Cornish / Indian Game

[OldEnglishGame]

Does anyone have any experience of looking after Cornish/Indian Game or similar breeds? I am a new owner of 6, 6 month old hens. What is the best course of action to take with them? Will they lay well? I really would prefer to keep them for eggs rather than meat now that I have them.

Are there any special considerations I should take in to account when caring for Cornish's? As I am new to keeping chickens.

Thank-you for any help and advice you can provide!!!

 

[hellbender]

They'll be 'junk quality' eggs.

I'm impressed by your kindness and enthusiasm in helping new people to the Cornish breed. What a gal!

 

[Mariteri]

Can Anyone tell me where I can find Indian/Cornish game chickens in the new England area.

 

[kizanne]

Based on your post I'm going to assume these are true Cornish and not Crosses. Cornish are game birds which hard compact and muscular. i do not have any experience with our age bird. I currently have some 1 month olds that I hope to keep, so I've read some. They are not anything you'd consider for production laying. Backyard flocks often are not chosen for production. They are below average on the egg laying. I find if I give my girls a good amount of protein they lay fairly well. Only time will tell if it helps the game bird. Henderson's chart indicates that they may not do well in mixed flocks because they are docile.

 

[kfacres]

My Cornish- are far from docile... the are the meanest, nastiest birds I've ever owned-- both sexes... They afterall- are a game bird...

If you're after plenty of eggs-- you'll find yourself disapointed with the Cornish- On the standard layer feed- mine will give about 2 eggs a week, when I give them the boosted breeder feed of 20% CP-- I can get 5 eggs a week from them... but they will pound the feed down.

 

[r devries]

My two wlr bantam pullets are pounding out an egg a day.

 

[kfacres]

My two wlr bantam pullets are pounding out an egg a day.

let me clarrify-- the attitude problems i mentioned above-- are the LF birds... the bantams are such big dolls.. and I don't even try to mess with them..

My bantams are much better birds- I would guess they'll lay up 4 or 5 eggs a week, but I don't have them on a high CP ration-- since I lost my male-- the females have been in with the general egg layers. They are quite fluxuative though in egg laying ability...

 

[RaeRae2]

I raised 2 Dark Cornish/Indian Game birds (not those horrible white Cornish Rock Xs) with my McMurray order, and I absolutely ADORE THEM. They are very docile, sweet, gentle birds. Extremely tame but then they all are because I have handled them a LOT. The one however had bad legs from the beginning. She gets around fine, but she definitely does not have a normal gait. She has a huge breast in proportion to the rest of her body and is runty. She has difficulty roosting and likes to stay off by herself so the others don't knock her down. But she comes RUNNING to me when she sees me and practically jumps in my arms.

She is such a doll. I will be devastated if anything happens to her. I am trying very hard to get my husband to allow the Cornish birds to be house chickens. I doubt that will happen though. LOL!

If I had it all to do over again, I would have gotten more of this breed. They are beautiful birds and their brown feathers have a rich green glossy tint. They are very quiet and almost never talk except little cheeps.

Don't know about eggs because mine are just approaching 4 months, but I have read that you might get 2 eggs a week for a couple of years.

They have no trouble being in the mixed flock. They get along and keep up perfectly fine, even Vader with the bad legs and deformed chest. Only roosting gives her some trouble. No they don't fly high and bounce off the ceiling like the Hamburgs and Ancona does but they just mosey along pecking on the ground, nice and calm and peaceful with the Brahmas, Wyandottes and EEs.

I call these my fatties. And the Hamburgs and Ancona are the speedies. LOL

 

[kfacres]

The two birds pictured above-- barely have a color pattern of a Dark Cornish-- let alone the body type-- which quite frankly-- is extremely lacking. Even if they are young birds, they still lack.

I would not call these 'Cornish', sorry.

Here is what a Cornish should look like- young cockerel that was 5 or 6 months of age in the picture>

<a href="https://www.backyardchickens.com/ga...w.backyardchickens.com/image/id/5895719"><img src="https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/5895719/width/400/flags/LL"></a>

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I have large fowl Dark Cornish. Not hatchery birds. They are squat, compact, chunky muscular birds. I rather like them in a way.

But as egg layers you will be disappointed. That is not what they are bred for and they will not perform well in that capacity. I do get three to five eggs per hen per week (pullet year), but they are only medium sized at best and so pale as to be close to cream colored. Woefully inferior relative to a Barred Rock or Rhode Island Red.

Personality wise mine are fairly docile. I did have one boy that thought he'd cross me once but was easy to convince otherwise. In the pecking order in the rooster pen they are definitely below most of the other roosters though the largest of them has delusions of grandeur and keeps getting his behind kicked by the boss bird.

As meat birds they make a nice carcass for a non-hybrid. The one drawback and it's a big one is that they grow s-l-o-w-l-y even relative to dual-purpose birds. You'll get great flavor and lots of meat, but you won't get it in a hurry and you won't get it on the amount of feed you would a faster growing bird.