Breeding your own Cornish X

[lauranickerson]

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

 

[crowmama]

We have Plymouth Rock hens, and a White Chochin Roo. They should be laying consistently by March, so will isolate them from the rest of the flock, to get their fertilized eggs.
Incubate them...
We hope to do a few chicken tractors this Spring
Can check back, and let you know how our cross breed turned out!

 

[CCChickenman]

I'm very interested in breeding my own Cornish Cross someday! I know the famous mix was a Cornish rooster over a White Plymouth Rock hen. Wikipedia told me that that wasn't what today's cross is (at least that's what I took from it)


What is the best mix to get fast growing, meaty birds? Obviously they won't be exactly like the ones you buy as chicks, but as long as there is lots of meat, I'm okay with that!

Thanks in advance!

I recently bred Cornish cross chickens, and I was able to hatch 20 and there avg weight was consistent with the other Cornish x I raised before I had raised 200 in 1 year that I got from the hatchery the key is to feed them like a layer which is about 1/4 lb a day.I am in the middle of breeding a Cornish x with Plymouth rock results to come The new bred is a double rock cross.

 

[CCChickenman]

I recently bred Cornish cross chickens, and I was able to hatch 20 and there avg weight was consistent with the other Cornish x I raised before I had raised 200 in 1 year that I got from the hatchery the key is to feed them like a layer which is about 1/4 lb a day.I am in the middle of breeding a Cornish x with Plymouth rock results to come The new bred is a double rock cross.CCChickenman

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

I recently bred Cornish cross chickens, and I was able to hatch 20 and there avg weight was consistent with the other Cornish x I raised before I had raised 200 in 1 year that I got from the hatchery the key is to feed them like a layer which is about 1/4 lb a day.I am in the middle of breeding a Cornish x with Plymouth rock results to come The new bred is a double rock cross.

I have a small flock of first generation chicks from cornish roo × white rock hen and white rock roo × cornish hen. I am not sure who I should be breeding to next. I read somewhere to breed them back to 'their father/roo.'

i have found that when I had a cross of ISA hen to ISA roo, the chicks really resembled whatever their grandparents were.... whites and reds. That is my only experiment of this nature to date and im not sure that is what I would need to do with my cornish/white crosses... so that tells me I do need to involve one of the pure bred father roos.... but how?

 

[iwltfum]

I have a small flock of first generation chicks from cornish roo × white rock hen and white rock roo × cornish hen. I am not sure who I should be breeding to next. I read somewhere to breed them back to 'their father/roo.'

i have found that when I had a cross of ISA hen to ISA roo, the chicks really resembled whatever their grandparents were.... whites and reds. That is my only experiment of this nature to date and im not sure that is what I would need to do with my cornish/white crosses... so that tells me I do need to involve one of the pure bred father roos.... but how?

Yes if you're going for a meat breed specifically, you would probably want to breed your Cornish roo back on to your F1 birds. This will result in 75% Cornish offspring (backcross 1 or BC1) you can then balance that cross by breeding back to your F1 line.

If you want to end up with a slightly more dual purpose bird or if you want to enhance foraging abilities etc, I would use a white rock roo to cross all your F1's

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

Yes if you're going for a meat breed specifically, you would probably want to breed your Cornish roo back on to your F1 birds. This will result in 75% Cornish offspring (backcross 1 or BC1) you can then balance that cross by breeding back to your F1 line.

If you want to end up with a slightly more dual purpose bird or if you want to enhanced, I would use a white rock roo to cross all your F1's

Thank you so much for your reply. They are just over 12 weeks... and im trying to figure out what I have going on here roos vs pullets... they are really big birds... but minus heads, feet and internals, I can't project what that might look like. A friend took some as he needed layers and processed his boys at 14 weeks and was guessing 3.5 to 3.75 lb on regular layer feed. I'm using 22%.

ANYWAY... your response helped me visualize somewhat of a plan!! I mean... it is all an experiment. Appreciate you!

 

[iwltfum]

Thank you so much for your reply. They are just over 12 weeks... and im trying to figure out what I have going on here roos vs pullets... they are really big birds... but minus heads, feet and internals, I can't project what that might look like. A friend took some as he needed layers and processed his boys at 14 weeks and was guessing 3.5 to 3.75 lb on regular layer feed. I'm using 22%.

ANYWAY... your response helped me visualize somewhat of a plan!! I mean... it is all an experiment. Appreciate you!

That's decent for what you have at this point! If you weigh them and subtract 30%, you will get a pretty close butchered weight estimate. 22% will definitely grow them better than layer.