OK, due to common questions- We have been getting anywhere from $30-50 a dozen for the eggs, plus shipping... In addition, we are not NPIP certified- actually mainly due to not being able to find contact info on the IL Certifiers- not that we don't want to be certified, or have problems.
Cornish Hatching Eggs
All four of my large sized Cornish pullets who I plan on selling eggs out of this spring- are laying now. After next week, I will be ready to ship some eggs. Each pullet has been laying 2 or 3 days in a row, and taking a day off- nice round shaped brown eggs.
We ate the first dozen, all appeared to be fertile to me- bull’s-eyes. I now have a dozen and a half from this week that I plan to stick in the ‘bator in the next couple of days. I plan to plug it in tonight- and put them in after day 2. Hopefully a Silkie will begin laying sometime, and I won’t have to plug the ‘bator in though- highly unlikely. This will give me an idea of fertility, and hatching ability.
We store our potential hatching eggs in the house- mild environment of 50-60 degrees. They get rotated on an angle twice each day. As far as I know, this is the best method of preparing them for hatching and shipping. This is the first time I have committed to selling hatching eggs- so it is a learning experience for me- advice is desired. All eggs will be marked with date of lay- and which sire group they come from.
To give you an idea of what the genetics are (pictures available on all breeder birds):
Pen 1- has two White Laced Red pullets covered by a Dark Cornish Cockerel. The WLR pullets are actually split for color- as they are half WLR and half Dark already. I picked out the two meatier, stouter pullets for this male to service- they also happened to be single laced (desirable). They each show peppering of black throughout the body. They weigh in the 7 pound range, and will be a year old the last week of May. The Dark cockerel, is perhaps as elite of a Cornish young male bird as can be found anywhere. He’s a July, and weighs over 10 pounds; very close to 11 at this stage of the game. I would expect that 50% of these chicks to come out as Darks- and 50% of them to be WLR due to basic Punnet squares- I have found that the WLR color is dominate over the Dark. The resulting chicks will be 75% Dark Cornish parentage in blood.
Pen 2- has one of the genetically same WLR pullets, but is double laced, and more ‘white’ in overall color; in with the Bluer, Blue Laced Red Cockerel. He is a tremendously large framed young bird- and weighs right at the 10 pound mark- will be a year old in June. Physically not as thick as his hatchmate- but more actual frame size; he stands very near, or above the 26” mark when upright- and is still green and growing. *note: This BLR cockerel also has a cushion comb- this is due to his Brahma heritage (BLR color pattern), a select few of his offspring, MIGHT possess this trait.
Pen 3- has the 4th WLR pullet (whitest colored, double laced)- in with the darker, Blue Laced Red Cockerel- who exhibits a darker ‘blue’, almost grey look—and quite a bit more red showing through. Physically, this is a stouter, chunkier, meatier type carcass oriented bird- stature is smaller than his full sibling hatchmate. This bird is almost as heavy as the Dark cockerel weighing around the 11 pound range- but he’s nearly two months older. These two (BLR) birds also carrying a 66% chance of carrying the solid white Cornish color recessive- that can be proven by the mating of their offspring back together.
Pens 2 and 3- should have similar hatching coloration rates, despite the differences in the actual coloring of the sire. I have no clue on how to run the color calculator, specifically in these scenarios- but I would guess that nearly half (~40%) of the offspring will be either WLR or BLR in color pattern, and (~10%) of the offspring should be of the Dark color scheme; the remaining (~10%) I am hoping to be white, or mostly white in color with the combination of the dominate white from the WLR, and the hopeful recessive white coming from the mother’s of the BLR cockerels.
If demand continues to rise- like I hope it will- I may also add another pair of Dark Cornish cross pullets to the group. At this time, I am unsure if I will add one each to the BLR breeding pens- or take both WLR pullets, and both Dark pullets and keep them separated, instead of mixing them together. It could be best to keep the Dark pullets with the Dark cockerel; but I’d rather keep the different egg separated.
I would like to exaggerate that these are not show or hatchery quality Cornish birds- but I would classify them more towards breeder quality, or even better yet ‘sustainable meat bird quality breeder birds’. It simply is not my intentions to follow the negative show ring trends like short legs, poor egg laying ability, color, and/ or lacing, and like I’ve said a million times
At this time, it is unsure of the exact shipping schedule or prices of eggs- we are open to offers; like I’ve already stated this is our first time in selling hatching eggs (also first time in a BYC for sale page). Buyer will pay shipping. I’m thinking something like a guaranteed 8 or 10 LF Cornish eggs, plus extras that are laid during that 3 or 4 day time period. I do know the dozen of BLR hatching eggs my two breeder cockerels originated from, pitched the $80. mark on a BYC auction. If one would like, I could also arrange to have Dark Cornish bantam, or LF Black Ameraucana eggs shipped- pictures available.
I have a breeding pen of 5 Breeder/ Show Dark Cornish bantams that have not started laying yet for the spring; although I expect one to begin at any time- they are mostly younger birds than the LF Cornish. I had some eggs from them last fall- but due to incubator problems the entire batch was tossed. These birds are tremendous in quality, and I firmly believe are awesome birds for a smaller type family. The parental trio of the cockerel and two of the pullets were named Grand Champion 4H/ FFA breeding trio in the AOB division of the Iowa State Fair; a few years ago- the other two pullets were purchased direct from one of the nation’s leading Cornish bantam producers.
In addition to these, I purchased a young pair of Show Quality Black Large Sized Ameraucanas direct from Jean Ribbick to begin a new venture- these eggs can also be available upon request with the purchase of Cornish eggs- and can be used as fillers. The cockerel is a very massive, huge stance bird; especially for his breed. He’s almost every bit as tall as my Cornish cockerels- and he’s weighing in the 7-8 pound range.
If you have any questions, would like to know more info, or would like to see pictures of the breeder birds; feel free to contact me at the following or in a PM:
Jody Kabat
14030 N. 225th Rd.
Industry, IL 61440
(618-322-2582)
[email protected] *
*email preferred due to poorer than average cell phone reception*
Cornish Hatching Eggs
All four of my large sized Cornish pullets who I plan on selling eggs out of this spring- are laying now. After next week, I will be ready to ship some eggs. Each pullet has been laying 2 or 3 days in a row, and taking a day off- nice round shaped brown eggs.
We ate the first dozen, all appeared to be fertile to me- bull’s-eyes. I now have a dozen and a half from this week that I plan to stick in the ‘bator in the next couple of days. I plan to plug it in tonight- and put them in after day 2. Hopefully a Silkie will begin laying sometime, and I won’t have to plug the ‘bator in though- highly unlikely. This will give me an idea of fertility, and hatching ability.
We store our potential hatching eggs in the house- mild environment of 50-60 degrees. They get rotated on an angle twice each day. As far as I know, this is the best method of preparing them for hatching and shipping. This is the first time I have committed to selling hatching eggs- so it is a learning experience for me- advice is desired. All eggs will be marked with date of lay- and which sire group they come from.
To give you an idea of what the genetics are (pictures available on all breeder birds):
Pen 1- has two White Laced Red pullets covered by a Dark Cornish Cockerel. The WLR pullets are actually split for color- as they are half WLR and half Dark already. I picked out the two meatier, stouter pullets for this male to service- they also happened to be single laced (desirable). They each show peppering of black throughout the body. They weigh in the 7 pound range, and will be a year old the last week of May. The Dark cockerel, is perhaps as elite of a Cornish young male bird as can be found anywhere. He’s a July, and weighs over 10 pounds; very close to 11 at this stage of the game. I would expect that 50% of these chicks to come out as Darks- and 50% of them to be WLR due to basic Punnet squares- I have found that the WLR color is dominate over the Dark. The resulting chicks will be 75% Dark Cornish parentage in blood.
Pen 2- has one of the genetically same WLR pullets, but is double laced, and more ‘white’ in overall color; in with the Bluer, Blue Laced Red Cockerel. He is a tremendously large framed young bird- and weighs right at the 10 pound mark- will be a year old in June. Physically not as thick as his hatchmate- but more actual frame size; he stands very near, or above the 26” mark when upright- and is still green and growing. *note: This BLR cockerel also has a cushion comb- this is due to his Brahma heritage (BLR color pattern), a select few of his offspring, MIGHT possess this trait.
Pen 3- has the 4th WLR pullet (whitest colored, double laced)- in with the darker, Blue Laced Red Cockerel- who exhibits a darker ‘blue’, almost grey look—and quite a bit more red showing through. Physically, this is a stouter, chunkier, meatier type carcass oriented bird- stature is smaller than his full sibling hatchmate. This bird is almost as heavy as the Dark cockerel weighing around the 11 pound range- but he’s nearly two months older. These two (BLR) birds also carrying a 66% chance of carrying the solid white Cornish color recessive- that can be proven by the mating of their offspring back together.
Pens 2 and 3- should have similar hatching coloration rates, despite the differences in the actual coloring of the sire. I have no clue on how to run the color calculator, specifically in these scenarios- but I would guess that nearly half (~40%) of the offspring will be either WLR or BLR in color pattern, and (~10%) of the offspring should be of the Dark color scheme; the remaining (~10%) I am hoping to be white, or mostly white in color with the combination of the dominate white from the WLR, and the hopeful recessive white coming from the mother’s of the BLR cockerels.
If demand continues to rise- like I hope it will- I may also add another pair of Dark Cornish cross pullets to the group. At this time, I am unsure if I will add one each to the BLR breeding pens- or take both WLR pullets, and both Dark pullets and keep them separated, instead of mixing them together. It could be best to keep the Dark pullets with the Dark cockerel; but I’d rather keep the different egg separated.
I would like to exaggerate that these are not show or hatchery quality Cornish birds- but I would classify them more towards breeder quality, or even better yet ‘sustainable meat bird quality breeder birds’. It simply is not my intentions to follow the negative show ring trends like short legs, poor egg laying ability, color, and/ or lacing, and like I’ve said a million times
“My goal is to focus on carcass, growth, production, and performance”.
At this time, it is unsure of the exact shipping schedule or prices of eggs- we are open to offers; like I’ve already stated this is our first time in selling hatching eggs (also first time in a BYC for sale page). Buyer will pay shipping. I’m thinking something like a guaranteed 8 or 10 LF Cornish eggs, plus extras that are laid during that 3 or 4 day time period. I do know the dozen of BLR hatching eggs my two breeder cockerels originated from, pitched the $80. mark on a BYC auction. If one would like, I could also arrange to have Dark Cornish bantam, or LF Black Ameraucana eggs shipped- pictures available.
I have a breeding pen of 5 Breeder/ Show Dark Cornish bantams that have not started laying yet for the spring; although I expect one to begin at any time- they are mostly younger birds than the LF Cornish. I had some eggs from them last fall- but due to incubator problems the entire batch was tossed. These birds are tremendous in quality, and I firmly believe are awesome birds for a smaller type family. The parental trio of the cockerel and two of the pullets were named Grand Champion 4H/ FFA breeding trio in the AOB division of the Iowa State Fair; a few years ago- the other two pullets were purchased direct from one of the nation’s leading Cornish bantam producers.
In addition to these, I purchased a young pair of Show Quality Black Large Sized Ameraucanas direct from Jean Ribbick to begin a new venture- these eggs can also be available upon request with the purchase of Cornish eggs- and can be used as fillers. The cockerel is a very massive, huge stance bird; especially for his breed. He’s almost every bit as tall as my Cornish cockerels- and he’s weighing in the 7-8 pound range.
If you have any questions, would like to know more info, or would like to see pictures of the breeder birds; feel free to contact me at the following or in a PM:
Jody Kabat
14030 N. 225th Rd.
Industry, IL 61440
(618-322-2582)
[email protected] *
*email preferred due to poorer than average cell phone reception*
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