Anyone ever outcross Cornish X with heritage Birds?

[lpatelski]

Murray McMurray Hatchery carries the original Indian game, now known as Dark Cornish. An order for15 chicks get free shipping and an order for 6 gets a $30 small order surcharge plus shipping which comes out close to a standard 15 chick order. In addition, customers can mix and match with other breeds as long as the availability matches each other.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/dark_cornish.html

I just put my batch of Murray McMurry Dark Cornish in the freezer. They were the worst birds I've ever raised. They were under weight for Pure Cornish - 2 pounds at 55 days of age. When I processed them two had something in their crop; they were on full feed 24/7. I would not bother with Murray McMurray stock. The genetics are horrible, not one had the correct feather pattern, they were feather/blood pickers (I call them Vampires) despite being on a 25-28% protein mix with vitamin infused water. I will never order anything other than a Cornish cross meat bird from a hatchery again.

 

[Skyeknight]

I just put my batch of Murray McMurry Dark Cornish in the freezer. They were the worst birds I've ever raised. They were under weight for Pure Cornish - 2 pounds at 55 days of age. When I processed them two had something in their crop; they were on full feed 24/7. I would not bother with Murray McMurray stock. The genetics are horrible, not one had the correct feather pattern, they were feather/blood pickers (I call them Vampires) despite being on a 25-28% protein mix with vitamin infused water. I will never order anything other than a Cornish cross meat bird from a hatchery again.

What I have gathered from this site is that hatchery stock is bred more towards egg production (maybe even have leghorn crossed into them). So they don't look like the standard for their respective breeds. If you want a specific breed it's better to aquire them via a breeder. Especially when you want them for meat.

 

[cj2024]

I just put my batch of Murray McMurry Dark Cornish in the freezer. They were the worst birds I've ever raised. They were under weight for Pure Cornish - 2 pounds at 55 days of age. When I processed them two had something in their crop; they were on full feed 24/7. I would not bother with Murray McMurray stock. The genetics are horrible, not one had the correct feather pattern, they were feather/blood pickers (I call them Vampires) despite being on a 25-28% protein mix with vitamin infused water. I will never order anything other than a Cornish cross meat bird from a hatchery again.

I raised two Murray McMurry Dark Cornish roosters up to 4 months and decided not to breed them to my Cornish X hens. They were about 4lbs at 4 months. I decided to use a good-natured Breese rooster instead. The offsprings from this cross took three months to reach the size of Cornish X at 2 months. However, they could live normal lives and didn't die from obesity. I went up to F3 and decided to raise Red Star hens for eggs instead. I got tired of processing them and will take a break. I am waiting for my standard white Cornish hatching eggs to arrive and will try crossing a rooster with my newly hatched ISA Brown chicks. I recently hatched three Isa Brown chicks (2 hens and one rooster). They are going on two weeks, and they look and act like they have hybrid vigor. They are hyper fast, and zip around their play pen every now and then. I wonder how their offspring will turn out when crossed with a white Cornish rooster.

My order for red star chicks from Murray McMurray is scheduled for September 2025. The earlier months were all sold out.