A Cornish Cross (Breeding?) Journey

[DemeterAD9]

A Hubbard JA757 pullet of mine has started laying at 17 weeks. Her eggs are brown and very tiny. She also has some shell less misfires that have me a bit worried. But she acts generally normal, apart from some weird behaviours and increased aggressiveness.

Do you know if your pullet is a Ross 308, Cobb 500 or other CX strain? That could help with identifying the should be egg colour at least.

Came from Meyer so she should be Ross 308 or Cobb 500.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Unrelated to the main topic of your post, but what is it you did there with the chicken legs of the processed chickens? How did you tie them together with another piece of skin, and can you cook them this way in the oven?

Looks interesting to me and I've never seen that done before!

I realize this is a month+ old but… when butchering avoid cutting or ripping too much skin when opening the abdominal cavity. When breast up on the table you want to reserve a good skin flap at the base of the cavity. Make a horizontal cut about 2 inches long and tuck the legs in.
This gives you a tidy professional presentation when packaged.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Chunky has been laying fairly consistently which is surprising for a meat bird. So far I have found 5 eggs, the dog found another before I could crawl under the coop for it. The first egg was tiny so I am excluding it from my collection. I’m thinking of aiming for 6 eggs now simply because my broody has been sitting for a while already. Of course I could pull out the incubator but it’s so much easier to let the hens do the work.

 

[cj2024]

Well it not a pure I'm talking pure breed of cornish cross, also you can get cornish cross by breeding cornish and Plymouth?

This lady did it...........

 

[cj2024]

I recommend starting Cornish X chicks on a restricted diet and vitamin water when you get them and line breed them. If you control their feed from the beginning, they can live normal lives.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Egg number 5 was laid, which means it’s good enough for me to give them to a broody. If she lays another tomorrow and/or the next day I’ll also give it to mom. I may have put an OE egg with them, just because I really want a roo from this particular hen and so far I’ve got 4 pullets.

Broody is a legbar based OE who already raised a clutch of 7 earlier in the year. She’s been broody already for at least a week, maybe 2 so hopefully she sits tight to give these a chance to hatch.

 

[DemeterAD9]

A total of 7 eggs from Chunky are with the broody now and it should be day 3-5 depending on the egg. I've candled them and know for certain that 2 are developing. The pigment and/or bloom is pretty heavy on the other eggs so I can't say for sure if they are blanks yet. I wouldn't think very many of her eggs would be infertile what with daily breeding from the SLW x BJG cockerel. I do believe number 1 is a double yolk, guess I should have candled them before. I didn't see development in that one so that is probably a good thing.

I'd be happy if just 2 hatch and thrive, or even just one really so long as it's healthy and docile enough to be part of the breeding project. Seeing as I have plenty of layers now who are decently fleshy, a cockerel is what I will hope for from Chunky. 7 barred hens means I can try a sex linked line next spring, assuming I get a cockerel. Counting chicks before they hatch!

 

[Skyeknight]

A total of 7 eggs from Chunky are with the broody now and it should be day 3-5 depending on the egg. I've candled them and know for certain that 2 are developing.

Since you have a bit of a staggered hatch the chicks born first will be 2 days old but the time the last chicks will be born. At that point they will be walking around and the mom will abandon the nest in favour of taking care of the chicks already born. Make sure the chicks either can't leave the nest for that time being so the mom stays on the nest and check regularly, or look for other advice how to handle that.

I do believe number 1 is a double yolk, guess I should have candled them before.

Hope you tossed it. No point in letting it develops as both embryo's would die.

a cockerel is what I will hope for from Chunky. 7 barred hens means I can try a sex linked line next spring, assuming I get a cockerel. Counting chicks before they hatch!

Cornish cross are dominant white and barred. A son would inherit both of these genes and would be white with black leakage. If you cross the son with barred hens they have a 50% chance to inherit a dominant white allele and a 50% chance to be black. All sons of this cross will be barred but its 50/50 if that is 1 or 2 alleles. While daughters have a 50/50 chance to be barred at all. I think you won' be able to see the difference between daughters and sons with 1 allele for barring. Long story short it wouldn't be sexlinked in the slightest.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Since you have a bit of a staggered hatch the chicks born first will be 2 days old but the time the last chicks will be born. At that point they will be walking around and the mom will abandon the nest in favour of taking care of the chicks already born. Make sure the chicks either can't leave the nest for that time being so the mom stays on the nest and check regularly, or look for other advice how to handle that.

Hope you tossed it. No point in letting it develops as both embryo's would die.

Cornish cross are dominant white and barred. A son would inherit both of these genes and would be white with black leakage. If you cross the son with barred hens they have a 50% chance to inherit a dominant white allele and a 50% chance to be black. All sons of this cross will be barred but its 50/50 if that is 1 or 2 alleles. While daughters have a 50/50 chance to be barred at all. I think you won' be able to see the difference between daughters and sons with 1 allele for barring. Long story short it wouldn't be sexlinked in the slightest.

I didn't know they were barred so that's good to know. And yes I plan on going through the eggs in another couple days and removing the double yolker and the duds. As for the staggered hatch, I plan on locking mom up to make her stay put. I'll finish off the last egg or two in the incubator if I have to and sneak the straggler chicks in once they dry off. She was a good mom last time so I'm not too worried about that.

 

[cj2024]

I think Chunky has laid her first egg(s). Found one in the run and one under the coop the next day where she tends to hang out most often. They are pretty average sized for a pullet, skin toned with vertical markings. Heavier bloom makes them look more pinkish. Compared to my best layer on the right.
View attachment 4181933
Close up of the texture and markings for future reference.
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Comb is starting to flop over now, good for helping with the heat.
View attachment 4181996View attachment 4181997

I’ll be keeping her eggs set aside until I’ve got 10 good ones, then pop them under a broody. I know pullet eggs aren’t ideal for incubating but time is of the essence. It’s hot here and Chunky could keel over at any time.

She is kind of overweight. My 2 Cornish x hens that looked like that gave me 6 fertile eggs to hatch before blowing their guts out. I think it's better to start them on a diet when they are still chicks.

The Breese/Cornish x crossed chicks took 3 months to reach the same weight as the 2-month-old regular Cornish x meat chickens. However, they did not develop an obesity problem like the Cornish x chickens, and the next generation after the first cross are still alive after 4 years. They are the 4 white chickens in the picture. They all have different characteristics, one has yellow legs and look like it pulled on the White Plymouth Rock side, another has white legs and look like it pulled more on the Cornish game bird side, and the other two has blue legs and pulled on the Breese side. However, all of them are about the same size. This line reaches 5 to 6lbs after 3 months and are moderate layers.

I had a very large first generation white legged rooster (Butterball) that I kept for breeding, but his head got caught in my step on hydraulic lid feeder and he was found dead and ended the line.

The Isa Brown male chicks in the picture are the roosters that I will use to continue the line. However, the hens barely lay and are nearing the end of their life cycle, so I am not sure if I can get them to breed.