Cornish - Page 2

Cornish are awesome!  They're so cute, very food driven too!  lol  When they are tame they're super sweet, but they can be very difficult to tame.  They need a special cage though, one with thick bedding and low perches/nests.  They also are more prone t leg and heart problems, and it's not uncommon for them to spontaneously die when you pick them up.   Also, never flip them unless you HAVE to, they're puke and choke.  They live for about 5-8 years, at which point they start to have leg problems.  But they're awesome, I totally love them.  Coolest heads... short short beak, wiiide skull, cruel eyes, powerful.  Oh, they're also a mites absolute FAVORITE host.

ETA: Cornish should be able to breed naturally.  Granted, they may be clumsy but they should be able to.  Mine never had a problem.

Looks like the makings of a White Laced Red.

I'm assuming it is a White Laced Red, but it could be a white x white laced red.

Pure cornish take much longer to "finish out" than Cornish X or "broiler birds."

It will take approximately 6 months for a bird to finish, but you could process as early as 12 weeks.  Mind you...they won't have the same size as a broiler at 12 weeks.

Then from a backyard breeders standpoint I don't agree with the "standard" to breed a bird to a point that reguires AI. I guess that's why "SQ" Dark Cornish are few and far between. Hope it works out and the blue ribbon is worth it. I'll take a bird that can forage, mate, sit, raise chicks any day.

On the BBW's it's profit to breed a bird to grow so fast and so large that it can't stand up or breed or even feed itself outside of a turkey house. We have one person that buys a heritage turkey from us every year for Thanksgiving. We live in Eastern NC with quite a few turkey houses, the person that buys the turkey raises turkeys on his farm for Carolina Turkeys.  A couple years ago I asked him why he comes and gets a heritage turkey his answer. "I raise them, I don't eat them" . That pretty much said it all for me.

Steve

It depends on what the breeder is looking for.  If they want to propagate a breed that fits a standard, that has difficulties and is making them more and more rare, then kudos to them!  If they would prefer a type of bird that doesn't fit the standard but is somewhat similar to the breed standard, but can live fairly well on it's own, that's their decision as well.

I believe I gave you the wrong idea.  I was talking about the breeder turkeys, not the F1 offspring from the two different lines of BBW.  The males and females are more than able to move about freely.  It's the offspring that have the large amounts of weight gain fast.  Sorry for the confusion.

I'm assuming the heritage bird is dead before it leaves your property correct?

I don't think that the ultra-wide Standard Cornish fit the Breed description in the APA Standard of Perfection.  I think that awful goose winged bowling ball painting of a 'Cornish' in the current APA Standard needs to be thrown out and the original pictures used if they can't find anything better.

Cornish should look and move like powerful, almost predatory, birds.  Waddling because you are too wide to walk with a normal gait does not say 'powerful' to me.  Falling over because you can't balance on one leg to itch your face is pathetic.

As for my big guy, I bought 2 pair sight unseen.  I have not bred him.  He is so sweet, he gets to stay.

I agree 100%. We have had this discussion before on here and it amazes me that the APA standard would be to take a bird to the point of not being able to self reproduce, or forage. Maybe they should change the name to the standard of extinction or something like that.

Steve in NC

I have no problem with AIing to keep a bird in show condition.  However I do not believe it is to any breed's best interest to be bred to a type where it cannot or will not breed on its own.

The best breeder birds do not always make the best exhibition birds, but can, when paired correctly parent them.