Anyone breed their own cornish x's?

[Arkantex]

So, I was wondering if anyone was breeding/hatching out their own cornish x's? If so, which breed was the male and which breed was the female. How did they turn out?

I would really like to give this a try. What I have read on the hatchery's websites isn't very informative about how they go about it. So, I thought I would check the experts around here. Thanks

 

[cassie]

Look around some old posts here on Meat Birds. That subject has been covered extensively. The Cornish X is not just a cross. It is the result of many years of work. There are distinct male lines and female lines. If you want to play around and breed your own for fun, go ahead. But it is a little like reinventing the wheel. This is a case where you can buy better meat birds, and much cheaper, than you could hope to breed yourself.

 

[Arkantex]

Well my thought was hatch out/raise some good sized meat birds. That way I wouldn't have to purchase meat birds. I talked to my wife and we want to to build a second coop/run. We will keep our laying hens in one. In the other we want to have laying hens and a rooster. We want to take thier eggs, incubate them, and raise them as some meaties. Do you guys/gls think we could get some decent sized meat birds by trying our own cornish rocks or should we just go with some other breed?

 

[cassie]

If you just want to do it for fun, go ahead. But the amount you save by hatching your own chicks rather than buying them will be spent on feed many times over. If you are saving eggs from Cornish X, be aware that they do not breed true. Economics aside, it sounds like an interesting and enjoyable project. No point in having chickens, or anything else, if you don't have fun with them.

 

[Arkantex]

Well I read in the all knowing wikipedia that cornish rocks are a cross between a male cornish male and a plymoth rock female. So, I was thinking about ordering some plymoth rocks and some cornish's and breeding them. See how it turns out. We aren't going to be selling them or anything like that. We have been wanting to buy some chickens, we will keep them seperate from our regular layers, incubate thier eggs (not every egg they lay of course), and use the chicks as our meaties. Does this sound logical to anyone other than we or am I just crazy?

 

[Fred's Hens]

30 years ago, that information had some meaning, ie, crossing Cornish with White Rock. After 30 years of genetic study, experimentation, selective breeding, harsh culling, and detailed science, the birds of today are far, far beyond anything you'd get with that simple cross. In fact, to achieve the "nick" of the final cross, the grandparent stock is highly selected and bred, making the CX effectively a 4 way cross. This is widely practiced in the super-hyper layer birds as well.

No way you can make a true CX or ISA Brown in your backyard. We'd love to, perhaps, but just cannot. We simply do not have access to the grandparent stock to create the parent stock to create the final bird. These genetics are patented and closely guarded secrets of the poultry genetic companies. These are billion dollar, world wide businesses. The writers who state that these super layers are merely sexlink crosses of an RIR over a RIW simply do not have all the facts or their statements are so over simplified as to be useless. Ditto with those who believe the CX is a somewhat basic cross.

Can we "create" some good meat birds? Yes. Can we also breed for and create some good layers? Certainly. But we are quite unlikely to duplicate the results of a million dollar poultry research facility.

 

[ChickenJerk]

In addition to all the very valuable insight above remember that the Cornish and the Rocks available from hatcheries today are not much like the birds of the same name used in the foundation crosses 60 years ago.

 

[cassie]

Just for ducks, why don't you make your own cross. Then buy some Cornish X chicks, raise them all, and compare.

 

[Arkantex]

Well I know there is no way that I can duplicate the quality that decades of breeding and research has done. But, do you think it is possible to breed two decent birds (a cornish and a rock) and end up with a good bird for the table fairly quickly (6-10 weeks)? It isn't that it is to expensive to order meaties from the hatchery every so oftern. I am just one of those guys who would rather do it myself. I am one of those "built not bought" kind of guys.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yup. You certainly can cross a White Rock and White Cornish and get a very respectable meat bird. Or, either breed individually make great meat birds.

The time frame, however, would be far more likely to be 14 weeks and you still might not be completely pleased with the carcass. But hey, the fun is in the attempt.