A Dark Cornish Story

[lotzahenz]

I have recommendd Dark Cornish on several occasions as it is one of my favorite breeds. Not exactly the prettiest bird on the farm, but a great asset. Good luck with your project, keep us posted and we love pics. I have not seen very many dark cornish breeders listed anywhere, and I got mine from Murray McMurry.

 

[sosanista]

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Well I was fortunate enough to meet Chris yesterday and I also got the number from one of the judges of a champion breeder out of AZ. I'm pshyched. I beg to differ on the prettiness of the Darks though. Though not as colorful as other birds, they have a unique character and charm to them and they do seem pretty to me, but then again my next favorite bird out there is the blue shamo roosters. LOL

A shamo from the show this past weekend:

 

[sosanista]

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Oh ya. One veteran judge told me yesterday that most of the hatcheries don't actually carry Dark Cornish birds. He said they have a rolodex of breeders on hand, as most people don't keep them anymore, and when somebody orders them they call them to get the eggs. Makes sense to me, as Welp didn't give me a delivery date until well after I placed the order. Just an interesting tidbit but not sure if it's true or false.

 

[kooltex]

I love Cornish. I got a batch of WLR Standards from Ideal last year, ugh. Dissapointing to say the least. They are NOT cornish. I did order some bantam Cornish eggs off ebay last year, got 4 to hatch out of 6, not bad, but lost one. These were Cornish. Even though they are bantams, they are like you said, PITBULLS! I love them, I ordered more eggs from the same breeder about a week ago, hopefully I'll get a few to hatch. I want to build these up. They are nice! I did catch my Dark Cornish Bantam roo breeding one of my red broiler hens today. Hmmm may have to hatch some of those just to see. Your hatcher cornish aren't too bad though if you compare them to mine that I got from Ideal. Yours look a bit meatier. Oh well, here's a pic of my bantam roo. Keep us posted on yours, love the breed.

 

[sosanista]

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That's a nice looking bird kooltex. Def more like what I'd like to see around here. At 8 weeks, is it still night and day as far as how they will look, say, at 15 weeks? Are the show quality birds as stealthy as the hatchery ones? Thanks for sharing.

 

[kooltex]

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That's a nice looking bird kooltex. Def more like what I'd like to see around here. At 8 weeks, is it still night and day as far as how they will look, say, at 15 weeks? Are the show quality birds as stealthy as the hatchery ones? Thanks for sharing.

They are! And for being such a little guy he rules the flock, and I have 2 standard white rock roos that he competes against. He thinks he is so BIG! I have another WLR Bantam roo from the same hatch, he is built the same, thick and heavy! His color is not as great, but his structure is perfect. I have one Dark hen. So I am really hoping for some hens out of this next hatch. They are def. show quality birds, I am extremely happy with them. I'll continue to order eggs from that breeder. I really wanted standards, but just couldn't find any. I may order some from welp, your's are much better than my hatchery stock. Though the 4 hens I have left from that order are good broodys for hatching.

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

I raise and breed Cornish from standards to bantams and hatchery stock is so far away from the real deal it is almost sad. 90% of hatchery stock don't even Bow out like they should. DarkCornish should be little meat houses and very heavy in weight.

 

[sosanista]

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How old is the dark in that picture? Is he/she a standard or a bantam? That pic gives me hope because mine look very similar. Thanks for sharing!

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

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How old is the dark in that picture? Is he/she a standard or a bantam? That pic gives me hope because mine look very similar. Thanks for sharing!

shes a bantam here is a not so good pic of my standards few months ago I need to get some better pics

 

[SteveH]

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I think the straight dark Cornish do look good in the pens , but was not happy with the 6 month old WLRC's scrawney body . Thanks for the update .