Cornish Cross Hen - Buff Orpington Hybrid Cross

[Bridget-Louisiana]

My Cornish Cross are laying FERTILIZED eggs from my Buff Orpington rooster. Today is day 18. They go in the hatching incubator from here. Anyone out there ever crossed this meat bird w/another breed? If anyone out there has any education on crossing this bird w/another, please fill me in. Thanks.

 

[Redhead Rae]

@Molpet and @duluthralphie are working on breeding what they call "toads" which are cornish cross derived sustainable meat bird. They might be able to give you and idea.

 

[Molpet]

I crossed my mixed roo w/a cx hen after reading ralphie's posts https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/toad-raising.1152440/
I got 3 roos and 1 hen... I have been breeding w/what i had , BR, BJG crosses
I have only had 1 from them that grew fast and am using him this year. .. They are meatier than the other chicks... I am getting barred ones, apparently my cx was white hiding the barring. The barred ones are about 1/2lb less than the white ones. Dressed weights are around 6 lbs at 16 wks some were over 7 some around 5

Keep them active is the best advice

 

[Bridget-Louisiana]

I crossed my mixed roo w/a cx hen after reading ralphie's posts https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/toad-raising.1152440/
I got 3 roos and 1 hen... I have been breeding w/what i had , BR, BJG crosses
I have only had 1 from them that grew fast and am using him this year. .. They are meatier than the other chicks... I am getting barred ones, apparently my cx was white hiding the barring. The barred ones are about 1/2lb less than the white ones. Dressed weights are around 6 lbs at 16 wks some were over 7 some around 5

Keep them active is the best advice

Thanks. I'm super new to chickens; about 7 months. BR is Barred Rock? What is BJG? Sorry for my ignorance. And is there something with "barring" that you don't want? I ordered Cornish Cross by mistake. We just never got around to butchering the last four. And to my SURPRISE, they started laying eggs. So purchased a 2 yr. old buff orp. rooster to fertilize. They lay some NICE BIG EGGS. One was so big, it would have been a duck egg. If my birds hatch, I'll obviously monitor and weigh them daily. However, would you cross these hatchling hens w/another dual purpose bird? That would make them 25% CC, 25% BO, and 50% of the new cross random DP bird? Thanks for any advice you can share.

 

[Cyprus]

@Bridget-Louisiana BJG is Black Jersey Giant

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks. I'm super new to chickens; about 7 months. BR is Barred Rock? What is BJG? Sorry for my ignorance. And is there something with "barring" that you don't want? I ordered Cornish Cross by mistake. We just never got around to butchering the last four. And to my SURPRISE, they started laying eggs. So purchased a 2 yr. old buff orp. rooster to fertilize. They lay some NICE BIG EGGS. One was so big, it would have been a duck egg. If my birds hatch, I'll obviously monitor and weigh them daily. However, would you cross these hatchling hens w/another dual purpose bird? That would make them 25% CC, 25% BO, and 50% of the new cross random DP bird? Thanks for any advice you can share.

There are a few us in Minnesota that have taken my toad recipe and ran with it. @holm25 and @MNChickMom both havea flock. We are not having a good spring, but I put that down to equipment failure and the cold harsh winter we are still having.

We are now in the process of taking the single combs off their heads with a cross to a buckeye.

The perfect toad is white or mainly white with some red/orange spots. The roosters are huge 20 plus pounds dressing at 15. The hens are 12-15 pounds dressing at 10ish.

We are trying to keep them naturally reproducing. That maybe a problem the boys gets so big. We did try some AI this spring, but we found it is nearly impossible to get semen from a 20+ pound birds.

We are hoping the buckeye will give us a larger frame with a little less girth and increase the natural reproduction.

Hopefully, they can add advice. What I did to start with is carry leg bands with me. I banded the CX that wandered the furthest from the group and used those for reproducing, on the theory the further they walked the better condition they were in.

 

[Molpet]

Thanks. I'm super new to chickens; about 7 months. BR is Barred Rock? What is BJG? Sorry for my ignorance. And is there something with "barring" that you don't want? I ordered Cornish Cross by mistake. We just never got around to butchering the last four. And to my SURPRISE, they started laying eggs. So purchased a 2 yr. old buff orp. rooster to fertilize. They lay some NICE BIG EGGS. One was so big, it would have been a duck egg. If my birds hatch, I'll obviously monitor and weigh them daily. However, would you cross these hatchling hens w/another dual purpose bird? That would make them 25% CC, 25% BO, and 50% of the new cross random DP bird? Thanks for any advice you can share.

I was having trouble figuring out how I got barred hens from a non barred roo, other than they are not as meaty, nothing is wrong w/barred birds. I like them. They have a nice shape that fits in the pot well LOL.. The Black Jersey Giants have a larger frame and don't fit in the pot well.

Here is a list of most of the abbreviations
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/acronym-list-for-byc.64740/

Ralphie and I have been breeding daughters to fathers and sons to mothers. That can be done for a few generations before any abnormalities show up.

Ralphie started with CX and Rainbow ( which is a ranger usually sold as a meat bird) https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/rainbow-chicken-sold-in-quantities-of-10

I just work with what I have, but if I was going to buy any it would be a ranger type, like ralphie used. Although some one near me has said they were going to hatch true large white cornish, which is very hard to find. If they do sell some I am on a list for 15.. But I am not holding my breath, He only wants $5 a per chick and I forsee the price going up when he finds out how few they lay and what people will pay for them.
I also just was given a lavender old english orpington roo, I think I'll use him and see what I get.

 

[Broodygranny]

Light Brahmas are easy to get. They are also primarily a meat breed. You could consider them for future crosses. My husband went to the local feed store to get some chick starter, and came home with one. It has grown a lot in the past week. They are supposedly a bit bigger than most dual purpose chickens. I can't really tell you for sure yet.

 

[Chickenheadmate]

My Cornish Cross are laying FERTILIZED eggs from my Buff Orpington rooster. Today is day 18. They go in the hatching incubator from here. Anyone out there ever crossed this meat bird w/another breed? If anyone out there has any education on crossing this bird w/another, please fill me in. Thanks.

Any pictures of the cross?

 

[chigo]

My Cornish Cross are laying FERTILIZED eggs from my Buff Orpington rooster. Today is day 18. They go in the hatching incubator from here. Anyone out there ever crossed this meat bird w/another breed? If anyone out there has any education on crossing this bird w/another, please fill me in. Thanks.

My Cornish Cross are laying FERTILIZED eggs from my Buff Orpington rooster. Today is day 18. They go in the hatching incubator from here. Anyone out there ever crossed this meat bird w/another breed? If anyone out there has any education on crossing this bird w/another, please fill me in. Thanks.

Hi Bridget, do you still hqve pictures of the cross between buff orpington and crnish x ?