Cornish Thread

[silkielover5]

She looks like a hatchery Cornish hen. The judges were being nice.

Ok thanks. The 3 judges gave her best of breed just because they weren't sure what she was but they loved her, they asked me to figure out what she was for next year

 

[1MrsMagoo]

They are jubilee bantams.

Those are nice Ed. Very pretty birds!

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Good luck on your hatch, Bob has very nice birds, I got several pullets form him and I couldn't be happier

Thanks budsbirds! Half the eggs are showing development right now (10 of 20). If I get less than 6 to hatch, I am going to see about robbing a bank and having him ship me a trio or quad of juveniles! They are my first foray into bantams and I am very excited about it.

 

[galanie]

Hi,

I have an established flock of five pet/egg laying chickens, but a friend needed to get rid of his two chicks and brought them over yesterday.  One is what he called "Cornish."  I've looked all over this site for information about this breed and most people say that it's a meat-producing bird that will die young unless slaughtered and eaten.  The one we have looks like some of the "spangled Cornish" photos on this thread--white patches on the head and freakishly large feet, so I'm not sure if there's a pet breed and an eating breed.  Please advise.  I'm probably not going to kill it, but would like to know if it will die young from "natural" causes so I won't worry about infecting the others in the flock.

Thanks for your time!

There are Cornish Cross birds (at least that's what they're called) that are for eating. They are not "real" Cornish and might not even have Cornish in them. But most don't know there are any other kind.

Then there is the "real" Cornish, of which most you see are "Dark Cornish." If yours are white, chances are they are the eating birds and really need to just be butchered at 8 weeks or so, or else some keep them going by restricting the amount of food they get. Every once in a while someone will pop up and say they had one of the eating kind live a 'long' life (anything over a few months is a long life for one of these!) with no special consideration.

So yes, there is the real Cornish, which is what this thread is about, and there are crosses that the hatchery usually calls some sort of "cornish" cross.

 

[budsbirds]

They are worth every penny. His bloodlines go back to some of the very best cornsih bantams ever bred. I just happen to live fairly close to him and tehre are four or five cornish bantam breeders with really high end stock within 50 miles. Thats unusual but good for me!

 

[DragonRider]

Okay I think I found the right thread here, but I am not too sure since I did not actually purchase these chicks.

You see, I have three young chicks that were told to me they were Cornish Rocks, and everyone I have talked to about this said that this kind of chicken was not supposed to live very long, and the male seems to be in serious distress with some kind of leg issue.


He has a hard time getting up and walking, but the females are doing fairly well...?

They were bought by a friend of mine, he got them at a Tractor Supply Store in Chico, California, as a gift for his grandchildren. The mother of the children said "No!" they cannot have them, and my friend had no where to keep them so he gave them to me and my girlfriend. We don't know anything about these lil' things, and we are kind of worried that I am going to have to euthanize this poor guy if he is in pain or distress..? (They eat very heartily but do not like the Sunlight too much. I have five bantams that cruise around outside in the yard and on the property but these three do not hang out or walk around hunting with them; they stay together huddled up in the shade..?



The bantams do just fine, as you can see here? But these little white ones, I still do not even know for sure that they are Cornish Rockies, so obviously I need some help and advice if anyone can talk to me about these..? They are almost thirteen weeks old now, I think, so they may be ready to be slaughtered if they really are Cornish Rocks..?

 

[galanie]

What you have are not true Cornish but a hybrid that they call "Cornish Rock" or "Cornish Cross" that is meant solely as a meat bird. They usually need to be slaughtered at around 8 weeks. Sorry.

 

[JoshU]

Those cornish rocks are the same as tyson chickens you buy at the store. They eat eat eat poop poop poop and lay around for about 8 weeks until they reach their full size. Few people can keep them alive for more than a few months. They are bred for fast growth and are to be butchered and eaten. Leg and heart problems are common because their bodies grow so much faster than their bone structure can keep up with.

 

[DragonRider]

Those cornish rocks are the same as tyson chickens you buy at the store. They eat eat eat poop poop poop and lay around for about 8 weeks until they reach their full size. Few people can keep them alive for more than a few months. They are bred for fast growth and are to be butchered and eaten. Leg and heart problems are common because their bodies grow so much faster than their bone structure can keep up with.

Okay, thank you guys. I did not know, for sure, but from what I had read before I thought you were going to tell me that.

Yes, the guy who bought them did say they were Cornish Rocks, why he bought them I do not know, but aside from being one of my best friends, he is an idiot! Hahaha!

So I found a great YouTube Video Tutorial on how to butcher them, and I have made plans to do this on Sunday; my trash goes out on Monday so i will not have to worry too much about flies. I don't get my chickens to slaughter them, we enjoy raising them and having them around, laying eggs that we share and so forth.

So now that I will be getting rid of these three, the next three are going to be Americaunas if they still have them at the Feed Store i just bought my three baby Buff Leghorns from..?

Thanks so much for the input guys, I really do appreciate the fast responses. I love this site, and as my babies grow up I will be posting more here too! Who knows, maybe as I learn more and more about chickens I will be able to help someone else here someday too..?

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Okay, thank you guys. I did not know, for sure, but from what I had read before I thought you were going to tell me that.

Yes, the guy who bought them did say they were Cornish Rocks, why he bought them I do not know, but aside from being one of my best friends, he is an idiot! Hahaha!

So I found a great YouTube Video Tutorial on how to butcher them, and I have made plans to do this on Sunday; my trash goes out on Monday so i will not have to worry too much about flies. I don't get my chickens to slaughter them, we enjoy raising them and having them around, laying eggs that we share and so forth.

So now that I will be getting rid of these three, the next three are going to be Americaunas if they still have them at the Feed Store i just bought my three baby Buff Leghorns from..?

Thanks so much for the input guys, I really do appreciate the fast responses. I love this site, and as my babies grow up I will be posting more here too! Who knows, maybe as I learn more and more about chickens I will be able to help someone else here someday too..?

Good luck and I don't mean to be a downer, but almost every Ameraucana you buy at a feed store (hatchery birds) will be an Easter Egger and not a pure bred Ameraucana. On the up side, they are nice looking, and excellent layers, but just not pure bred birds.
Sorry you got taken in by the Cornish Crosses: Tractor Supply stores here were selling them by the truck load telling people they laid blue eggs! Now their are tons of people around here in your position with birds that have legs and hearts failing. Anyway, good job on figuring out what was happening and dealing with it appropriately.