Blw18
Songster
- Apr 16, 2020
- 127
- 243
- 116
Be warned: this is a fairly lengthy post!! I’m in college and making 2 sentences worth of information into a research paper is my speciality!!
This past January, I was told by someone at a poultry swap that, “cOrnIsH RoCkS caNNoT liVe pAsT 8 weEks aNd EspeCialLy nOt 12”. I was told that they’re fragile, sickly, dumb, and basically incapable at life. Then the guy told me that they’re hybrids and cannot breed. I know he’s been misinformed, but I’ve heard this from multiple people. He told me that if I didn’t butcher by 12 weeks max, they’d fall over dead. Challenge accepted!!
Bear in mind, I’ve raised CX before for meat purposes so I’m fully aware what eating, pooping, meat machines they can be. But I bought 12 Cornish rock chicks on May 10 intended as my myth busters to find out if the method of raising is to blame rather than the birds themselves. For the first month, I raised them in a brooder stall in the barn to exercise and develop with some chicks of other breeds that are a few weeks older. I began allowing them to free range with the older juveniles at a month old and at 2 months, they had converted to fully free-ranging with the yard flock 24 hours a day. I feed them several handfuls of food a day and fast forward to now, I have a dozen happy, healthy, complication-free Cornish rocks that will be laying in the next few weeks and used for breeding in a project I’m working on at the moment. Mind you, they are very meaty chickens with lots of muscles but they’re also lean and have a large bone structure to spread it out on.
Myth #1: Growth Rate...this is no myth. Those tiny chicks dwarfed chickens much older than themselves very quickly. However, I fed them less protein and a little more calcium than normal which allowed their bones to form at a rate that matched their body. However, given the free-ranging and more normal diet, once they reached an adult bone structure, they slowed wayyy down and are maturing like large breed chickens should...slow and steady with a gradual refining of adult traits. The cockrells are gangly and awkward but filling out and then pullets are showing signs of getting ready to lay. All still have much more muscle and are much heavier than the average chicken, but they’re more body-builders than sumo wrestlers.
Myth #2: Low Hardiness...definitely related to how they’re raised. Mine were exposed to other chickens, dirt, weather, and many other things from day one and none have fallen ill. They’ve handled the 100+ degree heat and high humidity of the Mississippi summer without issue as well as rain and mud everywhere.
Myth #3: Hybrids and infertile...far from it. A hybrid is an animal that is a cross between two species, like a mule or a liger. Cornish rocks are 100% Gallus gallus domesticus (domestic chicken). Their true ancestry likely will never be fully understood and they’re not a true breed, but more of a strain. They CAN and WILL be bred and are 100% capable of doing so. I won’t breed them to each other because I’ll cross them with some of my project birds later this fall.
Myth #4: Dumb...entirely untrue. If anything, they’re a little smarter than average. I’ve found them to by highly inquisitive, friendly, smart birds that are a step ahead of the rest of the flock. When a hawk flies over, they’re the first to not only get away from danger, but alert the rest of the flock.
Myth #5: Food Hogs...yeah yeah this one is true. However, this makes them excellent foragers and they’re the first to exploit a new food source the other chickens haven’t located yet. This food motivation leads them on wide explorations for goodies around the farm and gives them lots of exercise, rids the pasture of pests, and cleans up fallen fruit and farm scraps that attract pests.
Myth #6: Lazy...far from it. Traditionally, Cornish rocks are raised where they have an all-you-can-eat buffet where they are expected to grow and be eaten within two months. Heck if I could eat as much as a wanted whenever I wanted, I’d get overweight and lazy really quick. With restricted feedings and lots of exercise, I now have CX that roost 15+ feet in an oak tree with my yard flock. They fly 5-6 feet up to the top of the rabbit hutch and then onto the lowest branch and proceed to continue to climb. I tried to pen them up when dogsitting our neighbor’s (chicken killing) dog and they flapped strait over the fence and to freedom. Those big breast muscles make for powerful wings.
In conclusion, I found out that when raised without the endless amounts of high protein feed, lots of freedom and exercise, and with other breeds for good examples, the grotesquely horrible Cornish cross can become a really interesting and valuable addition to the flock. I know that for many people, my setup wouldn’t be practical and too much work, but I found it interesting to make decent chickens out of monsters. Don’t get me wrong, I harvest quite a few of my own chickens each year, but I really enjoyed giving an animal with a pretty low outlook of a healthy life a new start and a chance to have a normal existence. I really hope you enjoyed!!
This past January, I was told by someone at a poultry swap that, “cOrnIsH RoCkS caNNoT liVe pAsT 8 weEks aNd EspeCialLy nOt 12”. I was told that they’re fragile, sickly, dumb, and basically incapable at life. Then the guy told me that they’re hybrids and cannot breed. I know he’s been misinformed, but I’ve heard this from multiple people. He told me that if I didn’t butcher by 12 weeks max, they’d fall over dead. Challenge accepted!!
Bear in mind, I’ve raised CX before for meat purposes so I’m fully aware what eating, pooping, meat machines they can be. But I bought 12 Cornish rock chicks on May 10 intended as my myth busters to find out if the method of raising is to blame rather than the birds themselves. For the first month, I raised them in a brooder stall in the barn to exercise and develop with some chicks of other breeds that are a few weeks older. I began allowing them to free range with the older juveniles at a month old and at 2 months, they had converted to fully free-ranging with the yard flock 24 hours a day. I feed them several handfuls of food a day and fast forward to now, I have a dozen happy, healthy, complication-free Cornish rocks that will be laying in the next few weeks and used for breeding in a project I’m working on at the moment. Mind you, they are very meaty chickens with lots of muscles but they’re also lean and have a large bone structure to spread it out on.
Myth #1: Growth Rate...this is no myth. Those tiny chicks dwarfed chickens much older than themselves very quickly. However, I fed them less protein and a little more calcium than normal which allowed their bones to form at a rate that matched their body. However, given the free-ranging and more normal diet, once they reached an adult bone structure, they slowed wayyy down and are maturing like large breed chickens should...slow and steady with a gradual refining of adult traits. The cockrells are gangly and awkward but filling out and then pullets are showing signs of getting ready to lay. All still have much more muscle and are much heavier than the average chicken, but they’re more body-builders than sumo wrestlers.
Myth #2: Low Hardiness...definitely related to how they’re raised. Mine were exposed to other chickens, dirt, weather, and many other things from day one and none have fallen ill. They’ve handled the 100+ degree heat and high humidity of the Mississippi summer without issue as well as rain and mud everywhere.
Myth #3: Hybrids and infertile...far from it. A hybrid is an animal that is a cross between two species, like a mule or a liger. Cornish rocks are 100% Gallus gallus domesticus (domestic chicken). Their true ancestry likely will never be fully understood and they’re not a true breed, but more of a strain. They CAN and WILL be bred and are 100% capable of doing so. I won’t breed them to each other because I’ll cross them with some of my project birds later this fall.
Myth #4: Dumb...entirely untrue. If anything, they’re a little smarter than average. I’ve found them to by highly inquisitive, friendly, smart birds that are a step ahead of the rest of the flock. When a hawk flies over, they’re the first to not only get away from danger, but alert the rest of the flock.
Myth #5: Food Hogs...yeah yeah this one is true. However, this makes them excellent foragers and they’re the first to exploit a new food source the other chickens haven’t located yet. This food motivation leads them on wide explorations for goodies around the farm and gives them lots of exercise, rids the pasture of pests, and cleans up fallen fruit and farm scraps that attract pests.
Myth #6: Lazy...far from it. Traditionally, Cornish rocks are raised where they have an all-you-can-eat buffet where they are expected to grow and be eaten within two months. Heck if I could eat as much as a wanted whenever I wanted, I’d get overweight and lazy really quick. With restricted feedings and lots of exercise, I now have CX that roost 15+ feet in an oak tree with my yard flock. They fly 5-6 feet up to the top of the rabbit hutch and then onto the lowest branch and proceed to continue to climb. I tried to pen them up when dogsitting our neighbor’s (chicken killing) dog and they flapped strait over the fence and to freedom. Those big breast muscles make for powerful wings.
In conclusion, I found out that when raised without the endless amounts of high protein feed, lots of freedom and exercise, and with other breeds for good examples, the grotesquely horrible Cornish cross can become a really interesting and valuable addition to the flock. I know that for many people, my setup wouldn’t be practical and too much work, but I found it interesting to make decent chickens out of monsters. Don’t get me wrong, I harvest quite a few of my own chickens each year, but I really enjoyed giving an animal with a pretty low outlook of a healthy life a new start and a chance to have a normal existence. I really hope you enjoyed!!
