Cornish Thread

[Murs]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. At least now I know what I am dealing with. Now I just need to figure out what to do with it.

I don't want to process it. I'm also not interested in keeping it alive if it's going to be miserable. sigh...

 

[al6517]

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Well then it seems you are in a pinch both way's, what else is left to do ??.

 

[NYREDS]

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Cornish are notoriously poor layers & tend to have fertility problems as well. Most of the Cornish breeders I know [& there aren't many of them] have enough trouble getting out the birds they need. Can't imagine why any of them would sell eggs or for that matter, given feertility issues, why anyone would buy them.

It is true that good SQ heritage LF Cornish don't lay very many egg's maybe 120-130 eggs a yr, WTS they breed fine in all varieties except for some very large older Roosters that may or may not have to be AI'd but that's only if you want to hatch. Cornish egg's are fragile and don't ship well let alone hatch because a dry hatch serves them better with better ratio's. So by making a blanket statement that they have fertility issues is mostly untrue, and that is mainly from very good stock.

The post I was responding to indicated an interest in good stock. I also tend to jump to the conclusion that people are interested in quality birds when they are looking. Yes, there are "Cornish" that don't have fertility issues but they are generally very poor examples of the breed.
Your statement ".....but that's only if you want to hatch" is a bit puzzling. Again the question I was responding to was about locating hatching eggs.

 

[chickened]

My birds are SQ LF cornish with the heavy frame and not hatchery stock and the breeder I got them from had no fertility issues. My problems have been incubation, inconsistent laying and chick survival. I have some Penedesencas that are worse than any cornish for fertility.

 

[chickened]

I think the larger problem is people stating SQ birds when selling eggs and getting leggy hatchery crap is more common. Itook a gamble with some eggs off ebay with photos of nice WLR and they are 4 months old and look like hatchery grade. They were supposedly from a quality breeder who won shows, definitely a scam.
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It is true that good SQ heritage LF Cornish don't lay very many egg's maybe 120-130 eggs a yr, WTS they breed fine in all varieties except for some very large older Roosters that may or may not have to be AI'd but that's only if you want to hatch. Cornish egg's are fragile and don't ship well let alone hatch because a dry hatch serves them better with better ratio's. So by making a blanket statement that they have fertility issues is mostly untrue, and that is mainly from very good stock.

The post I was responding to indicated an interest in good stock. I also tend to jump to the conclusion that people are interested in quality birds when they are looking. Yes, there are "Cornish" that don't have fertility issues but they are generally very poor examples of the breed.
Your statement ".....but that's only if you want to hatch" is a bit puzzling. Again the question I was responding to was about locating hatching eggs.

 

[galanie]

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The post I was responding to indicated an interest in good stock. I also tend to jump to the conclusion that people are interested in quality birds when they are looking. Yes, there are "Cornish" that don't have fertility issues but they are generally very poor examples of the breed.
Your statement ".....but that's only if you want to hatch" is a bit puzzling. Again the question I was responding to was about locating hatching eggs.


Maybe he did win shows... with the only one of that type in the show

 

[big medicine]

One thing to keep in mind is not to be too hasty in judging/culling young Cornish.

Dad tells a story about a guy who bought some young white Cornish from Lewis Strait. (Mr. Strait bred and raised some of the best white Cornish ever produced, for you that were not aware of him) These birds must have been delivered to a show by a third party, or maybe shipped. Either way he must have bought them sight unseen. He told Dad that when he first saw them he was less than impressed, in fact he was embarrassed for anyone to see such gangly looking birds on his place, and gave serious thought to just butchering the darn things, but figured to grow them out enough to at least get to good butchering size. He was telling Dad this years later, and they grew into the best white Cornish this guy ever had, and won several ribbons for him. So don't be too hard on young birds untill they get the chance to mature and develop their full potential.

 

[spangledcornish]

I would completely agree standard Cornish take a long time, esp. the females; the head really starts to come in after their first laying cycle. We have found that they really start looking good as two year old, and that the standards really do have what I call a gangly teenager faze, it could be 10 months before you might have a good idea of how they will fair.

The first year we had standards we only hatched one female, she was small, no head, would have sent her on her marry way but I needed females so we kept her, next summer was just so, so.
After the second winter she developed into a very nice bird that we ended up showing quite a bit.

Moral: be patient with std. Cornish esp. your females

ACA Hady

 

[chickened]

That is true, my cockerals hve the cornish look in the head already but as I was looking over the hens they seem gangly and not as nice as when I picked the keepers about a month ago. Laying definitely changes them.
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[Kenneth Flippen]

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Looks like a commercial meat bird that's in poor health. Though commonly called Cornish Cross, there hasn't been any Cornish used to breed them for many, many years; and the term Corish Rock or Cornish Cross more than a bit misleading.

Just what they use in them or if they've developed their own strain? My uncle had 7 commercial poultry houses which I helped him with until he sold them I have a cousin who has layers

Kenneth

Oh yeah they wouldn't tell the growers b/c they didn't want them arguing over which ones grew the best