Our Experience Raising Cornish - Week 1

This isn’t our first time raising meat birds and it definitely won’t be our last. This year we got 30 birds! I don’t consider these chicks as ‘part of the family’ just so I don’t get personally attached to them, as I tend to do. Besides, we do plan on butchering and eating them in 8 weeks 😜

Back to my point to writing this- I’m writing this blog to explain the care needed for raising these birds from week 1 to week 8 (or whenever you have them scheduled to butcher) with weekly photos! Included are fun little facts about the breed and links to knowledge articles/websites that I learned from. most of my knowledge just comes from raising them myself though. I am no expert, and never claimed to be. Enjoy!

- - - Week 1

First Things First: Order the little buggers! I originally ordered mine through a local feed store but they screwed up my name and the date, so I cancelled and spent more money by ordering through a somewhat (state wise) local hatchery located in Quakertown PA called Moyers Hatchery ( https://www.moyerschicks.com/?utm_source=google-my-business&utm_medium=knowledge-panel&utm_campaign=website-link )

All my chicks arrived in 2 days time as promised, all healthy, chirping and hungry! I already had my area ready and mostly set up. Upon arrival I checked all heat lamp bulbs and got them settled in (see picture below).

Raising them the first week was the easiest, in my opinion. Just make sure they have food, water and heat at all times. Cornish Chicks, as well as all other chicken chicks need a consistent brooder temperature of 90-95 degrees, with the option to get away from the heat if they get too warm. You may want to add an extra lamp if the temperature drops outside, or take away a lamp if the temperature rises. Watch for how the chicks react to know for sure what to do. If they’re all huddle under the lamps, they’re cold. If they’re as far away as they can get from the heat source, they’re too warm. They will let you know how they’re doing! Where I kept them is kinda hard to keep a consistent temperature as they’re in an old concrete shack on the property that I have renovated and rebuilt (build a door, tore out a window and added screening, built some ‘walls’ out of pallets). I don’t have the means to keep them inside, and they wouldn’t be safe or healthy in the horse barn with all the dust and smells. So they have their own shack! I’d say they’re pretty happy too☺️ Make sure you enjoy those little fluffy butts while you can this week, because next week they start to get ugly!