Cornish Cross

LOL!! @ Franken chicken.

Yep, hatchery "secrets" just like some of the sex-link "brands" with fancy names - Cinnamon Queens as an example. I did one batch of the CX and while tastey true enough...they are nasty stinky birds laying in thier food dish and thier own filth if you let them. Somewhat better if you free range them with other birds - but what about quarentine? There are some nifty pvc and wire tractor squares on here that would be good for these as they really do need to be moved out of thier own filth often.
Anyway, I went to Sulmtalers. Flesh is considered a delicacy, lay almost 200 lrg cream eggs a year, good foragers and free rangers. They are good sized birds, gain fast (tho not as fast as the Cx's) and no ICK factor. They are NORMAL birds.

Actually, this review is based in truth. Because Cornish crosses put all their food into gaining weight, they never fully develop their major organs, making them prone to many problems and diseases. By supporting this breed, you're essentially killing off the older, healthier, and more sensible heritage birds, which aren't crazily bred like these. If you do some reading into the breeding of Cornish crosses, I think you'll be surprised by how non-ideal they are. I recommend Harvey Ussery's book "the small scale poultry flock", as well as the ALBC website. It's only by stopping eating these hybrids that we can begin to bring back the heritage birds.

The reason your Cornish are not living up to the hype is because of the way you are managing them. I am not saying you should change. It works for you, and that is a good thing. But to maximize gain, they need to be kept in smaller quarters and fed high powered feed. They are bred to eat (a lot), poop (a lot) drink and sleep. Period. As a matter of fact they remind me of my brother-in-law. The way you are handling them, your chickens are probably healthier than most but the gain will be slower.

Yes I agree. I have three of these on my farm at the moment, they are growing too slow so I will have to penn them in a smaller area and increase their protein intake, I think.

I have one that lays. I just made sure to put a nesting box on the ground for her. They eggs are huge, and she frequently lays double yolked eggs.

He said "not very healthy to eat", not that the birds were unhealthy. Have there been any studies that show the nutritional value of a Cornish-X, verses a heritage breed? Cornish-X make a lot of sense for those of us who have small - suburban flocks. Many of us can't have roosters, and when raising heritage breed cockerels for meat you have to wait much longer to process. If your wait for 14+ weeks they will likely be crowing.

I got my first batch for Mc Murray hatchery. They all did great. I have one left that is almost 7 months old. She started laying around 20 weeks, and is a great layer with huge eggs. She is super friendly, and will come over to me and sit at (or on) my feet when I go outside. You do need to keep a good eye on them, and I have to wash her every once in a while, because she's too big to get to some areas herself. She's been ok in the heat, but her sister died a couple months ago in the heat (we had a week over 106), it just got to be too much for her. If you want to keep one as a pet, I wouldn't get your heart set on a specific one. Just keep the one that seems to be the healthiest and get along with your other hens. If you want a fat, fluffy chicken as a pet I would get a Standard Cochin, or an Orphington.

I agree that there is no credibility at this time on the claim that they are unhealthy to eat; cornish cross raised on pasture with some supplemental protein...show me the data that proves this results in a health concern for my family and I'll go to heritage breeds from now on.

It's not actually a true breed, much like sex link production birds, so stating that one is supporting a "breed" over heritage birds and "essentially killing off" the heritage breeds is silly at best and downright absurd at worst. These birds come from a crossing of heritage breeds of great renown, such as the Cornish and Plymouth White Rock, so they are right in line with supporting the best of the heritage breed genetics. They have their purpose and they are not any less healthy to eat than any other chicken if raised like you would any other chicken~exercise, free range, portioned feeds. Nor do they lack in hardiness if raised sensibly, with excellent meat conversion for the feed and time involved. Harvey Ussery killed off a large portion of one of his flocks with botulism in his attempts to feed BSF larvae...who in the world listens to someone who can't keep regular birds alive, let alone meat birds? He's a city boy wannabe who wouldn't know anything about chickens he didn't read in a book.

Not eating CX won't "bring back heritage birds"...that takes time, skill, knowledge and commitment to a breed that few on this forum possess. One of which is Al6517, who has been raising Cornish birds longer than most of us have been alive. When he speaks, stand up and give a listen because he has forgotten more than we will ever know about "heritage breeds".

Sorry, but this is about the worst review I have ever read and not even close to how a Cornish Cross acts. FLY? REALLY?

REALLY? Wanna see some fly? I've had them fly up to 4 ft. high on a hoop coop and then claw their way up the rest of the slant to get inside the coop where I was feeding. I've had them fly to the top of a water bucket that is 3 ft. up. Take a gander at some flying....

Thank you Beekissed, you just proved my point. And yes, mine fly up to a foot for a few seconds - and they're HUGE!

The CX have to be managed to avoid the problems you incurred. You can't let them have continual access to feed or they will grow too fast and develop health problems. The proper exercise and diet for this bird will produce very healthy, very active birds that put on meat quicker than the average chicken but not so quick that it can't be controlled and managed until it's time to process.

What is in these chickens that makes them mature so fast? Are they genetically modified with some other animal? Amazing speed of maturity and they dont even live to be one year old, tasty but creepy!

Raised my first ten last year. Going to do 20 this year with hopes of having some breeding stock to get me through the winter. Any tips?

@knox. If you breed CC you won't end up with the same kind of chicks you bought. It doesn't work like that. IF you can get them to the breeding age, and IF you are able to successfully hatch the eggs, you will still get a meat bird. It won't have the same growth rate/size of a CC though. I had 2 that laid eggs for me, but they often laid super large and double yolked eggs, and only laid for a couple months before stopping. My Roo's were too fat to get the job done with the ladies.

Lizanne, after I posted that query I read another thread that summed up your response. Appreciate the insight....you saved me a bunch of time, effort and headaches for sure. I can understand the "physical limitations" of the Roos.

Ditto to person above. Its all in the management. My favorite trick is raising them with heritage chicks the same age. They make them much more active. I've seen them go off exploring, flying and playing with heritage friends for hours, leaving their feed behind. Yes they are eaters. YOU MUST cut off their access to food about 12 hours per day after week 3. they are great little fatties if forced to exercise, go outdoors and socialize. They will sit and eat and poop all day if you let them, but that is your fault

1. Cornish X dont taste like regular grocery store chickens UNLESS you raise them like FFarms- indoors, no real stimulus, exercise or fresh veggies. Add all these and they taste MUCH better.
2. Nothing wrong with the breed that good husbandry wont cure. Mine take 10 weeks because we FORCE them to exercise and raise them in small flocks with Heritage Birds, who they copy. I've seen the Cornish fatties as we call them forage all day long and never go back to their feeder, having fun with their little chose gang.
3. You cant reproduce them, its a trade secret. Let's figure it OUT and breed healtheir ones.