Bred help

[COChix]

Dark cornish, i have one that looks like her, justs with more gold on her. 

so what type of layers are they? Did you keep for laying or meat? Just curious about the breed, as there is not a lot of information on them. I have read some Cornish are not good free ranger/foragers and are feed hogs that have health issues due to their size. From my observations of the 4 we have, they seem to free range fine, they do like to hang out near the feed, 3 are friendly and come right up to me and two are very skitterish. Thanks for any info.

 

[daveedmunds]

How do I post pics?

 

[Michael OShay]

so what type of layers are they? Did you keep for laying or meat? Just curious about the breed, as there is not a lot of information on them. I have read some Cornish are not good free ranger/foragers and are feed hogs that have health issues due to their size. From my observations of the 4 we have, they seem to free range fine, they do like to hang out near the feed, 3 are friendly and come right up to me and two are very skitterish. Thanks for any info.

Cornish are poor layers, being bred for meat. Typically about 1 egg per hen per week is all you can expect from them (2 if you are lucky). Cornish range just fine. The feed hogs with health issues that you have read about are Cornish cross, which are produced by crossing a Cornish rooster with a White Rock hen. The offspring of this hybrid grows at an abnormally fast rate which produces all kinds of health problems in the birds. You will not have these problems with your pure Cornish breed. As far as temperament goes, Cornish are not particularly docile birds although there can always be temperament exceptions with any breed. My own personal experience with Cornish is that they are very noisy birds (even for chickens), and they do pretty well within a flock of their own breed, but I wouldn't recommend them for a mixed flock.

 

[COChix]

Cornish are poor layers, being bred for meat.  Typically about 1 egg per hen per week is all you can expect from them (2 if you are lucky). Cornish range just fine.  The feed hogs with health issues that you have read about are Cornish cross, which are produced by crossing a Cornish rooster with a White Rock hen.  The offspring of this hybrid grows at an abnormally fast rate which produces all kinds of health problems in the birds.  You will not have these problems with your pure Cornish breed.  As far as temperament goes, Cornish are not particularly docile birds although there can always be temperament exceptions with any breed.  My own personal experience with Cornish is that they are very noisy birds (even for chickens), and they do pretty well within a flock of their own breed, but I wouldn't recommend them for a mixed flock. 

thanks Michael for the insight on these girls. Ours are 22 weeks, I would say one looks mature and the others seem a couple weeks behind her. They are in a mixed flock, RIR, BR, EE, Welsummer's, Delaware and BO roo's. They have been a little mean to a girl that is blind in one eye after being pecked in it. They are daredevils and have made escapes twice during free range. We were thinking of keeping one or breeding with our BO roo's, not sure If that is a good combo. They are rather loud and talkative.

 

[Michael OShay]

thanks Michael for the insight on these girls. Ours are 22 weeks, I would say one looks mature and the others seem a couple weeks behind her. They are in a mixed flock, RIR, BR, EE, Welsummer's, Delaware and BO roo's. They have been a little mean to a girl that is blind in one eye after being pecked in it. They are daredevils and have made escapes twice during free range. We were thinking of keeping one or breeding with our BO roo's, not sure If that is a good combo. They are rather loud and talkative.

You're welcome. You have much better dual-purpose breeds already, so I would just butcher them for me. Buff Opringtons are a very friendly and gentle breed (I have some in my flock), so I would not want to breed potential aggression of the Cornish into my flock. Also, the offspring are likely to have the low lay rates of the Cornish, just like the Cornish X White Rocks do. Whatever you decide to do, good luck with your Cornish.

 

[COChix]

You're welcome.  You have much better dual-purpose breeds already, so I would just butcher them for me.  Buff Opringtons are a very friendly and gentle breed (I have some in my flock), so I would not want to breed potential aggression of the Cornish into my flock.  Also, the offspring are likely to have the low lay rates of the Cornish, just like the Cornish X White Rocks do. Whatever you decide to do, good luck with your Cornish.

thanks again, very good points about breeding them and their aggression issues, we will harvest them in the next month or so. If we want some meaties we can order next summer and raise a round if them for fall.

 

[daveedmunds]

These pics r better

 

[jaymeellis06]

so what type of layers are they? Did you keep for laying or meat? Just curious about the breed, as there is not a lot of information on them. I have read some Cornish are not good free ranger/foragers and are feed hogs that have health issues due to their size. From my observations of the 4 we have, they seem to free range fine, they do like to hang out near the feed, 3 are friendly and come right up to me and two are very skitterish. Thanks for any info.

I got mine back in the beginning of April from Tractor supply in the mixed pullet bin. She is around 24 weeks and has not laid yet, last one out of the bunch i bought with her that has not started laying. I am keeping her as a pet and eggs. As far as free ranging and feeding she is no worse than my other chickens and has no health or leg issues at all. I was under the impression that the cornish cross was the only one with that issue. She is friendly, but will not willingly let you pick her up or does not like to be held. She will come and jump on my legs or my chair and hang out for a a few.

This is my girl Diva. She gets her name from her attitude towards lower ranked birds in the flock. She is not a bully, but will put them in their place.

 

[Cowgirl71]

Your bird is definitely a Dark Cornish! It has a pea comb and the heavy cornish brow.

You should go over to McMurray's website and read the Dark Cornish reviews, they're very favorable. They say that their Dark Cornish are great foragers, excellent mothers, good meat birds, and pretty good layers when they're not busy setting on eggs or raising chicks. The Dark Cornish is basically a game bird, but more dual-purpose. So I ordered a few this year and they're 17 weeks old now. Still a ways a way from laying, but I knew that going in, they are a later-maturing breed. I got them for broodies. My Buff Orps, Barred Rocks, and Aussies are just too "nice" when raising chicks. Within a few days the mouser cats have full tummies and the momma hen has no chicks left. So from the reviews I'm hoping these Dark Cornish will be better free-range mommas. Apparently they have the Game attitude and fiercly protect the little baby chicks.

 

[COChix]

I got mine back in the beginning of April from Tractor supply in the mixed pullet bin. She is around 24 weeks and has not laid yet, last one out of the bunch i bought with her that has not started laying. I am keeping her as a pet and eggs. As far as free ranging and feeding she is no worse than my other chickens and has no health or leg issues at all. I was under the impression that the cornish cross was the only one with that issue. She is friendly, but will not willingly let you pick her up or does not like to be held. She will come and jump on my legs or my chair and hang out for a a few. This is my girl Diva. She gets her name from her attitude towards lower ranked birds in the flock. She is not a bully, but will put them in their place.

Cute girl, looks a lot like ours, we got ours from Meyer. They are 22 weeks.oh and the healthy issues are related to the Cornish X,not the dark Cornish.

Your bird is definitely a Dark Cornish! It has a pea comb and the heavy cornish brow. You should go over to McMurray's website and read the Dark Cornish reviews, they're very favorable. They say that their Dark Cornish are great foragers, excellent mothers, good meat birds, and pretty good layers when they're not busy setting on eggs or raising chicks. The Dark Cornish is basically a game bird, but more dual-purpose. So I ordered a few this year and they're 17 weeks old now. Still a ways a way from laying, but I knew that going in, they are a later-maturing breed. I got them for broodies. My Buff Orps, Barred Rocks, and Aussies are just too "nice" when raising chicks. Within a few days the mouser cats have full tummies and the momma hen has no chicks left. So from the reviews I'm hoping these Dark Cornish will be better free-range mommas. Apparently they have the Game attitude and fiercly protect the little baby chicks.

thanks, haven't made a decisions yet, but leaning towards processing, we really got them for eggs. They were apart of the rainbow pack we got, Michael Oshay had a good point in their aggressiveness, we don't want that bred into our flock. We purposely culled two large RIR Roo's due to aggression issues and have a pair of great docile Buff Orphington Roo's now. Time will tell as to what their fate will be....they are good foragers and are often the one's that stay away from the coop the longest.