Anyone ever cross standard cornish hens to other heavy breeds?

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi there! Maybe you should get in touch with Greyfields on this forum. He knows a lot about crossing Cornish problems. You could PM him as I haven't seen him posting lately.

 

[big medicine]

I had an accidental cross of standard white cornish hen and a silver laced cochin rooster. The resulting pullet was the foundation of my siver laced brahma project, she looked alot like this hen, only double laced.

 

[TimG]

I don't think you have to worry about the quick growth issues if you are crossing standard breeds, even big ones.

The breeding stock used to produce the Cornish cross meat birds has been selectively breed for generations in order to produce the fast growing meat bird offspring. You won't run into the health problems when crossing standard breeds that you have access to.

For instance, if you took a Standard Cornish and crossed it with the biggest Rock you could find, the offspring would not suffer from the health issues associated with very quick growth.

Anyway, in my poking around the web looking for information on meat birds, I have occasionally come across a post from someone who wants to breed their own meat birds by crossing Cornish and Rocks. The replies are always along the lines of: you ain't gonna get anything like a Cornish cross that comes from the hatchery.

 

[Krys109uk]

Traditionally the Indian Game (called Cornish Game in US) was used as a farmyard cross to Dorkings, Sussex & other dual purpose breeds etc. to produce good table birds. Indian game do not grow particularly fast so there is no problem there & they give a fair sized carcass. Indian game hens make great broodies & ferociously protective mothers.

A commercial meat hybrid "Cornish Cross" is another thing altogether. No doubt there is Indian Game in their background (& Plymouth Rock?). I have bred one of these pullets. I had to keep her on a restricted diet so she would reach maturity without eating herself to death. She was big & seemed prone to heat stress. She reached maturity & laid good big eggs. Her offspring did not mature particularly quickly & did not seem to have the same 'eat until we pop' death wish. The mother was not long lived, dying at about one year.

 

[TNpoultrybreeder]

I have wonder many times what would a Jersey Black Giant + Saipan Jungle Fowl cross would look like.

TNpoultrybreeder

 

[Jeff9118]

Wow guys I thought this post was dead. Anyways the reason I was worried is I once crossed a cornish bantam to a cochin bantam many years ago and hatched 2 chicks which did mature as fast as the meat birds you order, maybe faster. The chicks ended up being a pair and by four moths old broke down in the legs and died shortly after. Standard cornish dont seem to be as well built or as cornishy as the bantams but was still afraid to try this again. I did take my largest cornish hen and crossed it to a very large Partridge Rock roo after getting some reasurance from greyfields. I only set 2 eggs as a test and both hatched. One died about two weaks later for no apperent reason and is the first chick I have lost this year. Boths appetites seemed normal and both started out growing quicker than the other chicks that hatched the same day but not by much. The one that is left now seems to be growing at a normal rate and seems fine and healthy. I do have more eggs incubateing from this hen and another roo. I will keep you all posted with how they turn out. I plan to post pics of the resulting offspring this fall. Thanks for the replys.

 

[big medicine]

Curious as to the origin of your standard cornish, although rare, good show quality large fowl cornish are built like bulldogs, very typey.

 

[HobbyChickener]

What exactly is a Jumbo Cornish Cross a cross of?

 

[Krys109uk]

What exactly is a Jumbo Cornish Cross a cross of?

None of the "Cornish cross" birds, jumbo or otherwise, are first crosses. They're commercial hybrids developed for the meat market & bred from highly specialised lines. Presumably with Indian game (Cornish game) & Plymouth Rock somehwere in their ancestry.


Edited for spelling. ​

 

[Ryu]

I am crossing my Exhibition Standard Cornish with Speckled Sussex (for Standard Spangled) and with Doms (for Standard Barred). I have done some test crossing, and I have not noticed any growth or health problems.

Pea comb is dominate to single comb.