Confession time

[walls0stone3]

Sustainable? this is kinda marketing 101... such a warm and fuzzy word

if cornish were not sustainable then why do we have so many around? I had a 3 Y/o Cornish X (just died cold and wet) you can make your own little cornish x's or some other bird..

I have 2 other ways to think on it. Here we had a Cow/Calf operation... we'd own mom cows to make babies to then sell to ppl who finished them for your meat...you folks who order birds would be the ppl who "finish" birds. You do what You do and they do what they do...

OR.. learn to cross them yourselves... make your own mom and pop family and raise them on your own. it's the cross that makes them good to eat and fast growing. any other way costs to much money

 

[CarriageStone]

I tried Freedom Rangers last year. No thanks. The taste wasn't better as I'd been lead to believe by some of the testimonials. The folks at the hatchery were great to work with, though. We just processed our first batch of CX's at seven weeks old and they were bigger than rotisserie birds from the store. 67 CX's for seven weeks on 800 pounds of 20% Grower is quite alright by me. The taste was very good. Along with that batch we processed a mean Speckled Sussex roo. For a dual purpose breed you'd think it would have been a good meat carcass, but no at all compared to the CX's. These animals each have their purpose. You don't pick a thoroughbred to pull a plow and you don't bet on a mule in the derby. It's a good exercise to try to solve the riddle of an alternative to CX's, but reality is reality. They are tough to beat.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
Yeah the difference is quite dramatic after you have done a bunch of CX then throw in a lone DP bird and throw it in with them. I did the same thing one time. Before that i had it in my head that I was going to establish my own meat type, sustainable cross. Needless-to-say, that isn't real high on my priority list anymore. I am still working on it, but I have lowered my expectations.

 

[ChooksChick]

Gah- never thought I'd see myself here, but here I am...

What is the other breed commonly found in the cross? I know you hear specifically of the Cornish Rocks, so we know those are some Plymouth Rock for the other breed in the hybrid...

What is used for most Cornish 'X?'

I mistakenly crossed (rather, Spring Fever did!!) a giant Aussie Light Sussex over a Partridge Chantecler flock. Didn't know until the hatch. These birds were all males, every one, and they have grown VERY rapidly. They are about 10 weeks now and might dress out at 3#, but given a couple more weeks, they'll be massive.

I had my Partridge Chante roos dress out at 5-6# at 17 weeks, but had they had more space they may have done better- they are phenomenal foragers and devastated the giant pen they were in...a flock would work well for bulldozing.

I've considered making a breed that was near DP but faster in growth, and thought this Sussex-Chante cross is close. It'll likely be a 12 week processing job, but we'll see. Huge breasts and legs...look like turkeys. Or like a CX on stilts!

 

[ChooksChick]

If one kept a flock of Cornish, or even just a roo, one could make any cross they wanted...

So if these Sussex are knee high, what would you get if you put a Cornish over them? Have any of you made your own CX with varying breeds? I have massive Orps...and Marans...

What is the optimal cross?

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
I think you get me wrong. Just because I am making a compromise does not mean I am abandoning my principles on sustainable agriculture. These birds will still be raised on pasture, and I will still eat grass finished beef and pastured pork. I still think the CX is a Frankenbird and is unsustainable in the long term, but raising this bird my way is still preferable to factory farm chicken you buy in the grocery store. I see no reason why we can't eventually breed a bird that grows fast enough, gets big enough, and has enough breast meat that we can breed, raise, process, and sell directly off the farm.

Just we ain't there yet.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Read around the forum a bit, there is a wealth of knowledge on these topics... Katy has a thread that's 50 pages long on breeding your own meat breed.

Just keep in mind that the cornish x in the hatcheries are not white rocks x cornish any more. They were 60 years ago but it's been tweaked and modified for 6 decades... It's like apples and bananas now.

It takes generations to get what your after... at least 5-10 years to see decent results. But it is fun to mess around with, keeps me busy in my free time!

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Read around the forum a bit, there is a wealth of knowledge on these topics... Katy has a thread that's 50 pages long on breeding your own meat breed.

Just keep in mind that the cornish x in the hatcheries are not white rocks x cornish any more. They were 60 years ago but it's been tweaked and modified for 6 decades... It's like apples and bananas now.

It takes generations to get what your after... at least 5-10 years to see decent results. But it is fun to mess around with, keeps me busy in my free time!

Lordy, I never should have looked down this path! I've got 20 color/breed projects going on as it its! Katy's only an hour and a half from me!

 

[mama24]

Quote:
It's only May and in the 80's here, and my 3 CX's are already lethargic and panting all the time! They are about 7 weeks old, and I am planing on processing them this weekend. Temps are supposed to go up to the 90's this week. Poor things. I can't imagine raising them here in NC during the summer! I don't think I'm going to get them again. I might try some Freedom Rangers next time. These CX's are so sweet and friendly, and I just feel realy bad for them! I don't have a problem raising my food, but it hurts me to see how much trouble they have just walking around.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Quote:
Read around the forum a bit, there is a wealth of knowledge on these topics... Katy has a thread that's 50 pages long on breeding your own meat breed.

Just keep in mind that the cornish x in the hatcheries are not white rocks x cornish any more. They were 60 years ago but it's been tweaked and modified for 6 decades... It's like apples and bananas now.

It takes generations to get what your after... at least 5-10 years to see decent results. But it is fun to mess around with, keeps me busy in my free time!

Lordy, I never should have looked down this path! I've got 20 color/breed projects going on as it its! Katy's only an hour and a half from me!

Did you move to Idaho?