Breeding Cornish X Rocks

[tuchickens9]

What  did the off spring look like?

from the cornish x orpington they look just like hens with white and orangish feathers but were more heavier than my other breeds and eat more than them too but calm and gentle.

 

[enola]

While that cross should work, I believe that my Cornish backyard birds would be more 'fool prooft' in terms of restricted diet.  I have found that in order to max egg production, fertility, and hatching rates-- nutrition needs to be at the highest point possible.   That cannot happen with restricted diets.  

Breeder hens for broiler chicks are on a restricted diet to keep them from getting over weight. They are weighed every couple of weeks and the amount of feed is adjusted. Their fertility/hatch rate goal is 80% or better.

 

[Clsikes]

I thought it might be an interesting journey breeding my own self sustaining Meat birds. I am aware that I will not be able to recreate the CornishXrock and I'm totally fine with that.  I started with DP hens RI Reds, Buff Orbingtons, White rocks,Barred rocks, Astrolorps  and a few  more breeds of hens. And my plan was  to breed them to a Dark Cornish rooster. All chicks raised so far have been hen brooded and raised with there hen till she pushes them away. With the goal of having a happy medium between good egg production,broodiness and a little better  carcus than DP birds. I know I'm asking a lot but, at the end of the day at worst it will all taste like chicken! So far the fastest growth has been from DarkCornish rooster over RI Red hen. I also picked up a couple rock crosses for ***** and laughter and raised them with DP chicks.  I have raised  one rock cross pullet she is now 4 months old. As soon as she starts laying I'm going put her under DarkCornish rooster. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Was it a hatchery dark Cornish or one you raised?

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Jumping in here-- these prices are quite good actually-- I was expecting GFF prices!! $100 a chick is expensive. $5-7$ plus shipping is reasonable.

THey are taking 2014 orders now.

( I have no association with this farm; nor used their products-- just saying the price is reasonable.)

 

[call ducks]

Going to jump in here -


So broilers have been done for 60 years - the first 10-15 were simple two way crosses between production lines of cornish and plymouth rocks. 4 way crosses really did not come into play until later. Grand parent lines are maintained by careful 'tweaking' of the genetics every so often by adding new blood.

And while it is now done with mostly stats the first four way crosses were created by hands on intuition.

kfacres - While you are getting good growth rates right now unless you start thinking about other lines to add in your birds growth rates and feed conversion ratio will go down to lack of heteros...Just because your results are good now does not mean the will continue to be good in later generations. Now if you know as much about genetics as you imply you should be able to come up with a way to solve that...

 

[kfacres]

Simple solution, linebreed and keep the lines pure.

Adding in new lines and looking for genetic diversity, will never be a goal of mine.

I can make plenty of progress with enough hatching and genetic selections.

 

[call ducks]

Simple solution, linebreed and keep the lines pure.

Adding in new lines and looking for genetic diversity, will never be a goal of mine.

I can make plenty of progress with enough hatching and genetic selections.

Line breeding for meat birds? That won't be sustainable unless you are hatching and culling hundreds of chicks a year. After a while the production quality in your line will diminish. It is heteros in part that makes the broilers the best in what they do. It is heteros that makes any bird meant for production good. Linebreeding was not practiced by farmers until very recently. And large genetic corps. Line breed but introduce new blood every so often to keep the heteros up.

Wish you luck....

 

[kfacres]

Line breeding for meat birds? That won't be sustainable unless you are hatching and culling hundreds of chicks a year. After a while the production quality in your line will diminish. It is heteros in part that makes the broilers the best in what they do. It is heteros that makes any bird meant for production good. Linebreeding was not practiced by farmers until very recently. And large genetic corps. Line breed but introduce new blood every so often to keep the heteros up.

Wish you luck....

You must be mis-informed. Linebreeding is the oldest method of forming a breeding program. How do you think that the breeds were established? LInebreed individuals for generations and generations to set the 'type'.

I'll agree that heterosis is why the CX birds thrive. However, I can make a product just as meaty, and tons more sustainable.

I do have one question, what do you think the goal of my operation is? My desires are to make meat birds, that means birds will be killed and ate. I'm keeping back the best cockerel each year, out of 40 or so, and I'm keeping back the best 3 or 4 pullets-- again out of about 40. If that isn't drastic culling, then I don't know what is.

It's going to take me generations to establish a true breeding pre-potency in these birds. Hybrid vigor is something highly desired in most instances, but it's not one of mine. I stress consistency to the upper degree, and it is a dictionary proven fact that those two do not go hand in hand.

I think there are a bunch of unanswered questions, but I know how I'll be continuing onward with my birds. I've made tremendous progress in the past 3 years, and by no means am I any where near where I want to be. I have some genetic points that need to be tweeked more, and if a new bloodline is required, then so be it... But, to be honest, I'm not certain I want to bring in any show Cornish bloodlines.

 

[call ducks]

Quote:
Farmers have not been using line breeding in poultry until the 1900's. Farmers crossed chickens with other chickens there were no breeds. Fanciers made the breeds not farmers.....

A commerical bird is not unsustainable.

I have a great friend that works with Light Sussex. She raises 700-800 throughout the season. Her breeding flock consist of ~80 birds. Various culling takes place at a certain time periods for crucial weights.

 

[Paulyp]

Was it a hatchery dark Cornish or one you raised?

Hatchery stock. I would like to try something other but, I am happy with my hatchery stock.