A Dark Cornish Story

[sosanista]

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Thanks Steve. They are pretty cool with a mixed temperment. They stand us, are a bit hard to catch, but then again our 3 year old catches them, so they are not that hard. They are flighty which is good for us as we're free ranging in a pretty fierce environment. They get their fair share of handling but not overly so.

Little Ameraucana Mom, your daughter's birds are very nice!

Yes indeed mine are a bit leggy compared to the American Standard of Perfection show birds. I would like to find a middle ground with these for my meat free ranging operation but so far so good on these hatchery birds. Thanks for all the replies. I'm def a big fan of the Dark Cornish!

 

[sosanista]

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Here is my mom's dark cornish roo. He is at the bottom of the pecking order of 4 roosters so his feathers are a little roughed up. If anyone near Minneapolis/St Paul wants him for breeding they can have him. He is 2 1/2 yrs. old. I don't know how good of quality he is, I'm not an expert on cornish.

 

[sosanista]

My birds are about 12 plus weeks old now. To add to the lore of the Dark Cornish's rep as being anti predator here's a couple of stories. We have a feral cat that makes its rounds around the ranch. I haven't seen the cat by our chickens until the other day. I looked out the back window to see the entire flock chasing the black cat sending him (or her) scurrying in fear. I have two whippets, both of which have killed chickens in the past. I don't ever (on purpose) let them near the chickens unsupervised. Well, on accident, I let them out unsupervised. I looked at the front door window to see my dog shivering with his tail between his legs, scared. Just below the porch behind him stood the entire flock who rarely, if ever, make there way to the front yard. I guess they made their impression. So far only one lost to a predator, but I take fault as they were probably too young to be let out. It was an owl or a hawk. Granted my back yard is literally a national park on one side and a state park on the other. I see hawks and buzzards all day every day. These birds are living up to their rep.

Oh -- and yes -- I can tell the boys from the girls now.

 

[Jabbok]

We have 5 Dark Cornish now. Tonight my husband took care of 3 roosters and they are now in the freezer.

It's so easy to get attached! They were pretty sweet boys, but they were beating up my hens pretty bad. What a crazy bunch of hormones! So we have one rooster now. I'm mainly sad because my daughter was so attached to the one rooster.

We also have 8 others - said to be 2 leghorns and 6 leghorn/orpington mixes. They are all pretty white looking to me. They are very flighty little birds. The Dark Cornish hens are really nice, too. They are my favorites to this point. The other 8 young birds haven't had much human contact, but I try to make friends with them sometimes. It's hard in the cold weather.

We bought our Dark Cornish from a local farmer. They are very nice chickens and our family has enjoyed them.
Good luck in your Dark Cornish endeavor!

 

[Goofy Farmer]

I really need to find nice DC. I got some from McMurray and am underwhelmed. Where do I get serious monster birds?! I read somewhere that Cackle Hatchery has decent DC. But I'm still nervous about buying birds from a hatchery. Advice??? I'm willing invest some money for birds I can be proud of. But I REALLY want good stock. Should I be trying to find breeders at the fairs? I'm in Washington State.

 

[Goofy Farmer]

I really need to find nice DC. I got some from McMurray and am underwhelmed. Where do I get serious monster birds?! I read somewhere that Cackle Hatchery has decent DC. But I'm still nervous about buying birds from a hatchery. Advice??? I'm willing invest some money for birds I can be proud of. But I REALLY want good stock. Should I be trying to find breeders at the fairs? I'm in Washington State.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

I have DC from Cackle Hatchery. I don't know if they keep the breeders or buy the eggs from a breeder; but they are notably stockier than sosanista's pics... Shorter legs, appear more wide-set, lower overall profile, bulldog appearance. Looked wider from arrival.

I only have 11; getting them was a nightmare but the hatchery was as helpful as possible, and they did refund for lost birds. I will clarify, lest anyone make assumptions -

I ordered 100 DC Roos and 25 Jersey Giant Pullets to be shipped in mid-April ('12). They were to ship out on a Monday... meaning they'd be here on Wednesday.
First, they had to split the order because there weren't enough of either breed to fill it from the Monday hatch (apparently DC are less fertile? Not the hatchery's claim, what I've read in some places) They shipped 50 DC and, as I recall, 11 JJ on Monday, and the balance on Wednesday. Still should have been Friday delivery, shouldn't have been a major problem.
BUT.... The Post Office shipping center sent them on a plane to Pittsburgh instead of Charleston - so they were in transit three days. The Wednesday shipment, they did the same thing. So, shipment #2 arrived while I was setting up at Farmers' Market and I couldn't take them home.

The good thing was that I knew, so I had brooder lamp, warmed heat packs & gro-gel with me both on the first pick-up, and at market.. The bad thing was that, that week, we had unseasonal weather - snowstorms & was below freezing from the plains to the east coast for the majority of the week. Most of them didn't make the trip; out of 106 total DC shipped, 16 survived through the first 18 hours here, and we lost another five within two days. Cackle refunded all of them (not the extra 6, of course); and they were very attentive; they were on the phone with me at least twice a day from Wednesday morning on through the following Wednesday .

The JJ did better, fifteen out of 25 survived. Don't know if it's a sturdier breed or that they were pullets instead of roos. Two of the surviving chicks were very small, and I'm hoping they're pullets... but as yet I'm not certain (I thought there were only two roos for a while... until the others started trying to crow!). If they are, I will keep them around, because I already know they're strong stock!

 

[theoldguy]

Nice birds, i raise the bantams ,dark Cornish and whites, which hatchery did you get them from by the way?

 

[KieksterChicken]

I have a nice pair of Dark Cornish chickens that I got from a batch of Ideal Hatchery chicks at the feed store in April of this year. We have 1 rooster and 1 pullet. So far they are nice healthy, solid, heavy birds. The rooster is a bit territorial but then what roosters aren't? They are actually nice birds. Not too flighty and they grow quickly enough that at 4 and a half months they are big enough to butcher. I am hoping to butcher the rooster in a few weeks when the last bit of the dewormer medicine has cleared his system. Here's a picture of them taken at about 3 1/2 months old. They are even bigger now than they were when the picture was taken and the roosters tail, hackles and saddle feathers have filled out. Remember that DC's have very tight feathers so they might not look as big as some of the laying breeds but they are actually solid muscle and on average weigh much more than most of the laying breeds. I know this because I badly bruised my foot the other day kicking the rooster away from me when he attacked me (first time he has attacked me). I go out with a stick now and just nudge him gently away from me when he starts getting up in my face when I am in "his" chicken run. Happily he is a smart cookie and has come to the understanding that if he gets huffy with me again he's going to have a 1 way trip to the soup pot.