Question for those who are working on their meat bird projects

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Quote:
No I was meaning standard cornish. With my understanding of the goals you stated, a CX would be way to big a pain to grow to maturity for breeding each year and would not hold over until the following year.

my input on the breeds you have mentioned - I found the Buckeyes a gorgeous BIG breed but not hardy in my area, in fact disasterous. However my one remaining BE is a GREAT daily layer and went broody twice this summer. I did cross her with huge gorgeous Brahama roo this summer and was very disapointed in the resulting offspring; at 24 weeks the males were all bone and feathers and the pulletts were still not laying. They did forage well but had none of the delightful personality of either the BE's or the Brahma.

 

[Jared77]

Got it thanks Katy.

It was just a hairbrained idea that I had. The Buckeye seems to have undergone a serious rebirth as it seems many folks have them for a DP breed and it got me wondering.

I've alway been a big fan of the Delaware and the NH as their rate of maturity and respectable size has always been high on my list of wants in a breed. Was just wondering if I could tweak it with a cross.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I think you have a great idea. I would keep one of those breeds (delware or NH) and get yourself a real cornish roo and see what you get. htey look little but man do they have muscles.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

With my experience with New Hampshires they are very slow to mature. The male I have (out of 8) was the biggest. He towers over my Buckeye roosters but is not built for meat... more for eggs. So just keep that in mind... He may work though over a CX hen quite nicely though because of his very tall upright stance and would downplay the squatty / wide CX hen.

Just a thought.

 

[threesons]

What about a brahma roo over Cornish hens? They should be big! I have a nice big brahma roo, wyandottes, Sussex and two Cornish hens. Which would be better hmmmmm

 

[LindaB220]

What about a brahma roo over Cornish hens? They should be big! I have a nice big brahma roo, wyandottes, Sussex and two Cornish hens. Which would be better hmmmmm

Way old thread but if I had a choice I'd use a Sussex roo over cornish hens. They are faster maturing and have an extra special flavor to the meat. Like the Dorkings. Good luck. By the way, welcome to Backyard Chickens. Hope you like it here. We have a lot of awfully nice people who will help you a bunch. Search the Meat Bird Etc forum for info.

 

[threesons]

Thank you!

 

[Klutch]

Try a pure NH roo, to maximize the vigor input of a NH. Like most things they cross once, unless they are trying to create breed/

 

[Debs55]

just stumbled across this thread while doing some research and was hoping to get some opinions. I am currently raising 8 cornish X and do not like them at all. I do not like how fast they are growing, their weak legs, lack of feathers and overall greasiness. So I am hoping to come up with my own cross. I am already in the process of building breeding pens for another hatching egg project so I'm hoping to utilize the breeds I already have/will soon have.

Right now for roos I have Buff Brahma and Barred Rock, but once my breeding pens are done I will be getting a black Australorp, a buff orpington and an Silver laced wyandotte.

For hens I have production reds, silver laced wyandottes, barred rocks, buff orpingtons, white leghorns, black australorps, brown leghorns, and 1 buff brahma

I am thinking maybe crossing a buff brahma roo with either a buff orpington hen or a black australorp hen.

What do y'all think?

 

[threesons]

IDK, Brahmas are definitely slower to sexually mature and may be a bit slower to reach their full size potential, but not to be ruled out entirely, at least not for us.

I wasn't impressed with Brahma roo over RIR hens. Much faster to sexually mature, but I got 1 massive yet sweet pullet and a handful of so/so sized, testosterone charged cockerels. I don't think any are still feather legged. One of my RIR hens is notably more solid and the rest have attitude issues, so I might be happier culling the rest and keeping the one hen and trying another batch.

BB roo over BR hen I've been happier with. Slow sexual maturity, avg growth rate but nicely sized when we processed. Much larger than the same aged BB X RIR roos. Inside though, the BBXRIRs had testes the size of walnuts as opposed to the BBXBRs which were like pea-sized. We'll be hatching more of the BBXBRs.

We're also going to do at least 1 hatch of BB roo over Cuckoo Marans hens in the Spring.

Can't give specifics on feed, but any increase wasn't drastic enough to be noted. Once they were feathered enough, they went out to free range with the general population all day. We just gave them their own house for the night. When we processed the roos, we moved the pullets into the big house. We've another group in the smaller house now, but only a couple of BBXRIRs in that bunch.

We've got a small batch of CX going right now. I'm planning on using the tractor from them for the Spring BBXBRs and BBXCMs. I have a feeling the bit of confinement will give just enough boost for me to be happy with one of the sexlink crosses.

I know RIR is Rhode Island Red, but what does BB and BR stand for?