Busting Myths (mostly) about the Cornish Cross

[black_cat]

I raise several other breeds but I kept the CX with the free-ranging yard flock. They live in the barn and find most of their food in the fields, garden, and woods around my house. I call them to the barn every day right before dark and feed just enough to satisfy them but not too much so that when they wake up the next morning, they’re hungry and ready to search the farm all day for food. When they were in the brooder, I took away their food at night.

Ah, so those birds get the majority of their food from free ranging? How do you think you would raise these for pets if you had to keep them confined? It's be hard to keep them from gorging on a free choice feeder needed for other birds, I suspect.

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

Great post! I’ve only had one Cornish X , but with proper feeding etc. she lived about seven years and had plenty of chicks in that time! She was a great chicken - happy to see someone else has had success with the breed beyond meat!

 

[Blw18]

Ah, so those birds get the majority of their food from free ranging? How do you think you would raise these for pets if you had to keep them confined? It's be hard to keep them from gorging on a free choice feeder needed for other birds, I suspect.

They get majority of their food right now but I’ll supplement more as winter hits and all the good food items go away. It depends on what you feed and how much space for exercise if kept in confinement. I have the roosters in confinement in a bachelor pen with others and I feed maybe a handful or two early on but I give them enough that everybody is full but they don’t leave any leftover for mice and rats to find. It took a while to get a reading of how much they needed but it surely helps with food waste. Also, normal breeds tend to overeat as well so I find I use less feed this way but still have healthy chickens that lay lots of eggs.

 

[Blw18]

Great post! I’ve only had one Cornish X , but with proper feeding etc. she lived about seven years and had plenty of chicks in that time! She was a great chicken - happy to see someone else has had success with the breed beyond meat!

Wow that’s amazing!! I’m so glad that they can actually have good long-term success. And that’s a long life for ANY chicken let alone a CX! I really think that Cornish X get a bad reputation and there’s a lot of misinformation about them.

 

[iwltfum]

Great post. I can appreciate the qualities of the Cornish crosses, but I believe cornish crosses are hybrids. I'm not sure if the scientific community is separate from the agricultural community regarding the definition of hybrid, but in the ag world that I'm involved in, a hybrid is anything that's been purposefully cross bred, and excludes both straight line genes or "open pollinated" (aka heritage) breeds or strains. The potential to hybridize does not stop at the species line. For example green bean variety #1 can be bred to green bean variety #2 and that would be a hybrid, just like an orpington and leghorn cross would be a hybrid. Cornish ROCKS specifically on the other hand, some people would call a heritage breed. Where it gets confusing is that lots of heritage breeds are actually accidental barnyard hybrids that have been bred long enough to breed true and to be recognized as an individual breed. Lots of confusion in the heritage/hybrid debate, but breeding true is one factor that most can agree upon.

 

[nicalandia]

Great post. I can appreciate the qualities of the Cornish crosses, but I believe cornish crosses are hybrids. I'm not sure if the scientific community is separate from the agricultural community regarding the definition of hybrid, but in the ag world that I'm involved in, a hybrid is anything that's been purposefully cross bred, and excludes both straight line genes or "open pollinated" (aka heritage) breeds or strains. The potential to hybridize does not stop at the species line. For example green bean variety #1 can be bred to green bean variety #2 and that would be a hybrid, just like an orpington and leghorn cross would be a hybrid. Cornish ROCKS specifically on the other hand, some people would call a heritage breed. Where it gets confusing is that lots of heritage breeds are actually accidental barnyard hybrids that have been bred long enough to breed true and to be recognized as an individual breed. Lots of confusion in the heritage/hybrid debate, but breeding true is one factor that most can agree upon.

Your definition of Hybrid is highly simplistic, but if we are going to judge them by those guidelines then CornishX are Not Hybrids since they breed true, If you breed Cornishx among themselves you will get Big White birds that grow super fast and have the widest breast of any chicken you could possibly raise, I dare anyone here to prove me wrong.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

While I've only raised four Cornish X (three currently in the flock, the last of the fourth is currently in the smoker for dinner), the three which remain are at 27 weeks and doing just fine. Mix of daily feedings (they are pigs) and free ranging around 2 acres. I did not restrict diet enough, and the one on the smoker got too big to do the deed, became a danger to my other birds. The two hens are reliable layers, though I'm uncertain if any of my rainbows have been successful in mounting them - we've not tried to incubate any eggs yet.

So I'm going to add my confirmation to most of what the original poster offered. On 4 - Intelligence - I'm not convinced. Our remaining Cornish X rooster does crow to alert the flock to overhead predators, loud and proud, but compared to some of my other birds, they don't seem nearly so bright. The Dark Brahma, particularly, are better foragers, more predator aware, figured out the nesting boxes sooner (though they don't yet use them), and generally show more personality. But they aren't as stupid as my Pekin ducks, so that's something.

/edit to add - the fourth Cornish was processed in his 24th week, and was doing too well, rather than any particular health concern. 12.8# live weight, 9.5# processed. Leg 1/4s were 1.5# each, the breast quarters were just over 2.5# each, and had5 oz of heart, liver, and gizzard after cleaning. Was like a very small turkey.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How were you able to regulate feed while raising them with other breeds? I know that for most chickens people give free access to food. How would you do that without the CX eating it all and getting big?

This has been addressed but I'll expand on it some. To me this is a qualified myth, not necessarily correct in all conditions. I'm talking about the dual purpose chickens more than the Cornish X.

For thousands of years people have raised chickens without feeding them anything during good weather months. There are some qualifications. You have to have good forage. Many farms do. They have pasturelands, hayfields, orchards, wood lots, and even having other large livestock around gives them a lot of food resources. You can't do this in a suburban backyard lot, you need a lot of area with good forage. You have to be able to free range them. If predators ae too bad you can't do this. You'll notice the OP has some that sleep in trees. Can you do that with your predators or risk tolerance? Depending in winter weather you may need to supplement their feed. Poop management is a lot easier if they are spread out all over instead of confined to a smaller space.

You are not going to raise grand prize winners at a show, those pretty much require a special diet. Regardless of breed, they won't grow as big or as fast as they will if you free feed them, that's sort of the purpose of this thread. Their eggs won't be as big as they would be if you feed them a higher amount of protein. You can still eat the chickens and they will lay a lot of good eggs, but neither the birds or eggs will be as big as they could be. With them free ranging it's harder to make them the kind of pets that will perch on your head and shoulders or climb into your lap for a cuddle. This training generally involves handling and food, hard to do when they are free ranging and you are restricting what you feed them,

The commercial meat industry and commercial egg industry have developed birds that provide a lot of meat and eggs very efficiently if the birds are managed a certain way. You are not going to get the same results if you manage them differently. I consider overfeeding them to be the biggest medical risk to Cornish X and the commercial laying hybrids. They are bred to use food efficiently, either to make meat or to make eggs.

To me, if you can raise and keep chickens without buying much if any of their feed that's tremendously efficient way to feed your family. That will not work on a commercial basis, commercial requires too many chickens if that is how you are going to make money for your family and lifestyle.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Follow up - I find this comment from @Ridgerunner " You have to have good forage. Many farms do. They have pasturelands, hayfields, orchards, wood lots, and even having other large livestock around gives them a lot of food resources. " to be of critical importance. While my flock of (currently) 31 has 2+ acres to free range, and a huge mix of choices, it is not sufficient to meet all their dietary needs over the summer, much less the winter

**may have** does a lot of work in that paragraph. Quantity does not equal quality in this case.

 

[iwltfum]

Your definition of Hybrid is highly simplistic, but if we are going to judge them by those guidelines then CornishX are Not Hybrids since they breed true, If you breed Cornishx among themselves you will get Big White birds that grow super fast and have the widest breast of any chicken you could possibly raise, I dare anyone here to prove me wrong.

It's true. It's petty simple. But cornish cross don't breed true. That's why every year there are billions of dollars put into maintaining breeding flocks of the multiple strains required to create the CX as well as all the genetic predecessors. You might get a big clumsy white bird out of the first round of eggs from breeding two together, but every generation will be regressive from there unless you invigorate the genetic line by crossing different breeds into the cornish cross line.