Cornish Rocks... should they...

[slaghunter]

Thanks to all for the info. The answer was kinda what I thought. Although it may be possible to free range only it is probably not feasible. Although with free ranging and scraps from the kitchen it would definitely cut the cost down.

I didn't get any answers for the following question. Does anyone have any input? Maybe I should post it in the breeding section?


Quote:

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Definitely, that's really how any breeding stock is improved. Breed the biggest and the best. A lot of times you cross breed to really nice size DP breeds and the offspring are generally bigger than the parents.


But, yes if you do not see a difference, it's time to source a couple of new rooster prospects to better your flock.

 

[CARS]

Jeff. Have you not been paying attention???

I even had Nifty's girls make a title page for the cornish cross, cornish rocks,.... In all honesty, I give up.

I wrote the page and I didn't get a GFM.


I love the birds. Easy to raise, cheap, and tasty. Why would you argue with that????

 

[TimG]

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I haven't done this myself, but I hope to soon.

I recently received an e-mail from someone who has done this sort of selective breeding, he says that at 16 weeks, 84% of his cockerels are 4.8-5.9 lbs, 11% of the birds are below that, and 5% are over 6 lbs. That sounds pretty good to me. He has been at it for five years, but I do not know how long it took him to achieve those weights and how long he has been maintaining those weights or whether he is still experiencing an increase in size from generation to generation.

I seem to recall from my reading of Hutt that a one pound increase in size could be achieved rather quickly (a couple generations). I don't recall that the study went further than that, but the implication was that there would be diminishing returns (or we'd have 20 pound chickens).

 

[Brunty_Farms]

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I've been lurking on that thread... you did a good job.

I agree with you 100% I'm not arguing anything... I just wanted to see what peoples thoughts were on comparing the two birds... Cornish x's vs Heritage... I don't think it's a comparison because it's like comparing apples to oranges.