Cornish Thread

[CLSranch]

Hay guys. I just wanted to announce that my Dark Cornish are finally starting to lay well. (well being 30 40%) at 23 weeks old now. Started at 21 wks on short days.

 

[sambat]

CLSranch do you have a light on them to get them to lay or do you guys keep a light on them at all times like the broilers

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

The meat cornish cross broilers are bred to grow so fast their bones and organs cannot keep up. They are a totally different animal compared to a true pure Cornish. The broiler's hearts fail (complex, here's why: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...s_of_poultry/ascites_syndrome_in_poultry.html ) and their soft growing skeletons cannot hold up the weight of their massive bodies. By restricting their food in theory you slow the growth rate so that the heart and skeleton can "keep up". A way to restrict their feed is to make them rustle their own food by free ranging- by adding grass and greens and whatever bugs they can catch, gives them far fewer calories than if they had their beaks in the feed trough 24/7 .
The feed I had for my Buckeyes and Dark Cornish was 23% turkey starter and there was meat protein in it as well (pork meal). I don't see any problem myself with leftover cooked buffet meats as long as they weren't marinated in high salt sauces. You don't need to feed a whole lot of meat protein, it should be a part of their diet but not their whole diet. What you want is a proper balance of all nutrients,all essential amino acids, minerals and energy, and without feeding to excess. Water quality and quantity is critical too. This is something that's often neglected, water should be clean, easily available and plentiful all year. Feeding snow to chickens is not a substitute for fresh water.
Pure cornish (and other breeds) are not immune to heart failure either. With large breeds like this, feed management is important. Actually it's important that the different types of chickens get what's proper nutrition for them- feeding light layers too much too quickly causes problems too, but more related to too early egg laying. No easy answers, you have to keep records and find what works best for your breeds and management system.
As with every other thing it seems that excess feed/nutrition causes more problems than underfeeding. You don't want fat chickens of any breed.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Hay guys. I just wanted to announce that my Dark Cornish are finally starting to lay well. (well being 30 40%) at 23 weeks old now. Started at 21 wks on short days.

That's excellent. I'm trying to select for early egg laying myself and for egg size in the 55 gram range.

 

[sambat]

Thanks CanadianBuckeye, it seems I have lots to learn and keep up with. Hmm perhaps with next hatch I can do a better job of keeping up with weight and growth

 

[WLR Cornish]

White Laced Red Cornish illustration's of the early 1900's. A Cornish body type that is totally different from the one's winning in the shows today but a body type that is very appealing to me.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Thanks CanadianBuckeye, it seems I have lots to learn and keep up with. Hmm perhaps with next hatch I can do a better job of keeping up with weight and growth

It really depends on what your goals are, if that's necessary. If you are not planning on changing or improving anything production wise, and you are satisfied with how things are going now, carry on! But, it does pay to have good notes so that if something goes wrong that you'd like to fix you can refer back to them.
Same for breeding to the standard, if you don't have good notes you won't be able to easily tell who your best breeders are.
An easy way to do it is to compare the differences between two groups, one group that's business as usual, and another with a different regimen you'd like to compare. They should all be the same line, age and sex, and the same number of birds in each group, to make the results most meaningful. The more you have to compare the better.
There's an excellent production thread here, here;s the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/845018/breeding-for-production-eggs-and-or-meat

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

White Laced Red Cornish illustration's of the early 1900's. A Cornish body type that is totally different from the one's winning in the shows today but a body type that is very appealing to me.

Me too. That's what I am after as well, for Dark Cornish.

 

[sambat]

White Laced Red Cornish illustration's of the early 1900's. A Cornish body type that is totally different from the one's winning in the shows today but a body type that is very appealing to me.

Hmm well looking at this my cornish arent so bad after all, I was thinking more stout and short legged with big head...still would like to get some like the ones at the shows eventually

 

[sambat]

My father used to say his parents had cornish and that they were tall birds. He always pointrf out orientals like saipans and aseels and would say almost that tall and with big double breast