How to Feed Cornish Game Hen chicks?

[BigBlueHen53]

Hi, I'm picking up some CGH chicks tomorrow (hatched yesterday) along with some layer pullets and need some advice on care and feeding the Cornish, please? The layers will have regular chick starter crumbles available all day along with water and chick grit. For the Cornish, I got high protein meat chick feed. Should they also be allowed to free-feed all day? Also, we generally use ceramic-base heat lamps carefully secured over the bins, a white light during the day and a red bulb at night. Can we do the same for the Cornish? The catalog says these will be ready to process in three weeks at 3.5 to 4 lbs. Any and all advice appreciated; these are coming from Hoover's Hatchery. Thanks.

 

[NatJ]

Also, we generally use ceramic-base heat lamps carefully secured over the bins, a white light during the day and a red bulb at night. Can we do the same for the Cornish?

Yes, the lighting should be fine.

Should they also be allowed to free-feed all day?

For the first few days, any kind of meat bird chicks should also be allowed to free-feed all the time.

these are coming from Hoover's Hatchery.

https://www.hoovershatchery.com/CornishGameHens.html
"The Cornish Game Hen is a Cornish Cross Broiler pullet that is butchered at 3 weeks of age when they reach a weight of 2.5 - 3 pounds."

That should mean following normal Cornish Cross raising procedures, except you don't have to worry about anything past about age 3 weeks.

Different hatchery, but McMurray has some Q&A details about raising Cornish Cross.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/jumbo-cornish-cross.html
"We recommend on the CXR you start them on a 20-23% Broiler starter, after 5 weeks switch them to a 18-20% grower finisher. We also suggest taking their food away at night starting at 10 days of age. This can cut down on any potential leg problems."

I would guess that there is no need to restrict feed, because of how early you will be butchering them. But I have no experience to back that up, so I could be wrong.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes, the lighting should be fine.


For the first few days, any kind of meat bird chicks should also be allowed to free-feed all the time.



https://www.hoovershatchery.com/CornishGameHens.html
"The Cornish Game Hen is a Cornish Cross Broiler pullet that is butchered at 3 weeks of age when they reach a weight of 2.5 - 3 pounds."

That should mean following normal Cornish Cross raising procedures, except you don't have to worry about anything past about age 3 weeks.

Different hatchery, but McMurray has some Q&A details about raising Cornish Cross.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/jumbo-cornish-cross.html
"We recommend on the CXR you start them on a 20-23% Broiler starter, after 5 weeks switch them to a 18-20% grower finisher. We also suggest taking their food away at night starting at 10 days of age. This can cut down on any potential leg problems."

I would guess that there is no need to restrict feed, because of how early you will be butchering them. But I have no experience to back that up, so I could be wrong.

Thank you, NatJ!

 

[speedy2020]

I never raise Cornish Game Hen and didn't know can be process at 3-4 weeks. I am learning something new today. It sound like this can make good cross for fast growing bird. Are they good layer?

 

[NatJ]

I never raise Cornish Game Hen and didn't know can be process at 3-4 weeks. I am learning something new today. It sound like this can make good cross for fast growing bird. Are they good layer?

The "Cornish Game Hens" in this thread are the usual Cornish Cross broiler chickens, butchered at a younger age than normal.

They have been bred for very fast growth, which tends to cause health problems before they are old enough to lay eggs. So no, they would not be a good choice for layers.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I never raise Cornish Game Hen and didn't know can be process at 3-4 weeks. I am learning something new today. It sound like this can make good cross for fast growing bird. Are they good layer?

We got some of these a year or so ago but were not able to process them until about 8 weeks old. By that time they were so large they just about could not walk. Their legs would not support their heavy bodies. As @NatJ says, you don't want to let them live to laying age; to do so would be a cruelty.

 

[cassie]

Hi, I'm picking up some CGH chicks tomorrow (hatched yesterday) along with some layer pullets and need some advice on care and feeding the Cornish, please? The layers will have regular chick starter crumbles available all day along with water and chick grit. For the Cornish, I got high protein meat chick feed. Should they also be allowed to free-feed all day? Also, we generally use ceramic-base heat lamps carefully secured over the bins, a white light during the day and a red bulb at night. Can we do the same for the Cornish? The catalog says these will be ready to process in three weeks at 3.5 to 4 lbs. Any and all advice appreciated; these are coming from Hoover's Hatchery. Thanks.

I fed mine broiler feed (starter, grower, and broiler finisher) when I could get it and turkey feed (starter, grower, finisher) when I couldn't. I also found Broiler Booster available from Murray McMurray to be very helpful. It is a vitamin electrolyte supplement formulated for meat birds. You add it to the water. It seems to help with the leg and other health problems the Cornish X are heir to. One packet is enough to take a group of 25 from start to finish.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I fed mine broiler feed (starter, grower, and broiler finisher) when I could get it and turkey feed (starter, grower, finisher) when I couldn't. I also found Broiler Booster available from Murray McMurray to be very helpful. It is a vitamin electrolyte supplement formulated for meat birds. You add it to the water. It seems to help with the leg and other health problems the Cornish X are heir to. One packet is enough to take a group of 25 from start to finish.

Thank you, noted.

 

[cmobley]

I raise my Cornish on 27% game bird starter for 6 weeks and process. They’re fed 24/7 nonstop works out a lot better than changing feed and all that mess. I have 40 I’m processing Friday weighed 7 yesterday average weight will be 5-6 lbs processed weight.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I know this thread is about 10 days old but I felt obligated to chime in. I've been incapacitated. I had a total ankle replacement. So I'm homebound and mostly bedridden.
There is some very good information here. And then some things that stretch best practices. It will all work.
As you've learned, the Cornish game hen is just an immature Cornish/Rock cross that makes up nearly 100% of grocery store and fast food chicken. Those are processed at between 6 and 8 weeks. You can wait longer but if you have shrink or vacuum bags, they are usually too large for the bags after 7 weeks. So thanks to the genetics of the game bird's contribution of large breast muscles, butchering at about 3 weeks yield a 'Cornish Game Hen'. Hen is a misnomer because they could be any sex.

I felt compelled to comment regarding protein, not all Galliformes are created equal. All species of birds will have a somewhat unique dietary requirement specific to their needs. In general, most baby birds eat a diet very high in crude protein. Some become entirely seed eaters as they mature while some stay on a high protein diet. What those needs are can be gleaned from what they eat in nature - what constitutes each species' diet at each stage of life.
Generally speaking, all the advice you've been given would work, even though the thoughts were quite disparate.
The point I want to make is that gallus gallus are not gamebirds. In nature, their diets are dramatically different. There is a reason gamebirds nesting period is in spring. That is when the wild is rife with all sorts of invertebrates. However, baby chicks' diet is much more diverse than that of quail, partridge, pheasant, turkey, etc..
Chicken chicks do eat a lot of invertebrates but will eat a lot more seeds as a percentage of intake than gamebirds.
Without knowing this, you can identify if a bird is getting higher crude protein than their bodies can actually use, the excess protein will end up in the bedding as ammonia. Get down on your knees and the ammonia resulting from excess protein will burn your eyes, nose and throat.
All that being said, while an egg type chick can fare well on 18% crude protein, a chicken broiler, due to genetic selection, can make use of 22-24% protein to build that breast muscle it is genetically predisposed to do.