Backyard Cornish X Breeding Question

[linebacker]

I dont post much on this site, but I am constantly watching the discussions and have learned so much from all the great questions and answers everybody else post and cant thank yall enough.

When you try to breed your own Cornish X's are you just concerned with the first cross (The F1s) as the goal. Or do you conentrate on breeding the first crosses and making the F2s your primary meat birds.

I know I wont get the huge crosses that the hatcheries sell. (It would be great, but I dont have 40 years and millions of $s to devote to it).

Anyway I guess my question is do I build my birds based on the purebreed parents or by specifically picking the first cross for traits that I want that may or may not be passed down to the next generation, because they are hybrids.

 

[silkiechicken]

I think there was a big thread on making your own meat birds, but in short, you have to develop two pure bred parent strains that are semi meaty, then, after that, you mate them and use the F1 for your meat chicks. F1 xF1 = too many variables.

 

[lynxpilot]

I'm starting my own flock of white rocks for dual purpose this year. I looked into the homemade cornish cross thing and it looks dismal, trying to keep up with major producers. I'm curious as to what their weight will be at 12 or 13 weeks. I'll probably be marketing itty-bitty broilers, but they'll be 'all natural' nonetheless. Brown eggs from the survivors and they supposedly have good winter egglaying hardiness.

 

[Klorinth]

Hey Everyone,

I'm curious as to why people seem to think that they need to "keep up". Why should we be trying to match what the big hatcheries produce?

For myself I am looking at raising the best birds I can. I want something that has good size, but flavour and health is more important. I want to know that I can have a bird that will grow well at a fairly fast rate. I don't want the leg and heart problems. They should be able to live as long as I need until I can process them if necessary.

I am one of those people that believes that we can have more. We do not need to sacrifice. That is what I see in the big hatcheries. Sacrifice quality for quantity. Pick the qualities that you want to see and work towards them. Don't let others change you.

 

[greyfields]

There are a zillion threads on this topic. Yes you can do it. No they won't be like the jumbos broilers you get from hatcheries. Read through the first few pages of posts here.

I have done it with several crosses. They just look too thin and not plump enough for me to sell. Although it's cool to eat them myself and say I did it.

This is the ATTRA publication on how the big poultry producers do it:

http://tinyurl.com/2htr75

If I recall correctly, they make a hybrid AB using a laying strain (A) with a different strain (B) of each breed. They then do an AB x CD to get an ABxCD. The trick is their parent strains have been selected over 40-50 years for certain qualities, that the parents no longer resemble a Cornish or a Rock you would find from a breeder.