100 Broilers and Fermented Feed Project

[BCMaraniac]

Can some knowledge meat bird grower answer a question that has bothered me for a while? As I understand it CX are essentially unable to achieve adulthood due to heart and leg problems so what are the bred from? I farm egg layers and my brother-in-law raises CX broilers that he gets as day old chick but he has no idea what the breeding process us.

A CX is a 4 way cross. There are two different breeds that produce the hen, and two breeds that produce the rooster. Then the rooster and hen mate and produce the CX. No one knows exactly how they are bred. So they are very selectively bred hybrids. IF you got them to breeding age, then the next generation, because it is a hybrid, would give you different kinds of offspring.

 

[Romoshka]

A CX is a 4 way cross.  There are two different breeds that produce the hen, and two breeds that produce the rooster.  Then the rooster and hen mate and produce the CX.  No one knows exactly how they are bred.  So they are very selectively bred hybrids.  IF you got them to breeding age, then the next generation, because it is a hybrid, would give you different kinds of offspring.

Ah, ok now im beginning to understand. Now you say no one knows exactly how they are bred but someone has to know. For purely academic purposes I really want to know so ill keep searching. Perhaps the poultry science dept here at Clemson should have the answer.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Ah, ok now im beginning to understand. Now you say no one knows exactly how they are bred but someone has to know. For purely academic purposes I really want to know so ill keep searching. Perhaps the poultry science dept here at Clemson should have the answer.

What I meant by no one knows exactly is that there was very selective breeding done to get the specific genetic makeup of the breeding flocks. I am sure people know what breeds are used specifically. I would hazard to guess that two of them are Cornish and White Rock....lol.

 

[Angelicisi]

See, the hybrids are owned. Well the secret recipe is anyways, hard heavy culling & mass breeding in small amounts of time (new parent stock gets spent at a younger age meaning more parent stock is needed regularly).
Many people make their own versions too with white rocks/cornish and a few others. (google breeding Cornish cross) loooong history of why someone can't give you the breeds and BAM you go make your own. It's been perfected over so many generations to please the load of the meat industry. Time and money and quantity of birds needed to produce the hybrids are not even close to efficient for small scale farms. Ultimately they made A bird we want that we cannot afford to make ourselves. Cheaper and quicker to buy theirs as day olds.

Ah, ok now im beginning to understand. Now you say no one knows exactly how they are bred but someone has to know. For purely academic purposes I really want to know so ill keep searching. Perhaps the poultry science dept here at Clemson should have the answer.

 

[Arielle]

Can some knowledge meat bird grower answer a question that has bothered me for a while? As I understand it CX are essentially unable to achieve adulthood due to heart and leg problems so what are the bred from? I farm egg layers and my brother-in-law raises CX broilers that he gets as day old chick but he has no idea what the breeding process us.

I think you are asking aobu the breeding behind the cornish rocks . . right??

THeyare bred from 4 lines from what I have read. Two on the female side and 2 on the males side. THen the lines are crossed to make a bird with super hybrid vigor for growth.

THe lines have been carefully and methotically developed to make a super fast chick to table bird in about 8 weeks. Selection is not for longevity and health as it is not necessary: they are not hte parent stock, but rather the end stock.

I kept a few cornish X pullets and now have 3 offspring: 2 males and 1 female. ANd they are the heaviest muscled creatures I have. IHopefully the health of the roosters I used will bring a bit of longevity, but it will be a process!! I will need to start breeding the pullet as soon as she is laying because I don't know how long she will last. ANd the same for the 2 males. BEcause NONE of my original cornish cross stock made it to 10 months old.

Feeel free to reask your question if we didn't answer it.

 

[ashlieneevel]

I just wanted to say that I sat down and read all 155 pages of this thread in one sitting and I found it very informative and somewhat persuasive to NOT try raising these birds myself LOL I was also extremely upset to get to page 155 after 8+ hours of constant reading to not get a final tally on the amount of food used to feed these birds. I think thats a pretty crappy thing to do to a person LOL. If you happen to recall what that came out to be I sure would love to know. could you please let me know how many bags of 50# feed you ended up using. The cost of the feed is immaterial to me since the price is different depending upon where you are anyway so just a bag count would be great. Thanks so much and you are absolutely amazing for doing this and I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into the raising of the birds and documenting it here for all of us.

Hope all is well

Ashlie

 

[LindaB220]

...

I just wanted to say that I sat down and read all 155 pages of this thread in one sitting and I found it very informative and somewhat persuasive to NOT try raising these birds myself LOL I was also extremely upset to get to page 155 after 8+ hours of constant reading to not get a final tally on the amount of food used to feed these birds. I think thats a pretty crappy thing to do to a person  LOL. If you happen to recall what that came out to be I sure would love to know. could you please let me know how many bags of 50# feed you ended up using. The cost of the feed is immaterial to me since the price is different depending upon where youz are anyway so just a bag count would be great. Thanks so much and you are absolutely amazing for doing this and I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into the raising of the birds and documenting it here for all of us.

Hope all is well

Ashlie
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Oh wow,Ashley. Great job of persevering on to the end. Lovely to have you on the BYC. There's a lot of threads on this, especially on the Meat Birds Etc forum. Unfortunately, kuntrygirl no longer is on here. BUT we are. And happy to help you anytime. Check out your state thread on"Where an I? Where are you?

 

[ashlieneevel]

Thanks LindaB220

I'm sorry to hear she is no longer with BYC. I have been reading everything I can here on the forum and it is all so fascinating. I'll be sure to check out the thread you mentioned. I see your in LA I used to live in NOLA, but grew up in FL but now I live in Europe in Amsterdam Netherlands. Is there a thread for the Netherlands? I guess I'll have to search and find out LOL. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Have a great day!

Ashlie

 

[Arielle]

Thanks LindaB220

I'm sorry to hear she is no longer with BYC. I have been reading everything I can here on the forum and it is all so fascinating. I'll be sure to check out the thread you mentioned. I see your in LA I used to live in NOLA, but grew up in FL but now I live in Europe in Amsterdam Netherlands. Is there a thread for the Netherlands? I guess I'll have to search and find out LOL. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Have a great day!

Ashlie

There are a few folks From the NEtherlands that hop on now and then. Henk is one.

Hopefully you got the gist of feeding FF and the benefits. I dont feed it exclusively in the winter-- more as a treat. THere is a FF thread if that might interest you.

 

[lazy gardener]

I think you are asking aobu the breeding behind the cornish rocks . . right??

THeyare bred from 4 lines from what I have read. Two on the female side and 2 on the males side. THen the lines are crossed to make a bird with super hybrid vigor for growth.

THe lines have been carefully and methotically developed to make a super fast chick to table bird in about 8 weeks. Selection is not for longevity and health as it is not necessary: they are not hte parent stock, but rather the end stock.

I kept a few cornish X pullets and now have 3 offspring: 2 males and 1 female. ANd they are the heaviest muscled creatures I have. IHopefully the health of the roosters I used will bring a bit of longevity, but it will be a process!! I will need to start breeding the pullet as soon as she is laying because I don't know how long she will last. ANd the same for the 2 males. BEcause NONE of my original cornish cross stock made it to 10 months old.

Feeel free to reask your question if we didn't answer it.

I just finished gleaning from a book: Practical poultry breeding by Don C. Warren. He describes the 4 way cross, but doesn't give specifics on which breeds. There are some excellent, if not dated photos of what can be achieved by making specific crosses to beef up a meat bird. Unfortunately, to do it right, it would require much more resources than the back yard flockster has available, in terms of breeding pens and breeding stock. But, you certainly could create your own DP crosses that would have hybrid vigor, and be heftier than either of the parents!