cornish rock crosses, which rooster?

[justsomeguync]

Does is matter which parent is the Cornish for the cross broilers? Cornish rooster, Rock hen, or Rock rooster with Cornish hen, or does it not matter?

I already have my chickens for this year, I have two Cornish roosters and six rock hens. I know what can happen when you assume, but I figured that a rock lays a bigger egg, so the chicks would be bigger at the hatch.

I guess I should have asked this last year, but I'm not doing this for a living, I will get by. Just asking for future years.

 

[Tracydr]

There's a lot more to breeding a Cornish X than taking a Rock hen to a Cornish rooster. There are four different grandparents, kept secret by the company that owns the patent for the breeding. It took about fifty years to come up with the birds. Don't expect similar results in your back yard.

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
I agree. You should still get some decent meat crosses, but they probably won't grow at the same rate as Cornish X.

 

[spiritdance]

Quote:
I agree. You should still get some decent meat crosses, but they probably won't grow at the same rate as Cornish X.

No they won't, but they'll be a heck of a lot healthier if you decide to process over a period of time instead of at 8 weeks, and they do get bigger with bigger breasts than the purebred parents. I've done this and been quite happy with the results. I process all the cockerels young, then let the pullets grow a bit more to save freezer space. It takes an extra 4 to 6 weeks or so to get to the pullets to the sizes you get for the Xs at 8 weeks, but you don't loose birds to heart problems, etc. I don't have a large freezer, so I like to be able to process in batches over a period of a couple months.

ETA: Of course, the other advantage is being able to hatch in small batches. I can set a dozen eggs or so instead of having to order 25 plus, I can use a smaller meatie pen, and plus I get the pleasure of hatching my own birds' eggs without the concern of rehoming unwanted offspring. It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned. Oh, and btw, the BRs are used to breed the hen's line in the "real" cornishX breeding program. They are more reliable layers for a longer period of time.

 

[captwalker]

I heard that they use a white rock rooster and a white cornish hen to make the cross. I dont know if its true or not but its what I've heard.

 

[spiritdance]

You can use white rocks or BRs. the white rocks produce a lighter skinned carcass, but I prefer BRs because I can also breed Black Star sexlinks from them.

 

[SteveH]

I think you've got the better choice, as the Rocks lay better and you should get more eggs to hatch from them.

There's a bunch of us playing at breeding meat birds here, you're welcome to join us in the fun and show us some pictures.
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