- Jun 3, 2013
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I just joined this group maybe I can tell u what I ve learned . I am a 4 h leader and chicken /pheasant / peacock breeder for over 10 years now. one of my 4 h kids had some left over Cornish cross meat birds from their fair entry I got talked into taking the rest of the pen after they selected . I raised 13 birds half were roosters. I tried to keep them alive to breed each other they all did fine except one in the 1st 2 months that one just died I read in several places that's what happens sudden death for no explained reason next one grew too fast and had leg problems after about 4 months. a few more sudden deaths at 7 or 8 months the roosters grow faster in the beginning but I didn't lose any rooster I took 4 roos. to auction .I kept one rooster and had 3 hens still living after almost a year. soon after that none left. I hatched from these birds and mixed them with rode island red/ barred rock cross I got birds that layed a very cool pink egg I like to fool around with egg color so I kept them and bred them to a drk Cornish maybe not pure bred as I bought him at an auction but defiantly Cornish rooster he has a lot of red the ones I see in this thread do not I did not care as he is is massive. I started this about 4 years ago . I still have the same dark Cornish rooster I lost one hen still have the other . They free range and have stayed alive better than any chicken I have owned and I have had plenty. I don't have a dog right now and they are still here they are smart Wiley birds I am told the dark Cornish is the one of the most geneticly diverse chickens. making them a good choice to mix .I have hatched a bunch of birds this year that are hens from the commercial broiler/rir/bared rock this cross layed a lot of huge eggs that were pink then I put these hens back with the big boy Cornish and got some huge babies.I got some delawares to put in there next year we will see. looking for some breese. If I can get some real ones. Hey living in Alaska getting eggs to hatch might be pretty hard try to see if greyhound buss service will deliver your hatching eggs as I used to ship a lot of cut flowers and they are the cheapest best and only temperature controlled shipping that would take a small order my ex was a grey hound driver. they ship blood on grey hound.And all sorts of weird stuff .
