no apparent reason.
Death from chilling with these birds is a result of increased blood flow to the lungs,
which, along with the heart, have not developed enough to keep up with the increased
respiration rate.
Much work has been done on the breeding of these birds by the poultry industry and
ascites now occurs less frequently around the world. It is still quite possible to grow
these birds and produce a carcass for butchering in as few as six weeks, however.
Do not raise Cornish Cross and standard chickens together in a mixed pen for a long
time. The Cornish Cross grow so fast that they quickly out compete. It soon becomes
an issue of them stomping on the smaller White Rock and other standard breeds. They
can be kept together for the first week to 10 days but then should be separated. For the
benefit of both, the broiler chickens (Cornish Cross) developed for production should be
raised separately from the commercial standard bred poultry that conforms to the APA
Standard of Perfection (see chart on page 123 ) .
A Breed Apart
The Cornish Cross broilers consume great quantities of feed and water and produce
heaps of waste. Their eating and drinking habits are wet and messy as they tend to
hunker down right next to the food and water and consume constantly. Many growers
have found it's best to limit their feed, removing it at night, to let them grow at a mod-
erate rate. Too much feed available without controls can cause the birds to grow so fast
that they risk developing ascites, resulting in sudden, devastating die-off.
First-time poultry raisers will have to do a bit of experimenting regarding about how
much feed to provide, whether or not to remove the feed at night, how to regulate the
temperature in the facility and keep their pens free from drafts, and so on. They must
also be prepared to butcher as soon as possible if the birds' body conditions start to
change. Before deciding whether to raise these hybrid broilers or a more adaptable tra-
ditional breed, very seriously consider the trade-offs involved in raising hybrid broiler
chickens.