Cornish Thread

[Dave C]

Sorry this is probably a stupid question but is the dark Cornish like some other birds where it coul be blue/black/splash? Some of your birds look to be the color of my blue Wyandotte?

Yes I have Dark, Blue and Jubilee in my pen so will get all colours.

The advised way to breed them is use a Dark Rooster over all colours to improve or keep the desired lacing.

The blue is supposed to be darker then mine (which mine would be if I used a Dark Rooster) but I'm breeding for a lighter slate blue, which I like better.
Just another little project.

 

[cmohlin89]

Do any of you sell eggs? I've given up on finding quality adult birds- there are none near me and cost too much to ship. I have a slight preference towards anything with blue but ultimately want birds with good type so I'll take whatever variety I can find.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Do any of you sell eggs? I've given up on finding quality adult birds- there are none near me and cost too much to ship. I have a slight preference towards anything with blue but ultimately want birds with good type so I'll take whatever variety I can find.

I have been selling a few eggs on ebay the last few weeks.... I dont have the pretty blues like Dave's thou. Mine are plain large fowl whites. As to type, I like them. But here is a BYC thread I started a while back about my flock....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...a-quality-sustainable-flock-for-meat-and-more

 

[JRNash]

Beautiful birds FD. I love the white colored birds. Unfortunately so does every varmint for a 100 miles of where I live.

 

[moomoodiddy]

I don't know about anyone else, but *I* am trying several different crosses to see if there are specific crosses that do well at our altitude and conditions as a meat bird. I have been buying the best quality stock (no hatchery birds here), and culling to standard. I either eat the culls myself, or my dogs, who are raw fed, get the culls. I am not trying to come up with a new breed, and I fully intend to continue to breed pure groups, but am having some fun along the way experimenting. Since nothing gets wasted here, I see no harm.

Last spring I did a research project on meat hybirds. I used chicks from a local Tyson grower and red ranger chicks from a TSC and grew them in 3 different conditions. The first condition was a typical "pet" flock, being raised on starter and then layer. They were also keep in optimal cage conditions and allowed on the yard for a special treat every few days. The second condition imitated the typical commercial grower, the birds were kept in a stable in my barn with around a square foot per bird, never allowed to roam outside and fed a similar diet as commercial growers. Lastly, I had a group raised in a free range environment. These birds were allowed to free range on the farm and supplemented with purina flock raiser.
I found something scary. The Tyson birds in the stable reached 8 pounds at 8 weeks, they barely moved and ate all the time. The red rangers were around 6 and 7 pounds. Both birds fell about a pound behind in the pet flock. At chick age I lost none of the Tyson broilers and about 5% of the red rangers, but in the free ranging environment I lost that same percent of the Tyson broilers to predators. Neither birds gained much weight in free ranging, only reaching 5 pounds. I sold them to a friend to dress and never asked about the quality of meat so I have no note on that.
I found that the pet flock had more personality, while the free rangers were more skiddish and the stable chickens were just plain annoying.
The Tyson broilers were able to beat the more traditional hybrid birds in most environments. But this is what these birds are bred to do, this is what commercial farming is all about. These birds are meant to survive the worst conditions and gain weight on little feed as possible. Even with the red rangers gaining less weight, that is the goal, for a slower growing bird. It is about quality not quantity.
I now have two hens I kept from a local commercial grower and worry about their health, they have bumblefoot and red, bald chests. That is why I strive for more traditional sources of food where if it was to carry out its natural life, it would survive.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Beautiful birds FD. I love the white colored birds. Unfortunately so does every varmint for a 100 miles of where I live.

Thanks JR, Iv heard that said before. I have lost a few as well. And I "Defend the Perimeter" with extreme prejudice!

 

[Fat Daddy]

Interesting experiment Moodiddy. Good info....

 

[JRNash]

Thanks JR, Iv heard that said before. I have lost a few as well. And I "Defend the Perimeter" with extreme prejudice!

I do too. I've got enough electricity ran to power a mall or arc gouge with. I lost 32 CX in one night. It was spooky. I only found 3 birds in the pen, lined up and spaced a foot apart in front of a big hole in the fence. No feathers or sign was ever found of the others

 

[JRNash]

Every bird was in in the 6 to 7 lb range

 

[JRNash]

I'll look you up on eBay. I'd love to get a male. I get so aggravated looking at hatchery stock with broom tails. And for the record I've worked on every year model vette made (restoration)up to 2008. And owned three. A 75,76,and 77.