Cornish Cross sexual maturity and can they breed?

[shnookey]

I was curious wether Cornish Crosses were capable of breeding due to their large size. I know I have seen a picture somewhere of a Cornish X hen that hatched and raised chicks. But I don't know if hte male was also Cornish X or not. And I am curious as to what AGE a Cornish is considered sexually mature. Since it's body ages so quickly, does that mean they mature sexually that much faster too? I THINK I have a Rooster. But the visual signs are not there. No sickle or rump points, or anything like that (yet). It is already 4 lbs. and still growing fast. It is only about 5 weeks old!!! Huge. That is why I think it is a male.. because I read that males grow much faster than the females.
So any help on these questions would be great! Thanks!

 

[greyfields]

They will start laying just like any other hybrid around 4.5 months. The trick is finding ones who won't die before then. I have some at my disposal who are around a year old now and are laying fine. The guy doesn't feed them anything. That may be key.

 

[greyfields]

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It's what we're here for. Except, by the time I post this Silkiechicken or MissPrissy will have already replied.

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Which are pullets/cockrels?

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In an abstract sense, yes you are correct. In a practical sense, the parent 'breeds' of Cornish and Rock the broiler industry uses have been selectively bred for 40+ years for certain qualities. The parent strains they use do not much resemble the kind of birds we see in the backyard and it's hard to even call them the same breed really.

But yes, if you have a Cornish Sire and a Rock dame, you can certainly make your own "Cornish Crosses". They just won't have nearly the agressive genetics the commercial broilers do.

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No. But they will still outpace any purebreed you own due to heterosis. I've done this and the results weren't bad. The breast just generally comes out thinner and narrower than from a commercial broiler, and of course they take a couple extra weeks.

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Correct. Very specific bloodlines (genetics) are used to create the broilers, which are actually double crosses from multiple strains of Cornish & Rock.

Consider also that all the birds you get from any hatchery are going to be selected along egg production lines, since 90%+ of people buying chickens retail are doing so for egg production. So, the genese you get in your Dark Cornish have probably been selected for egg production rather than meat... and of course, probably every 'purebreed' you get will have been outcrossed with Leghorns at some point in time to increase egg yield.


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Absolutely. You really can do it and it's enjoyable. I love science experiments than end in a good quality meal (or better yet alcohol).

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Close, yes. Different yes. Your own crosses will be far less aggressively programed for growth. This is a good thing as you probabyl will get far better vigor, disease resistance, foraging ability, etc. from them as you would a commercial broiler.

 

[scgamecock]

I have a rooster that had his one year birthday last week.I haven't weighed him but I bet he's close to 20lbs.He crows and he will catch a hen every now and then when they get too close but he doesn't follow though.

 

[scooteroo]

We had 25 cornish x rocks. The "Exotic Bird" they sent along with the 25 chick is a Dark Cornish. He remained so small in comparison that we called him Pip — short for Pipsqueak.

At 9½ weeks I couldn't take watching the crosses struggle to stand for more than a few minutes (or seconds) and walk a few steps and then plop themselves back down only to defecate where they lay. 9-and-one-half-weeks!

I brought them over to our local processor and had them slaughtered. They all dressed out in the 8-10 lb range. The taste is indeed excellent. But I can still see engineered food so American can get cheap meat.

These birds were not built for breeding — period. As with any hybrid, plant or animal, you will never get the same result from progeny of a hybrid. For the price of Cornish x Rocks chicks (anywhere from $1 to $2 each), it's simply more humane to buy new ones. (That's a word I haven't seen in this thread but I haven't ready every post.)

Pip is now taller than all but our Buff Brahmas. He's also remarkably friendly. We will be setting him and our White Rocks out in a separate coop this Spring to see what results we get. Dark Cornish (or any Cornish male) x White Rock is pretty close to the cross we're talking about. We'll see what happens to what I would expect to be gorgeous birds. We'll let them live a somewhat normal life and do without so much engineered food.

I can live with that. Raising more Cornish x Rocks no. I have a conscience. I want animals that aren't a distortion of nature just to provide the maximum meat for Americans who pay more for potatoes chips than chicken. I will treat the new progengy humanely and give them dignity because they provide us sustenance.

 

[Sara Ranch]

I've been debating about whether to hold back a few hens and a roo from the Cornish Rocks to see about breeding them.

I'm already disgusted with how HUGE they are at such a young age! I have been alternating my feed schedule with them, trying to find that right balance that will allow to grow without the butt plopping every minute cuz they can't carry their own weight!

It's a struggle. I have read positive and negative things about trying to breed Cornish hens. Most of it negative. (So grateful that many of you shared your thoughts and your experiences!)

If the hens and roo were more on the slender side, they'd be less likely to have leg problems (and other health problems)....doable to keep and to breed?

I have plenty of roo's around here. I could conceivable give one of the adopted boys a few Cornish Rock hens to be his flock for cross breeding....

The end goal is to produce meat birds for harvesting. (I don't harvest my adoptees.)

What do you think?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I've been debating about whether to hold back a few hens and a roo from the Cornish Rocks to see about breeding them.

I'm already disgusted with how HUGE they are at such a young age! I have been alternating my feed schedule with them, trying to find that right balance that will allow to grow without the butt plopping every minute cuz they can't carry their own weight!

It's a struggle. I have read positive and negative things about trying to breed Cornish hens. Most of it negative. (So grateful that many of you shared your thoughts and your experiences!)

If the hens and roo were more on the slender side, they'd be less likely to have leg problems (and other health problems)....doable to keep and to breed?

I have plenty of roo's around here. I could conceivable give one of the adopted boys a few Cornish Rock hens to be his flock for cross breeding....

The end goal is to produce meat birds for harvesting. (I don't harvest my adoptees.)

What do you think?

That's what I'm doing but you need to be picky about which girls you hold back to use. You need to pick ladies that have their legs more under them, less out to the side and more balanced weight distribution. They also need to be willing to move around. I kept back a total of 8 pullets this year. 2 from the first group and 6 from me 2nd group. Only 1 from my first group made it long enough to start laying. The other recieved a terrible breeding wound and had to be put down (looked like the day before she would've laid her first egg). The girl that did make it long enough to lay is massive! Unfortunately, Big Betty is heading to the freezer today. She laid great for the first week or so then it dropped down to MAYBE 2 eggs a week, at most, and most eggs are infertile. I do have 4 chicks from her, growing rapidly (I'll get new picks today) and 1 more egg in the incubator developing and due this weekend. Of the second group of girls, they free range daily and range far and wide. I was lucky about who I selected to stay but still, one will be heading to freezer camp today since she started limping and 1 other is being watched close. I'm hoping that at least the 4 that look good will make it long enough. 1 did keep back 1 roo from the first group too and even though he was VERY active and healthy for a while, he's developed bumblefoot that I can't operate on, it's just too big. He's 7 months old and huge but he's at his limit. They're though to keep long enough but it is possible.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

@Sara Ranch, mine were started off in a kiddie pool as a brooder it worked well foot a couple weeks but then they were moved outside in a chicken tractor (made from an old frame pool frame, 14' diameter). I kept water on one side, food on the other so they had to walk back and forth between them. I moved the tractor every morning for fresh grass. They stayed there until 9 weeks old when we were ready to butcher. By that point, I was giving them 3 bowls of food a day, regardless of how fast it was gone, they only got it at those specific times. On butcher morning, I looked through them and picked the 6 best looking girls (most sturdy with legs under them) and moved them from the big tractor to the free range layer flock. It didn't take them long to blend in to the group and learn to forage. They actualy wander further than most of my layer girls! They do need carried in to the run at night since they won't go back in on their own. I don't bother putting them in the coop since I don't want them to hurt their legs trying to get out. They get out of the run in the mornings just fine though.

As far as incubating, it depends. I personally don't trust my hens as much as my incubator and the babies are too valuable to risk letting a hen raise them but that's just me.

When it comes to mating, Cap'n started chasing the girls by about 4 months old. The only ones he really seemed to be able to catch though were the CX girls and the ducks lol. Now at 7 months old, I never see him even try anymore but he used to be rather quick for his size. I don't know if he was ever successful at fertilizing any eggs or not. I'm starting to doubt that he was the father of the babies I have now. I definitely think that success will come better through breeding from the hens, not the roos.

I did take some pictures of Cap'n, Big Betty, and a couple of the younger girls. I took a picture of the babies too, now 10 days old. I'll post them in a little bit since I'm on mobile right now. I realy wish I had a scale to weigh them and track their growth. Something I may have to pick up this weekend.

 

[Sara Ranch]

Lol - do a paternity test! But really, who cares? If this combo works, invite the cream legbar to hang out with the girls.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

These are my first outside babies all grown up. Dad was CCL (that was not planned lol). The hens are beefier than the roo and lay beautiful blueish eggs. Here are Gloria, Freckles, and Blanco. They are all healthy, energetic, and very friendly!

These ones are my second group. They're still young and growing. Their dad was crele orpington. They've got a lot of growing too do still so I'm anxious to see how they turn out.