Broiler Advice?!

[EmAbTo48]

We have been doing broilers for 3 years now. We currently have 40 that have 2 weeks before butchering.

We have been purchasing them from a hatchery as day old chicks, however, we are wondering if its possible to keep a hen and roosterfrom this flock for them to breed? I have a incubator if the hen is a crappy brooder and some very broody layers that could do the job well.

But can we even get fertile eggs out of these? Are there speacial broiler hens the hatchery is using? The only reason I would like to do this is we would like to down size greatly from these birds next year ( we have been doing it for family/friends and getting paid the cost). We would much rather hatch about 5-8 ourselfs and that's it.

Will this hen and rooster die quickly? Any advice would be great!!!!!

 

[4-H chicken mom]

If you are talking about the Cornish X meat birds, they are not meant to be breeders. They are a cross from two different breeds. I am having a brain stall right at the moment on what the breeds are.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Yes, the broiler-breeders used are the results of decades of selective breeding. The chicks that the hatcheries sell are hybrids that won't breed true. They are actually the result of a four-way cross with the grandparent birds coming from four different flocks, with the male lines coming from Cornish stock and the female lines coming from Rock origins.

 

[EmAbTo48]

Thanks for the replys!

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

There have been some experiments with keeping Cornish X hens and using a heavy breed white rooster on them. But these are experiments, and results have been variable.

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
It can and has been done, but keeping them down to a size where they're breedable is difficult, especially the males, and pretty expencive compared to buying chicks. You may pay a little more per chick by buying 5 or more from a retailer like Tractor Supply [over buying from a hatchery], but its still much, much cheaper than trying to breed your own; and the puchased chicks come from a cross with predictable qualities for growth and processing traits.

Several of useing CX to breed participate on this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=316007&p=12