A question about Cornish Rocks?

[ocaw]

I am wondering if you had a Cornish rock male and cornish rock female could they have chicks? Seems like a obvious question but i have heard that because a cornish rocks has such a big chest that it has a hard time.. we'll say situating himself. Does it make sense if you have a group of 50 Cornish rocks and to save a male and 4 females to keep the meat coming in with their chicks? Or are there to many complications with a mixed chicken like the Cornish Rock?
When does a cornish rock become sexually capable to produce eggs?
Also has anybody given the Cornish rocks a little ground to peck at? And how has that affected meat production? I heard it slows it down by as much as a month.

 

[Lorije1]

I can't answer most of your questions.. but I can toss out opinions on some.
Cornish X do not breed true, so even if you were able to have them breed, you would not end up with the same bird.

As for putting them on the ground... my 3 week olds love being on the ground. I have them in a pen with scratch grains and their feed tray. When they eat all of that (doesn't take very long at all ) they scratch, eat grass (planted oat grass) and spilled oats. I toss them occasional berries. They chase bugs. They are living a life completely opposite of industry birds, which is my goal. As far as slowing meat production? I don't think so. Of course, mine still get their feed off and on through out the day. If they grow too fast you end up with birds dying of flip, heart attacks,e tc If they live they break their legs, get deformities, develop ascites (fluid in the body cavity) and green muscles.

 

[SteveH]

Here's a thread you might find interesting : https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=316007&p=1
and

 

[ocaw]

Thanks for the help i wasnt worried about growing them faster then normal, but i was worried about them growing slower then normal. Also thanks for the link SteveH i saw that thread actually and was reading on it when i developed this question of mine. Thanks!

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
Pesonally I would not go to the trouble of breeding CX to CX to hatch chicks . I think after all of the feed and efforts to keep them semi-healthy long enough to breed [ mine started at around 5 and 1/2 months ] I would end up with chicks not as efficient in feed conversion but with the same health problems . Since they are a blend of 4 parent lines , the resulting chicks from breeding the terminal end [ your meaty purchased from the hatchery ] to each other will break down to some degree into the 4 seperate lines or different blends of them . They would still be big , meaty , and fast growing unless you hit a bad combination with a few hatchlings and genetic flaws such as dwarfism , congenital heart disease , etc. start showing up too often . However , in my opinion , they would not likely be as good the parents . Obviously , I think the CX have something worthwhile to add to my crosses or I would not be attempting to do it ; but the F1s will take several generations of selective breeding before they are an actual strain or breed and I have not even hatched one F1 yet. I am , however , enjoying this little project so its a great success

 

[ijon1]

Its just fun to try different crosses. I hatched out three chicks from CX crossed with my Buff orp - supposed to be Buff Cornish. The chicks seem to be pretty chunky. I' am going to cross back with my big dark cornish.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might find this video helpful. The second link is a continuation of the first. It shows a whole lot about how to raise broilers to breed. There is still a lot of detailed information on exactly how to do this, such as the size of holes for the hens to eat through that excludes the males, but it shows what at least some of the professionals do.

Broiler Chicken Videos