Cornish cross adult weights

[Bettacreek]

So, my flock was free-ranged and fed limited feed and have been laying for awhile. I just weighed them between 9-11lbs for the hennies and 12lbs for the roo. One of the hatcheries has adult specs on cornish cross, but they say hennies get to 6lbs and roos to 10lbs. Did I not limit feed enough? I mean they seem to be in great health, none had any issues with lameness or anything. Does anyone else have weights on their breeding cornish cross?

 

[LukensFarms]

It depends on several factors including your scale. I wouldn't be too concerned as long as they are healthy. You may have a problem with infertility.

 

[Bettacreek]

So far fertility hasn't been an issue, though it's not just the cornish cross roo in there with them. I'm actually not entirely sure if he's breeding or not yet, but he has finally started pushing his weight around a little bit with the little ameraucana and leghorn roos.

 

[jdywntr]

Those weights are pretty consistant with what I had from cornish x that I let go to 12 weeks. I just felt bad because they looked so uncomfortable at that size. Waddling around and all. I'm a believer that they are not meant to get too old. I do have to say, I processed some at 4 weeks, about 9 weeks and 12 weeks. The hearts in the older birds were the same size as the 4 week olds, their organs did not look healthy enough to support their size. Not that the organs looked unhealthy but that they looked undersized when compared to the birds size.

As stated, fertility may be an issue and if they do breed they won't breed true as they are a hybrid.

 

[Bettacreek]

Mine all seem to be quite healthy and happy. They don't really fly, but they run around and seem to enjoy themselves. They act like a chicken should. As for breeding true or not, I don't believe the hybrid theory. I believe that originally they were a cross of four different breeds, but I personally believe that there was more selection after that to get them to what they are, not some magical gene matching from the four seperate breeds. There are others who have bred cornish cross to cornish cross and "miraculously" ended up with cornish cross. Those who breed them to other breeds get a bird that grows big very quickly, though not as good as the cornish cross, but that can only be expected from a 50% cornish cross offspring, to a slow growing bird with minimal meat.