Can you produce your own cornish-rock crosses?

[GennieF]

Hello,

We are pretty new to the chicken world and would like to produce our own meat chickens. I have seen the Cornish-Rock cross listed as essentially THE meat chicken of choice due to the extremely fast growth and broad breast. Is it possible to purchase the White Cornish and White Rock chickens and breed to produce this type of meat bird? Sorry if this is a stupid question, this is still new to us and while we have egg layers we are wanting some meat chickens and thought it would be best to breed our own rather than ordering them direct.

Gennie

 

[BawGock]

Hi Gennie,
According to this site:
http://feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Broil/BRKMeat.html
The Cornish and Rocks used to produce the Cornish/Rock meat birds are themselves bred specifically to produce the fast growing hybrids.
There are probably folks in this forum that have experimented with producing their own Cornish/Rock crosses that can share their experiences on this topic.
Carolyn

 

[TimG]

No. As the previous poster said, the parent stock used by the commercial producers of Cornish Crosses are not your every day Cornish and Rocks.

You may be interested in reading through this thread for some ideas about backyard meat programs.

 

[Judy]

Additionally, you can buy white plymouth rocks, which are a decent meat breed in themselves, but you cannot buy white cornish except in bantams, that I know of. Some of the experienced poultry folks on here say they have never even seen one.

JM Hatcher's colored rangers, bred for meat, are hybrids and will not breed true, but can be raised to breeding age and will reproduce, also. Of course, the dual purpose breeds make good eating as well; if butchered young enough, they are quite tender and tasty.

 

[cassie]

Producing your own Cornish X is a little like reinventing the wheel. It has already been done, and done very well. You cannot hope to equal the performance of the commercial chickens. And you sure wouldn't save any money by trying.

 

[GennieF]

Hi there,

We aren't trying to reinvent the wheel or try to create a type of bird that will be a "super chicken", but moreso the idea that we could create our own cornish rocks when we choose versus ordering. I figured any strain purchased through a hatchery obviously wouldn't be able to compete with some of those monsters I've seen, but perhaps that hybrid vigor would still be advantageous over a purebred. Rather than reinventing the wheel I'd probably liken it more to rather than buying a wheel off someone, we'd be buying all the materials to have in order to make wheels when we'd like to use them, lol. We are looking into Jersey Giants as somewhat of a dual purpose but apparently they take a long time to grow, and would like to have some that mature much earlier as well.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
Actually, this is probably not entirely accurate. I read that here in several threads so looked around in other forums for someone who actually bred and raised some. According to the folks who have done this, they breed fairly close to the parent.

It is probably true that they aren't pure, because they aren't a well-established breed that goes back many many generations with a limited gene pool, but the genetics are all there in both parents to produce the same sort of good meat bird in the offspring.

I''ve pretty much decided this is going to be my starter bunch for my meat breeders.