Poultry Farming Excellence: Achieving High Yield With Cobb 500 Broilers

Cobb 500 broilers have long been considered the most popular breed of meat chickens on European and American farms. Related to this is the interest from small breeders and individual poultry farm owners, which is constantly growing. The secret to successful breeding depends on how you study the process of caring for the bird, the stages of feeding, and the rules of keeping.

Origin Of The Breed

The Cobb 500 is a meat poultry breed that originated in the 1980s in the Czech Republic. Broilers were created by crossing meat chickens and laying hens, which are raised only for laying. During the selection process, farmers combined several lines of broilers:

1. Rhode Island. These birds were bred in Rhode Island in the mid-19th century. Chickens were created based on the prototype of Asian and Mediterranean broilers.
2. New Hampshire. Rhode Island chickens were taken as the basis for the creation of these broilers.
3. Zagorsk salmon. Chickens and roosters have light feathers – this is their main feature. They were bred on Russian territory at the Sergiev Posad Institute of Poultry Breeding in 1959.
4. Cornish. A Cornish bird bred for farm meat. It was bred in England by crossing fighting broiler breeds with chickens brought from India. This breed was developed in the 19th century.
5. Plymouth Rock. Breed of dairy and broiler chickens. It was brought out by breeders in the USA after the 50s of the 19th century. To develop the breed, roosters from Spain with black plumage were required. They were crossed with white, Dominican, and Cochin chickens.
6. Kuchinskaya Jubilee – it was bred by specialists from the Kuchinsky Selection Center (Balashikha) in 1990 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its foundation.
7. Black armored broiler. The breed was developed in the Volga region. Breeders crossed New Hampshire, White Plymouth Rock, Leghorn, Rhode Island, and Black Australorp broilers.
8. Pervomayskaya. This bird was bred from a successive cross of the Rhode Island, White Wyandotte and Yurlovskaya Golosistaya breeds on the Pervomaisky state farm (Ukraine) in the 1930s.

In the new generation of Cobb 500 chickens, the parents are not similar broilers, but crosses of birds of other forms. If a cross was bred from two original species, then it will be called two-line or four-line if created from four forms.

Appearance And Temperament Of The Breed

The special background made the Cobb 500 bird breed a fairly productive selective cross. Characteristics:

• the birds have a strong, large build, with a wide chest (due to strong muscles), the hips are also well developed, and the legs are strong and wide;
• the plumage is a sign of the high quality of the breed: the feathers of the bird are white, without any other color markings, the crest is small and bright scarlet, like the bare part of the head;
• the beak, claws, and skin are yellowish;
• roosters and hens are often the same in body weight, and their meat has the same commercial value;
• By nature, chickens are phlegmatic; they are tolerant of other types of birds in the aviary.

Performance Of Cobb 500 And Cobb 700 Breeds

A hybrid (cross) with such important external characteristics demonstrates rapid muscle growth, allowing a meat yield of up to 70–73%. The weight of broilers when properly reared can reach:

• at 40 days of age – 2.5 kg;
• 1.5–2 months – 3 kg;
• at 3 months (11–12 weeks) – a maximum of 4.5–5 kg, but after this weight gain quickly decreases and stops, the bird is no longer worth keeping.

On average, 1.5 kg of feed is required to gain 1 kg of live weight (up to 1 month of age). However, these indicators (weight gain and feed intake) may vary depending on the method. For example, when raising males and females separately, weight gain increases and feed intake decreases.

This hybrid has become a popular object for breeding due to its ease of cultivation and unpretentiousness to food. The taste of the meat is tasty, juicy, and not tough. Breeders have developed other meat breeds with similar characteristics. In the mid-1990s, in the UK, based on Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and the famous Plymouthrock breeds, the Cobb 700 broiler chicken with similar characteristics was bred.

Cobb 700 has higher weight gain. The hybrid on average gains less weight than the Cobb 500. The British also have other characteristics:

• light bone structure and wide chest;
• higher feed consumption per kg of body weight during feeding;
• health problems: chicks have a weaker immune system, and adult birds may have joint problems.

Although the Cobb 500 hybrid does not specialize in laying eggs, it can be used for this purpose. Chickens begin laying eggs at the age of 6 months. They lay 100–120 eggs per year, weighing 45–60 g (2–3 per week). After 1.5 years, the number of eggs in the bird begins to gradually decrease.

Advantages And Disadvantages

Like all breeds, the Cobb 500 has its advantages and disadvantages. Positive features for poultry farmers include:

• the bird is unpretentious – it can be kept in a small house or on a farm, it does not need walking, and is compact enough to fit in a cage;
• high survival rate of chickens (up to 85–90%) is due to the quality of incubation;
• the flock is the same size regardless of gender (which ensures uniform weight gain), the birds have a calm temperament;
• like all meat breeds, the growth rate is high, and culling for meat is possible from 1.5 months of age;
• low feed consumption per kg of body weight, so the cost of meat is low (lower than the Cobb 700 hybrid);
• It stands out among other carcasses in the store because the broiler has tender meat, a large breast, and a beautiful “homey” skin tone;
• increased resistance to many chicken-specific diseases (especially parasitic ones).

The disadvantages include the following characteristics:

• This is a hybrid breed, so it is impossible to breed these chickens on your own, you have to buy them;
• the maternal instinct in birds is zero, so the eggs must be incubated;
• the hybrid is sensitive to low temperatures, so in the northern regions they cannot do without additional heating;
• low egg production is only a minor drawback for a breed bred for tasty meat.

Where To Start: With Eggs Or With Chickens?

Due to all the characteristics of the Cobb 500 breed, it is impossible to breed broilers with the best traits on your own. Anyone who wants to breed broilers will be disappointed because they do not pass on their traits to their offspring.

Broilers should be purchased in two ways: as hatching eggs or as chicks. The choice depends on the desires and capabilities of the owners. Chicks for incubation should be purchased from experienced sellers; they are easy to transport and adapt well to new conditions.

Many owners prefer to buy day-old chicks because their quality and health can be assessed. If the breeder does not maintain hatching standards, the quality of the chicks will be poorer. Healthy individuals have clean, fluffy feathers, and closed tummies, are active, feed, and squeak quietly.

Eggs are cheaper, especially if you buy them in bulk. If you have a good incubator, it is worth incubating the Cobb 500 yourself, in which case 85-90% of the chicks will hatch. A polystyrene incubator is not suitable unless you like lotteries: the eggs can very easily overheat, causing the embryos to die.

Eggs are stored in an incubator at +37–38°C for 21 days. Moderate humidity and ventilation are important, but there should be no cooling or drafts. Under these conditions, eggs are stored in a horizontal or vertical position with blunt ends. After hatching, the chicks are in the following conditions:

• in the first two weeks, day and night lighting (without glare) and an air temperature of +30°C are necessary;
• from the 15th day, an 18-hour daylight period is introduced, and the temperature gradually decreases (after the chickens grow up, they are ready for standard conditions).

Features Of Breeding Broilers At Home

Broilers are fast-growing birds, so they require special conditions and diet. To ensure proper breeding, the following conditions must be met:

1. Nutrition. Broilers will not reach their ideal weight on a normal diet. You should not save money and buy food with a reduced protein content (15–17%), as chickens grow poorly and often get sick. Exclusive feeding is difficult and uneconomical as it slows down weight gain.
2. Tap water (if it is not chlorinated) or from a well or borehole is suitable as drinking water, which does not need to be boiled or added to manganese.
3. To help your bird gain weight faster, you should limit the number of walks. It is preferable to use a chicken coop or indoor aviary, and the number of birds per square meter should not exceed 30–35 kg of live weight.
4. Cobb 500 hybrids can be bred together with others such as Cobb 700. Their characteristics are not significantly different.
5. Temperature regime. Young birds need warmth without changes, with a gradual decrease in temperature. For adult birds, the indicator should not fall below 10–14°C.
6. Lighting. During the first two weeks, it should be 24 hours a day, after which it should be turned off for 1-2 hours, and the length of the day should be increased to 14-18 hours.
7. Care. Clean, dry litter, the soil is regularly treated with slaked lime. The area, including bowls and feeders, should be disinfected before the new animal arrives.

Feeding Chickens

If you feed Cobb broilers 500 ready-made feeds, then this will be a 100% guarantee that the birds will receive all the necessary vitamins and microelements. The advantage of ready-made food is that it can be selected individually according to the age of the bird.

Compound feed for broilers aged 0–2 weeks START in granules is a balanced composition that creates optimal conditions for the growth of birds. It contains no unnatural ingredients or antibiotics. When feeding poultry with this composition, you can expect that the weight gain of broilers will be on average 5–15% higher than usual.

Also, the optimal feeding for birds aged 0–7 weeks includes the START composition. Compound feed is given to birds in dry form, provided that there are drinking bowls with water nearby (it should always be given in dry form, and there should always be water too.)

Compound feed for broilers aged 3–4 weeks ROST is also made in granules. Poultry absorbs nutrients from this feed much faster. A balanced composition creates the conditions for the full and proper development of broilers.

Compound feed for broilers aged 5 weeks and older FINISH will help strengthen the bird’s immunity. Optimal nutritional consumption allows you to absorb valuable substances. The bird will grow faster while eating natural ingredients.

Compound feed for young chickens aged 8 weeks and up to 2% egg production GROWTH promotes the absorption of nutrients by the bird’s body. An individual requires only 50–100 g of this food per day, which contributes to the economy of the product.

Compound feed for laying hens LAYER is suitable if you still decide to raise poultry for egg production. There are no antibiotics in the composition. It contains natural ingredients: corn, wheat, sunflower, and soybean cake. There are also natural mineral supplements and fish meal.

Poultry Diseases

Hybrid chicken Cobb 500 has good disease resistance. However, if the chicken coop is not taken care of, the following problems may arise:

1. Avitaminosis. Occurs when unbalanced or insufficient feeding. To avoid this problem, simply feed your chickens specialized food and follow daily rules.
2. Aspergillosis. This disease is caused by fungi and affects the respiratory tract if it is poorly cared for (cold, damp, dirt). Treatment should be carried out by a veterinarian.
3. Bronchopneumonia (pneumonia). A cold may be accompanied by wheezing and wheezing. Treatment requires veterinary care and antibiotics.
4. Indigestion. Often occurs in chickens due to spoiled feed. The bird refuses to eat, and the color and consistency of the feces change.
5. Salmonellosis. A bacterial infection is usually caused by food or water. Occurs in chickens under two weeks of age; treatment is not always effective.

The Cobb 500 is a good choice for those who want to raise chickens for meat production. The hybrid comes from several early mature breeds that are superior in meat quality. This large, white-feathered bird is characterized by rapid weight gain with proper nutrition and care.