Cornish over New Hampshire

[Mosey2003]

Not that I'm an expert breeder, mind, but I had been resigned to trying to breed toward the SOP from my own hatchery flock, and I had looked into it enough to know that it was gonna be a long, uphill slog. I lucked out last year and found an exhibition breeder surprisingly close to me though, and that really saved my bacon. Now I'm looking at having a good line of my own in a couple years, rather than 4 or 5.

 

[ijon]

This is just my opinion but your outcome would be better if your started with breeder stock.

 

[Dr.Dale]

They're bred for early egg production and to resemble what variety they are, so you're going to end up with a lot of culls.

We do want egg production also, so that won’t be too bad. I am ok with a lot of culls, I plan on culling at least 80% of the hens and 90% of the roosters anyway, just as standard practice. I have an incubator that can hatch 40 eggs at a time, so I will keep no more than 4 hens and 2 roosters and probably less.

 

[Taliasun]

4Hs and county fairs always have chickens being shown which might help point you in the direction of a reputable breeding source.
We also have poultry swaps in our area that have heritage breeds, you could look out for something similar.

 

[Ms Biddy]

People always say start with private breeding stock not hatchery stock, but if you're breeding for egg production and a mostly terminal cross why not use hatchery birds? If you're only keeping a few hens you can select out the nicest ones. The remainder and their offspring are going to be eaten. If this is a fun experiment don't be afraid to keep it simple. Some birds from breeders are exceptionally nice and others aren't. For a project like this I'd rather have birds that are known to lay really well than show quality birds selected for traits of appearance.

 

[Dr.Dale]

For a project like this I'd rather have birds that are known to lay really well than show quality birds selected for traits of appearance.

That is a good point. A breeder is only going to be better than a hatchery if that breeder has goals that align with mine. I have no interest in showing, and I am only interested in the SOP tangentially. I think that I will need to develop my own line either way.

 

[ijon]

It not that you want show the birds. It the size and quality of the birds. It is night and day difference.

 

[Mosey2003]

Yes, that's what I was thinking and didn't express well. If you're going to undertake a whole breeding program, it really does help to start with quality. The size difference between my SOP birds and my hatchery birds is up to 3lbs, that's significant. One of my SOP pullets that I weighed at 18 weeks (I think) was nearly 6lbs, that's already heavier than my full-grown hatchery hens. My 18-20 week cockerels were 3.5lbs dressed out, I'm willing to bet if I had hatchery ones at the same age they wouldn't be much more than 2lbs dressed. It's not just about being pretty. Going forward in my breeding (I'm in early stages) I'm going to concentrate on a little earlier maturity and egg laying, as well.

 

[Mosey2003]

If you do want to go with NH, I'm pretty sure Jeremy Woeppel (XW Poultry) is still breeding them and I know he ships both chicks and eggs. He's on FB and has a website, Google XW Poultry if you want to go that direction.

 

[Dr.Dale]

Thanks @Mosey2003 and @ijon what you both say makes sense. I think that is along the lines of what I was trying to express by “I am only interested in the SOP tangentially”. Meaning I am only interested as far as SOP breeding can be used to as an indication of good production qualities. I am just not sure how good of an indicator it is.