White Cornish: Building a Quality, Sustainable Flock for Meat and More.....

[lpatelski]

Thanks..
i familiar with Ralphie's toads.

But I was wondering if just "plain regular" CX could live long enough to breed on their own...not with mixing them with other breeds.

Is that possible?

I have Betty my original CX from Murray McMurray. She was hatched 2/6/2015. She has laid near 100 eggs a year. She is fertile when you put a large enough rooster with her. Spike my last CX rooster got bumble foot from his 14 pound weight. Now chicken and rice soup, he gave me some amazing chicks this year, with Betty, for next year's crop.

This is BROODY BETTY, yes this CX went broody 3 times. Her daughter next to her with the pea comb goes broody just as often. I have raised nearly 85 chicks off of Betty. All of my Dark Cornish x CX F1 hens. She is grandma to over 250. This is her third laying season. Yes they can be bred, they can survive and be productive.

 

[Fairview01]

A few of my LFW Cornish I hatched late summer before they stopped laying. Hopefully they will be the basis for my breeding stock this spring. Roughly 6 weeks old. Way too early to tell about the quality but I'm sure it will eat just as well in another 14 weeks if it's a disappointment.

 

[Fairview01]

Yes, I’m still looking for for the white Cornish here. I’ve found two sources of dark Cornish. I’m in western Canada. A local hatchery supplies a dark Cornish meat bird at $8/chick and another smaller breeder has them at $25/chick. I’m thinking the $25 ones are probably a better place to start for keeping to the SOP, but I’m also not terribly worried about adherence. (I’m going to be mostly eating and selling them, not showing) I’m also looking at some Bresse as well.

Not necessarily. At a 1 to 3 ratio and without having any cornish at the moment I would go with the hatchery darks particularly if the goal is primarily meat. Like I previously stated if sufficient numbers are purchased, even hatchery stock can become respectable in 3 generations. Even the best quality stock will throw more culls than quality stock. This book is all about what I'm referring to. Having quality stock doesn't require breaking the bank although many will try to convince you otherwise.

Available from American Bantam Association. $10.00.

 

[Fairview01]

At three months this LF is about a complete package as I have ever had in my flock to date.

 

[Fairview01]

Just checking in on the old thread. How are looking?

 

[Fairview01]

Very nice!
Mary

Oh wow. They look great

What about this one?

 

[Fat Daddy]

I cleaned up and vac-sealed this weekends butcher last night.... Freezer is filling up! I don't put the wings in vac-seal bags. They just don't last that long! ;-) If you haven't tried vac-sealing for yourself you really should try. Done right food will last a scary long time in the freezer. I recently found a bag of chukar (a real treat) that was dated more than 2 years ago.... No sign of freezer burn and seemed as good as the day I put it in...

 

[Fat Daddy]

As implied by the title of this thread, these are meat birds! While they are rare and often kept as show birds, white cornish are awesome for the table. I like to grill up a pile on the weekend, then have them for lunches as needed... Again a vac-sealer is a handy item to have around.... Today's menu is thighs and legs of 16 week old birds, grilled with BBQ sause... I just don't get much better. I hatched them, I raised them, I butchered them, and I cooked them!! In the spring we'll do it all again....

 

[Fat Daddy]

Very nice pal

You would get a bit more for your quality in the UK as utility Cornish is quite hard to come by.

I get £5 a day old chick and have orders for 3 batches of 20 chicks each.
So not complaining

Thanks Dave. I have intentionally priced mine at what many would consider too cheap.... I dont know the conversion to Dollars, but I get $10 per day old chick and $25 for 16 week old, evaluated birds. I sell as many as I have real quick. That's still a lot of money for a chicken! Im actually try'n to get these spread out some, so they are not so hard to find. And the prices being charged by most is almost a crime in its self! A "point of lay" trio is really hard to find and averages $300 to $350.... The bad thing about it is you have to "Know somebody" to get them for that! Egg prices are stupid high and are simply not available from good stock. The Old School breeders usually will not sell eggs or chicks at all. They say the birds should be judged and evaluated by the "Breeders Eye" before being sold.... Many times I have heard breeders chastised for selling "culls" at all... Even when folks are willing to pay extreme amounts, knowing they are buying birds that are not show quality. Just to get a start. They claim it hurts the breed....
I feel this is straight out Horse Hocky! Half the fun is improving a line and making it your own! I think its silly to have to pay those kind of prices. It also takes a different mind set than I can muster to ask such prices. My best original stock I bought as 20 week old birds. I paid $150 a pair for two pairs of unrelated birds, and nearly that much again to have them shipped... I already had some birds about the same age, but not near the quality, I hatched from eggs that came from ebay. $212 a dozen. But to be honest, he shipped almost 2 dozen. Three of those eggs hatched..... It shouldnt be that expensive to get into any breed!
On a differnt note.... You may have heard of recessive white gene cornish hatching with silver down.... I have been breeding toward this for a few years now. Last year I gained some ground. Starting to see about half the chicks show traits of it. A silver belly in most. But I had one hatch today out of pen "C" that is real close to what Im shooting for. These get a extra hole in their toe!..... (I know it looks like Im training them to "turtle" in the pic!

)

 

[TabITSWD]

They look great!

I have to say I am super excited to finally have some white cornish. I hatched 7 chicks from your lines in my late spring hatch along with other cornish and layers. They are in the brooder and are doing very very well. Several were a little sluggish after vaccination day but all are up on their feet and attempting to eat all other chicks out of house and home, lol. They hatched different tints, some kind of reddish some more silvery, some just pale yellow.

I have another round of white cornish that are due to hatch tomorrow evening so I'm crossing fingers there will be several more soon!