Busting Myths (mostly) about the Cornish Cross

[Parront]

20 Cornish cross chicks have hatched with several more due in the coming days. They’re the chubbiest chicks I’ve ever seen but are doing fantastic. Most are pea combed (from their sire) with clean legs but several also have single combs and feathered legs. All are white colored but few have black spots. The dad is a Brahma cross rooster so I’m hoping his genes will slow the growth rate and add some height.
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This is their sire:
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I see a couple of much smaller chicks in your photo. These guys are twice their size! Their dad is respectable, I am interested to see how much he slows the Cornish-X down.

 

[Blw18]

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back. The chicks are 6 weeks old today and I feel like I’m running Jurassic Park rather than breeding chickens. They’re HUGE!! The smaller chicks in their pen think they’re their mothers. It’s very apparent that growth rate didn’t slow to a normal pace and it’s still wayyyy faster than average, but their dad’s genes are playing a big role in developing great bone structure and reducing the shear amount of muscle put on. There’s tremendous variation in a lot of traits like comb type, leg color, leg feathering, personality, etc, but they all maintained the genetics for big, meaty birds.

As compared to an English orpington chick from the same hatch.

 

[nicalandia]

Thanks for sharing

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I might have to try sneaking some CX pullets under a Pheonix next spring to raise... this post has intrigued me

 

[cassie]

Just remember, a lot of people who have trouble with the Cornish X have trouble because they are trying to make them into something they are not.

 

[nicalandia]

Just remember, a lot of people who have trouble with the Cornish X have trouble because they are trying to make them into something they are not.

Can you elaborate more on this?

 

[CNJ]

My cornish x I kept for breeding can't fly up on a 1 foot roost. They sleep on the ground. I started feeding them once a day at 8 weeks. Maybe I should give them less feed, 4 of them will eat 3 pint size mason jars, I use to give them 2 pints, but they started eating my isolated rooster's food, so I increased it to 3 pints.

 

[cassie]

Can you elaborate more on this?

Cornish X are bred to eat a lot and to grow fast. They also poop a LOT. They need a high powered feed. They are not long lived. They generally do not roost. They are not heat tolerant either. They seem to do better if they have feed for twelve hours and not all the time. If you want chickens that are active and free range, this is not the breed for you.

 

[CNJ]

Cornish X are bred to eat a lot and to grow fast. They also poop a LOT. They need a high powered feed. They are not long lived. They generally do not roost. They are not heat tolerant either. They seem to do better if they have feed for twelve hours and not all the time. If you want chickens that are active and free range, this is not the breed for you.

But he has proven it can be done. If they can fly up a tree, they are normal chickens.

 

[Tre3hugger]

But he has proven it can be done. If they can fly up a tree, they are normal chickens.

I gotta agree with @cassie on this one. Just cause something can be done doesn't mean that it is a beneficial idea or that it is the "normal" outcome. Most Cornish x don't behave that way, and if they do it is for like 1/3 the time of a non hybridized meat breed before they likely die. With so many interesting and varying breeds of chicken out there, why push these bellies with legs to their physical limits? Just because you can? There are multiple threads proving these birds can live slightly different lifestyles than "fast meat" but they are the minuscule exception, and I personally fail to grasp the pleasure one gets in trying to prove that out. But hey, to each their own.