cornish cross ROO lucky fella ;)

[smom1976]

We are really wanting to do meat birds but we need to cut down on the cost. I would like it to be nothing! (at least for the bird) So I have an idea.. Please let me know if you all think this would work.

If I was to get one cornish cross roo and let him mate with my girls.. Whenever we needed some meat we could incubate the eggs and raise them as meat birds.

Here is my reasoning. We have 16 growing ladies.. Rare breed variety from MM. Not very good meat birds.. although the cochins are fairly large along with the black sex links. I would like large birds to butcher no sence in small meat birds. (we have polish birds, way too small). So if I breed them with with a super bird we would have "fairly" large birds to butcher, and we could raise a few at a time vs getting 25 (min order) and having to set up another pen, We do not have the room at all.

Has anyone done this? I need suggestions.

Thanks
Lenora

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I'm thinking you would want to go with a Cornish rooster and not a Cornish Cross.

-Kim

 

[greyfields]

It's a difficult things to breed hybrids as your results will vary greatly from one bird to the next.

Will they be larger than a purebreed chicken? Maybe. But in general, the best way to do this is to use a purebred Cornish rooster (not cornish cross) and then have him mate your flock, which could include any cornish cross pullets you retained.

I put my Dark Cornish roo on my held back Freedom Ranger pullets and they are the meatiest cross I have ever made. But with that said, they are nothing like the broilers you can get as day olds.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
That sounds like an excited project.

-Kim

 

[greyfields]

I have posted photos on here of my own broilers recently. Here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=64055

Still need to have that blind taste test.

 

[smom1976]

well .. I could join in.. I will help you with your research..

That is what I want to do.. essentially..

 

[Carolina Chicken Man]

One other issue no one else mentioned.

We held onto 1 cornish x rooster and 12 hens one time to see what would happen.

The roo was so fat and bow legged he could not mate the hens.

 

[aladatrot]

am I to understand that a cornish x would never make it to adulthood?
Thanks
M

 

[silkiechicken]

They can, but the chances are lower and after you have 150 lbs of feed in him, he could just fall over and die when he reaches maturity at like 6-7 months old, or just not mate the girls.

 

[MissMandyinVT]

I don't think the roo would live long enough to breed with your girls, they are killed aroun 8 weeks and usually won't live long past a few months old.