Corndells Extinct?

[nepoisopen]

To begin with, I'm not advocating re-inventing the wheel, nor am I going to begin to approach the dead horse subject on hatchery vs breeder birds, plenty of other posts/threads addressing that issue specifically. What I will try to do is lay out what I was attempting to accomplish through this project, and report that I have little to report AT THIS POINT about the project, since it's in it's infancy. Also, I'll happily entertain as many questions as I can about this, and fill in the details as best I'm able to, without trying to pass judgement on others' pursuits. For this particular project, I was lucky enough to have scored a beautiful quad of pure bred Cornish chickens, and chose the best from a batch of Delaware chicks we received from Sandhill Preservation Society. I'm going to cross some of this stock initially to get a couple of good lines going, then I'm going to introduce some "blood" from the Hubbard Line.

First, let me say that the outline of how I'm going to move forward is very complicated, so prepare yourself for that, and I'm also very much aware of my limitations as a backyard breeder, but IMO, this is a strength, because I can be more forgiving since I don't have a bottom line or goals that are so stringent. Off the soapbox now, and on to the meat! The theoretical way I'm moving forward is this: I'm goin to use "breeding pens" that are 4x4 with nestboxes with attahced 4x8 "runs". The idea is these will each have 1 trio or 1 quad, (depending on what I come up with for stock!) and a couple 8x8 "grow out pens", for seperating males from females as early as possible.
My theory was to have "breedings" every 3 months, 4 times a year, and choose the best out of these to breed back the next year. A simple outline is like this:
BREEDING PENS
Pen 1
Male CornX Delaware Pen
1 Breeding Pen,(4x8 with 1 nestbox) 1 Growout Pen,(8x8)
Left Side: Male CornX Delaware Quad (3 Cornish RX Females + 1 Delaware Cockerel keep 3 Best Males, females sell as pullets!)
Growout Pen: Best Male Results from 1L

Pen 2
Female CornX Delaware
2 breeding pens (2 4x8 with 1 nestbox), 1 Growout Pen,(8x8)
Left Side: Cornish Delaware Quad (3 Delaware females + White Cornish Cockerel keep 3 best Females, eat/sell Males!)
Right Side: CorndelX Quad (3 Best Females from 2L bred back to White Cornish Cockerel, keep best Females!)
Growout Pen:All offspring grown out, sell off/eat males as meat, sell off smaller females as pullets!

Pen 3
1st Complete CornDells!
2 breeding pens (2 4x8 with 1 nestbox), 1 Growout Pen,(8x8) Right Side: CornDell Quad (1 Cockerel from Pen1L, with 3 females from Pen2R) Left Side: CornDell Quad (1 Cockerel from Pen1L, with 3 females from Pen2R) Growout Pen: All Offspring

Pen 4
CornishXRock Pen
2 Breeding Pens,(4x8 with 1 nestbox) 1 Growout Pen(8x8) Left Side: Pure Cornish Quad (White Cornish Cockerel cross with dark hen and red hen to keep pure Cornish offspring going!) Right Side: Cornish Rock Quad (Blue Laced Red Cockerel + 3 Columbian Rock Females) Growout Pen:All Offspring

I've been lucky enough to have tracked down a feeding chart that Tim Shell gave to the people who were attempting to "breed" his birds, but it's just cryptic enough to leave a little room for "fudging", I'll put that up here, and you can see what I mean, and hopefully this will help keep consistent "stock" Please don't completely judge/dissect my Outline, I threw it together as quick as I could, I'll be happy to take input, but realize that again, I just threw it together roughly to get something down on paper to respond to this thread. I'll happily pm some of the posters on this thread when I have a free moment, probably tonight, till then, cheers!
-KS

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Atd5YN3TZWuHdG91UVQ0T1NKRzY2R0Q0ektqQkZEYXc&output=html

 

[ChocolateMouse]

So is your goal to make a hybridized cross or are you trying to make a chicken that breeds true in the future?

 

[nepoisopen]

If I had to quantify it, I'm hoping to make a better hybridized cross that breeds mostly true, and easily duplicated in a backyard setting, I'm not trying to make a new breed, lol, but hopefully something that's more appealing to smaller time people looking for a CRX alternative.

I've succeeded, IMO, if I can show someone how to get to a sustaining flock of meat birds by following some instructions.
My goals aren't to destroy the meat bird market or anything as futile as that, just more of a "Here's something cool we did at our house".

I wouldn't have done this experiment if Tim Shell's Corn-Dells were still around, lol.
-KS

 

[enel 1]

Looks like you learned a lot in the past year, that's awesome. And its also great that you started working with good stock, congrats and best of luck.

 

[nepoisopen]

Looks like you learned a lot in the past year, that's awesome. And its also great that you started working with good stock, congrats and best of luck.

I've had the great luck of having a wonderful support system found here, (and the insane desire to soak up as much info in a short period as I could!) and I hope I can pass it on to others.
;-)

We've learned quite a lot, and have so much more to go.
-KS

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Well, once again, if you end up with a bunch of eggs you need hatched, let me know! I am going to be setting up a home-made incubator in the next couple of weeks and after my test batch of eggs goes through it (I am confident it will turn out fine) I should be able to hatch out a few dozen at a time, at least! You throw in a birdy shipping box or two and I will send the best ones back to you!

 

[LindaB220]

To begin with, I'm not advocating re-inventing the wheel, nor am I going to begin to approach the dead horse subject on hatchery vs breeder birds, plenty of other posts/threads addressing that issue specifically. What I will try to do is lay out what I was attempting to accomplish through this project, and report that I have little to report AT THIS POINT about the project, since it's in it's infancy. Also, I'll happily entertain as many questions as I can about this, and fill in the details as best I'm able to, without trying to pass judgement on others' pursuits. For this particular project, I was lucky enough to have scored a beautiful quad of pure bred Cornish chickens, and chose the best from a batch of Delaware chicks we received from Sandhill Preservation Society. I'm going to cross some of this stock initially to get a couple of good lines going, then I'm going to introduce some "blood" from the Hubbard Line.

First, let me say that the outline of how I'm going to move forward is very complicated, so prepare yourself for that, and I'm also very much aware of my limitations as a backyard breeder, but IMO, this is a strength, because I can be more forgiving since I don't have a bottom line or goals that are so stringent. Off the soapbox now, and on to the meat! The theoretical way I'm moving forward is this: I'm goin to use "breeding pens" that are 4x4 with nestboxes with attahced 4x8 "runs". The idea is these will each have 1 trio or 1 quad, (depending on what I come up with for stock!) and a couple 8x8 "grow out pens", for seperating males from females as early as possible.
My theory was to have "breedings" every 3 months, 4 times a year, and choose the best out of these to breed back the next year. A simple outline is like this:
BREEDING PENS
Pen 1
Male CornX Delaware Pen
1 Breeding Pen,(4x8 with 1 nestbox) 1 Growout Pen,(8x8)
Left Side: Male CornX Delaware Quad (3 Cornish RX Females + 1 Delaware Cockerel keep 3 Best Males, females sell as pullets!)
Growout Pen: Best Male Results from 1L

Pen 2
Female CornX Delaware
2 breeding pens (2 4x8 with 1 nestbox), 1 Growout Pen,(8x8)
Left Side: Cornish Delaware Quad (3 Delaware females + White Cornish Cockerel keep 3 best Females, eat/sell Males!)
Right Side: CorndelX Quad (3 Best Females from 2L bred back to White Cornish Cockerel)
Growout Pen:All offspring grown out, sell off/eat males as meat, sell off smaller females as pullets!

Pen 3
1st Complete CornDells!
2 breeding pens (2 4x8 with 1 nestbox), 1 Growout Pen,(8x8) Right Side: CornDell Quad (1 Cockerel from Pen1L, with 3 females from Pen2R) Left Side: CornDell Quad (1 Cockerel from Pen1L, with 3 females from Pen2R) Growout Pen: All Offspring

Pen 4
CornishXRock Pen
2 Breeding Pens,(4x8 with 1 nestbox) 1 Growout Pen(8x8) Left Side: Pure Cornish Quad (White Cornish Cockerel cross with dark hen and red hen to keep pure Cornish offspring going!) Right Side: Cornish Rock Quad (Blue Laced Red Cockerel + 3 Columbian Rock Females) Growout Pen:All Offspring

I've been lucky enough to have tracked down a feeding chart that Tim Shell gave to the people who were attempting to "breed" his birds, but it's just cryptic enough to leave a little room for "fudging", I'll put that up here, and you can see what I mean, and hopefully this will help keep consistent "stock" Please don't completely judge/dissect my Outline, I threw it together as quick as I could, I'll be happy to take input, but realize that again, I just threw it together roughly to get something down on paper to respond to this thread. I'll happily pm some of the posters on this thread when I have a free moment, probably tonight, till then, cheers!
-KS

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Atd5YN3TZWuHdG91UVQ0T1NKRzY2R0Q0ektqQkZEYXc&output=html

I bookmarked this so I can get an idea of how it's done. Just getting started so this is for next year. Thanks

 

[call ducks]

To begin with, I'm not advocating re-inventing the wheel, nor am I going to begin to approach the dead horse subject on hatchery vs breeder birds, plenty of other posts/threads addressing that issue specifically. What I will try to do is lay out what I was attempting to accomplish through this project, and report that I have little to report AT THIS POINT about the project, since it's in it's infancy. Also, I'll happily entertain as many questions as I can about this, and fill in the details as best I'm able to, without trying to pass judgement on others' pursuits. For this particular project, I was lucky enough to have scored a beautiful quad of pure bred Cornish chickens, and chose the best from a batch of Delaware chicks we received from Sandhill Preservation Society. I'm going to cross some of this stock initially to get a couple of good lines going, then I'm going to introduce some "blood" from the Hubbard Line.

First, let me say that the outline of how I'm going to move forward is very complicated, so prepare yourself for that, and I'm also very much aware of my limitations as a backyard breeder, but IMO, this is a strength, because I can be more forgiving since I don't have a bottom line or goals that are so stringent. Off the soapbox now, and on to the meat! The theoretical way I'm moving forward is this: I'm goin to use "breeding pens" that are 4x4 with nestboxes with attahced 4x8 "runs". The idea is these will each have 1 trio or 1 quad, (depending on what I come up with for stock!) and a couple 8x8 "grow out pens", for seperating males from females as early as possible.
My theory was to have "breedings" every 3 months, 4 times a year, and choose the best out of these to breed back the next year. A simple outline is like this:
BREEDING PENS
Pen 1
Male CornX Delaware Pen
1 Breeding Pen,(4x8 with 1 nestbox) 1 Growout Pen,(8x8)
Left Side: Male CornX Delaware Quad (3 Cornish RX Females + 1 Delaware Cockerel keep 3 Best Males, females sell as pullets!)
Growout Pen: Best Male Results from 1L

Pen 2
Female CornX Delaware
2 breeding pens (2 4x8 with 1 nestbox), 1 Growout Pen,(8x8)
Left Side: Cornish Delaware Quad (3 Delaware females + White Cornish Cockerel keep 3 best Females, eat/sell Males!)
Right Side: CorndelX Quad (3 Best Females from 2L bred back to White Cornish Cockerel)
Growout Pen:All offspring grown out, sell off/eat males as meat, sell off smaller females as pullets!

Pen 3
1st Complete CornDells!
2 breeding pens (2 4x8 with 1 nestbox), 1 Growout Pen,(8x8) Right Side: CornDell Quad (1 Cockerel from Pen1L, with 3 females from Pen2R) Left Side: CornDell Quad (1 Cockerel from Pen1L, with 3 females from Pen2R) Growout Pen: All Offspring

Pen 4
CornishXRock Pen
2 Breeding Pens,(4x8 with 1 nestbox) 1 Growout Pen(8x8) Left Side: Pure Cornish Quad (White Cornish Cockerel cross with dark hen and red hen to keep pure Cornish offspring going!) Right Side: Cornish Rock Quad (Blue Laced Red Cockerel + 3 Columbian Rock Females) Growout Pen:All Offspring

I've been lucky enough to have tracked down a feeding chart that Tim Shell gave to the people who were attempting to "breed" his birds, but it's just cryptic enough to leave a little room for "fudging", I'll put that up here, and you can see what I mean, and hopefully this will help keep consistent "stock" Please don't completely judge/dissect my Outline, I threw it together as quick as I could, I'll be happy to take input, but realize that again, I just threw it together roughly to get something down on paper to respond to this thread. I'll happily pm some of the posters on this thread when I have a free moment, probably tonight, till then, cheers!
-KS

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Atd5YN3TZWuHdG91UVQ0T1NKRzY2R0Q0ektqQkZEYXc&output=html

Good good. You have a cock line and a hen line.

Have you thought about assessing the lines to see if they have the K allele's needed for feather sexing? That would help with growing the sexes out differently as you could sex at hatch.

 

[nepoisopen]

Good good. You have a cock line and a hen line.

Have you thought about assessing the lines to see if they have the K allele's needed for feather sexing? That would help with growing the sexes out differently as you could sex at hatch.

Yes, this is something that I want to focus on once I get a consistent(ish!) stock of big birds going, because I do think that will be very important moving forward. (being able to separate the males from the females quickly to ensure proper nutrition being given to both)
I've still got to research a lot more on that specific topic though, it's something that sounds very detailed.
;-)

 

[call ducks]

Quote: If you want any help feel free to PM me!