Breeding Cornish X Rocks

[CrazyTalk]

cornish rocks are genetically modified. no regular chicken breeder would be able to replicate the cornish rock without a scientific backround in genetics. from my understandings they take the nucleus of the cell and apply bacteria to it in order to have the fast growth since bacteria multiplies rapidly. if you were looking into a meat bird id go with the delaware. it was the commercial broiler before the cornish rock was introduced. they are typically a nice eating size in about 16 weeks. not to mention they are also NON-GMO. studies show that GMO foods lead to cancer and many other diseases. unfortunately the world has turned to GMO for profit.

1. No, cornish cross are not genetically modified - there are no genetically modified animals at this point.

2. There are no reputable studies showing that GMO foods have any link to cancer - the studies - which include billions of animals (in livestock trials) and millions of human beings - have shown absolutely no evidence of any harm. There have been 0 incidents of GMO foods causing any sort of illness or reaction. The research is there - it's done, and it's conclusive.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is no reason to genetically modify a broiler. They got where they are purely by selective breeding, using the same general process used to create every breed out there, carefully select your breeding stock. It’s just more intense with genetic experts spending a whole lot of money over time. They could even create chicks that put on weight faster purely through selective breeding, but they can’t keep them alive when they do. Their skeletons can’t keep up so they break down or their heart just can’t keep up. They have pretty much optimized growth rate, feed conversion rate, and keeping them alive so they reach butcher weight. I’m sure research continues on the mortality problems and there may be a breakthrough but it has not happened yet.

 

[lazy gardener]

1. No, cornish cross are not genetically modified - there are no genetically modified animals at this point.

2. There are no reputable studies showing that GMO foods have any link to cancer - the studies - which include billions of animals (in livestock trials) and millions of human beings - have shown absolutely no evidence of any harm. There have been 0 incidents of GMO foods causing any sort of illness or reaction. The research is there - it's done, and it's conclusive.

#1. Not necessarily true. There are zebra fish which are now GMO in the true sense of the word. They are the neon colored ones that you see in the pet shops. If my feeble memory serves correctly, their neon color comes from a gene inserted from a coral. http://www.aboutfishonline.com/articles/glofish.html

#2. One might wonder if the biggest concern regarding GMO crops is the focus on making them "Round-Up ready". Which means that these crops can grow well while Round-Up is being applied to the area to kill off the weeds. There is a lot of research that suggests that Round-Up or glyphosphate is not the benign weed killer that it is advertised to be. At the very least, it is a hormone disruptor. At the very worst: while it does not show up in the soil a season after being applied, there are studies that show that it is tied up in the micro-organisms that feed the soil.

GMO is not selective breeding, which has been going on since humans started farming. GMO occur with the deliberate insertion of a gene from one species or organism into an other species. While I don't want to start an other war about the use of the term GMO, I would suggest that any readers who are curious do their own research. The studies are there. Depends on whether you want to read Monsanto or Dupont studies, or other studies that are not funded by these two companies.

 

[CrazyTalk]

1. You're right about the GMO danios - and I wasn't specific enough - there aren't any GMO animals that the public is going to run into. There are quite a few that are used for research purposes.

2. Round Up Ready crops are a very small portion of GMO crops, and making any sort of statement on GMOs based on RoundUp is nothing but a red herring. GMO is a technology - and being scared of that technology for completely ancillary reasons is a bit strange - Round Up is about the safest herbicide we have today - and Round Up Ready crops have drastically reduced herbicide usage - as Round Up has completely replaced Atrazine in Corn production - and that's a good thing, as Atrazine breaks down much slower and is more hazardous.

People need to realize that there's no possible world where we're able to feed everyone and not use pesticides - the goal should be to find and use the safest ones - and RoundUp is the safest herbicide we have at this point.

GMO is more commonly being used now to move virus and bacterial resistance between different varieties of a single plant - moving plum pox resistance to multiple varieties - fighting ringspot virus in papayas, moving fireblight resistance in apple varieties - these all lead to less pesticide use, and healthier food. Virus resistance in bananas is another project - we're about to lose the current commercial banana strain - just as we lost the last one in the 90s.

There's Golden Rice - which turns on beta-carotene synthesis, and will prevent Vitamin-A deficiency caused blindness in large chunks of the world (if eco-terrorists stop burning down the fields). There's the Arctic Apple project, which is removing some of the enzymes that make apples brown and rot - leading to healthier, better storing apples. There's the SuperBanana, which deals with the same Vitamin A issue, but in different parts of the world.

There's an absolute ton of good things going on in the industry - but nobody wants to hear about it, and nobody wants to report it - because it doesn't get the ratings that "Frankenfoods are killing you" does.

The idea that Monsanto and Dupont are polluting the scientific studies of GMOs is just unbridled conspiracy theory - as I've said before - we have feeding trials consisting of BILLIONS (with a B) of animals at this point. We have controlled studies with millions of human beings, and these things have been on the open marked for decades - and there is not a single verifiable example of anyone having any sort of reaction, or health effect from eating GMO foods. There's been more independent study of GMOs than any drug, vaccine, or consumer product on the market.

GMO foods are tested for allergens - conventional bred foods are not. GMO foods are tested to make sure there are no new protiens - conventional bred foods are not. GMO foods are held to drastically higher safety standards than conventional bred foods.

It's pretty easy to go through the last 30+ years of agriculture and find conventionally bred foods killing people - potato strains that had really high solanine levels but still made it to market. Look at the Lenape potato - it made fantastic potato chips ... and killed people. It was selectively bred for sugar content.

There was a conventionally bred strain of celery in the 70s that gave people who ate it debilitating rashes. There was conventionally bred strain of carrots full of dangerous levels of psoralens that made people sick. There have been several conventionally bred squash that put people in hospitals.

You can't find these with GMO foods - because they actually get tested before they get to market.

 

[kfacres]

I have a couple CX x White Cornish cockerels that I plan to breed back to White Cornish hens this year. Will be an interesting cross.

 

[janoel8-48]

These are my Cornish rocks and they are on day 1. I plan to butcher them but I don't know how old they should be before I do so? I think that 8 weeks is two young but I also think that 14 might be too long. Any suggestions?

 

[CashandTracy]

These are my Cornish rocks and they are on day 1. I plan to butcher them but I don't know how old they should be before I do so? I think that 8 weeks is two young but I also think that 14 might be too long. Any suggestions?

6-8 weeks is the recommended age to butcher commercial (hatchery) Cornish rocks. It will ultimately depend on the size of the birds at butchering time. 14 weeks will definitely be too long for the commercial birds. I saw some at state fair last year that were around that age, they were the size of turkeys and couldn't walk.

 

[janoel8-48]

Thanks

 

[kfacres]

Just came in from butchering this dude. He didn't winter very well, and either was injured, or frost bite to a foot. 6 months old- hanging dressed carcass of 6 pounds 10 oz. However, I take the wings off a joint lower than most people, so add that in, and we're looking at easily a 7 pound bird hanging upside down.

I still have a full/ hatchmate brother that I intend to breed back to some White Cornish hens, was growing both out to determine which I wanted for stud.

This bird was F1 White Cornish cock mated to Cornish Rock X hen.

 

[elmbarr]

It's been a few years since your original post. How is the Delaware breeding going?