Am I missing something here???

LakotaWolf

In the Brooder
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I'm interested in raising CornishX for meat birds. When I go to the supermarket I see two Rock-Cornish hens in a package, both the size of a parrot. Great taste, but tiny. Then I read here that CornishX are the same size as any other hen. Is there a difference between Rock-Cornish, Cornish-Rock, or CornishX???
 
A Rock Cornish hen, or cornish game hen, or however they are packaged in the grocery store are simply young cornishX broilers butchered at 2-3 pounds dressed weight. The cornish broiler cross is called any number of things, but the breed was developed using Plymouth Rocks and Cornish; each hatchery has their own strain of this cross. We raised Cornish crosses from Ideal Poultry, they were fed a turkey starter, then flock raiser at four weeks, and reached six and a half pounds live weight in a little over six weeks.
 
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Not sure of the difference of a Rock-Cornish vs a Cornish-Rock. I would guess that the first name would be the bread that the chicken would get the most characteristic from. My dad and I raised 25 I think they were the CornishX. They were a quiet bird and eat well before I returned home we butchered 12 birds which avg out to be 6.5 pounds! My dad did the last a month later and said they grow to almost 8 lbs each. They are a large breasted bird. Hope this helps!
 
The only difference between the little Cornish Game hens and the big broilers at the grocery store is about 3 to 6 weeks. The little 'game hens' are actually 3 to 4 week old chicks. The broilers are processed at about 6 to 10 weeks.
All commercial meat birds are the same hybrid-type bird. Cornish Cross, Cornish Rock, and Rock Cornish are all the same thing; a fast growing white bird that will reach harvest weight in just a few weeks time.
 
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Basically, what they said
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those little parrot-sized birds are the same breed, simply butchered around 3 weeks old. The regular whole chickens or chicken parts you see are the same breed, butchered around 8 weeks. Same birds, probably same feed, just babies vs, well, older babies.
 
Thanks folks. Sounds like typical sales hype then. Put a food out before it's allotted growth time, give it a special name, and charge twice as much. Ok, since Cornish hens seem to grow a little faster than other types, how long should I wait between the time they leave the brooder and slaughter?
 
Thanks June. Let's see, 3 weeks in the incubator, 6 weeks in the brooder, and 8 weeks free run. 17 weeks total. That's doable.
 
You're going to be buying hatching eggs? That's the three weeks in the incubator I'm guessing?

3 weeks in the brooder, and then maybe 5 weeks after that. Typical butcher time for CX is 8 weeks of age. Some folks do take them a bit longer, and if you're free ranging that may be possible. They do tend to be self-terminating and after 8 weeks you might start to see they dying off.
 

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