By the way, in many places, you can purchase old layers, such as ISA Browns, which usually average 4.68 pounds when I buy them, after weighing literal thousands, for 25 to 50 cents each in large numbers and $2.00 to $3.00 each in smaller numbers. Old layers have more flavor, but have a little more texture and are tougher than Cornish Rock chickens.

ISA Browns and Hy-Lines have comparable weights and weigh more than Comets.

Keith

I fenced mine in we did runs of a dozen at home and I did 100 with a friend at his house.

tractors are a great way to go now , you can do about 2.5 square feet per bird when mature so a 4x8 for 12 birds in a tractor would work I might go more like 6x8

I have a friend that does tractors they work well he moves them across a pasture every day and they eat the grass it works great every day when they feed they move forward the length of the tractor

you don't need that kind of space for long

Cornish cross are 8 weeks chick to cone

start with a stock tank or something even a large rubber made tub or kiddy pool
cover the bottom with metal window screen or some hardware cloth you could even do a nice couple inch layer of chips or dirt
the problem with a thin layer of wood chips is that they slide around , if a leg slides out from under a young chick they mess up the joint then they don't walk right and there is a real risk you lose that one.
so non slip surface but covered with wood shavings so that it takes on the manure , they go more than you want.

look it up but I think it is you can drop 2 degrees F a day after about day 4 so you start with a thermometer under the light you want 90 degrees then about day 4 you start raising the lamp a little like one link of chain , they need to be able to move in and out of the light so that they can regulate temp

about 4 weeks they can move outside if it isn't too cold

you want the water and feed raised a little so that they have to be standing to get to it , this forces them to stand using their legs , bad legs=dead so you want then to stand and reach a bit.
it is a fine line between how fast can we put weight on and keeping them healthy enough to be stay alive to slaughter day
so you want them to make 9 weeks if you get sick on slaughter day , it happened everyone got the flu one year.

you guys make my point easy on red rangers and other colored meat birds a lot less work and lot healthier heck you can free range if you want to something else we like is their not near as greasy by the time you cook that 6 to 8 pound cornis down hes a lot smaller and still to greasy for us just what we like

Was looking at chicks yesterday, thinking about a meat batch, I saw that they have an "improved" ranger now, anyone have any experience with them?

We used to raise hundreds of Cornish Rocks. We kept what we wanted and sold the rest. That paid for a vacation every year. I started them on sawdust over dirt with a heat lamp. I figured on a 6-8% death loss but I pushed them hard. I had to have them done before the spring rush at work. If you limit their feed and grow them slower, you'll have less death loss. A 7 pound bird will dress at 5 pounds. We had birds that dressed at 5-6 pounds at 8 weeks. We had a few leg problems in the early years but that went away. I don't know if that was because I started bedding with about 6 inches of sawdust or the feed changed.

I did see a video on Youtube where the guy grew Cornish Rocks and Red Rangers. The Rangers took more feed to produce less meat. Rangers would excel if you chose to free range.

we have a few tractors like this I think they are 8 by 10 and generally run 30
to 40 in a batch and run a few hundred a year. move them every day twice If they need it when big
you can always tell the steps the tractors are ran on with the tall green strip in the fields Wife said she is glad she pre ordered birds this year because most places have shut down orders for the year. Chick priced have really go up but so had feed and everything else