Cornish Thread

[chicken farmer]

Hello all, we have five Dark Cornish in our flock and we have had a couple go broody at 8 months. I have read some reviews on the breed and several people report they are good at hatching and raising babies. Can any of you share your experiences with broodies and hatching. Thanks

All hens are different,I've heard they are great brooders and raisers of chicks. I ordered a dark cornish pullet about a week ago when I ordered a big variety of chicks from Murray Mcmurray I can't wait. One of the reasons I bought one is I like there look and I heard there broody usually and I like that in a hen. Good luck and I'm sure she'll do great

 

[COChix]

All hens are different,I've heard they are great brooders and raisers of chicks. I ordered a dark cornish pullet about a week ago when I ordered a big variety of chicks from Murray Mcmurray I can't wait. One of the reasons I bought one is I like there look and I heard there broody usually and I like that in a hen. Good luck and I'm sure she'll do great

Great thanks, they are really pretty birds and three are very friendly, two not so much. They seem to be good foragers and are typically some of the last of our girls out free ranging in the evening.

 

[chicken farmer]

Great thanks, they are really pretty birds and three are very friendly, two not so much. They seem to be good foragers and are typically some of the last of our girls out free ranging in the evening.

Yep I heard they were good foragers,I can't wait to get them here in the next couple weeks!! I'll post pictures when they arrive

 

[kfacres]

Everything you've been 'hearing' is probably being told to you by someone who has never had a 'real' cornish, and I bet doesn't know anyone who has either. The birds you're buying from hatcheries, typically don't have anything in common with a real bird that's close to the SOP, much more than color- and lot of times the color is WAY off.


Cornish are great birds for the things they bring to the table, namely meat. The strain that at least 3 of us on this board raise will smoke any other line, breed, composite, or strain of fowl out their for being the 'best' backyard sustainable meat bird, I'll put money on that.. This bird strain is superior at being broody and taking care of those babies. I have 2 Silkies running around here for the sole intention of hatching eggs, and while on average the silkies will brood 3x a year, and most Cornish only 2x- I have a few momma hens that'll embarrass the SIlkies.

Now, if you asked me to put my birds in an egg laying contest, I'd have to decline. About 5 eggs a week from April to Aug is about all their good for. I bet that's at least an egg or an egg and a half more than the strictly show ring oriented Cornish will put out. In addition, it doesn't seem to matter whether I let pen 1 free range or not, as they'll only get about 30' from the coop.

 

[spangledcornish]

We have had quite a few hens go broodie over the years (bantams more so than the standards. For the most part they are decent mothers, but of you want to hen hatch a couple of crossbred birds are the way to go

On egg laying i agree poor layers but the bantams are way better than the standards

 

[COChix]

Everything you've been 'hearing' is probably being told to you by someone  who has never had a 'real' cornish, and I bet doesn't know anyone who has either.  The birds you're buying from hatcheries, typically don't have anything in common with a real bird that's close to the SOP, much more than color- and lot of times the color is WAY off.


Cornish are great birds for the things they bring to the table, namely meat.  The strain that at least 3 of us on this board raise will smoke any other line, breed, composite, or strain of fowl out their for being the 'best' backyard sustainable meat bird, I'll put money on that.. This bird strain is superior at being broody and taking care of those babies.  I have 2 Silkies running around here for the sole intention of hatching eggs, and while on average the silkies will brood 3x a year, and most Cornish only 2x- I have a few momma hens that'll embarrass the SIlkies.  

Now, if you asked me to put my birds in an egg laying contest, I'd have to decline.  About 5 eggs a week from April to Aug is about all their good for.  I bet that's at least an egg or an egg and a half more than the strictly show ring oriented Cornish will put out.  In addition, it doesn't seem to matter whether I let pen 1 free range or not, as they'll only get about 30' from the coop.  

Thank you for the feedback and it makes me more excited about the possibility of letting a couple broodies hatch. We have incubators but would much rather let a chiken raise a chick!

We have had quite a few hens go broodie over the years (bantams more so than the standards. For the most part they are decent mothers, but of you want to hen hatch a couple of crossbred birds are the way to go

On egg laying i agree poor layers but the bantams are way better than the standards

Thanks for that and yes ours will be hatching out eggs from our mixed flock. I will be doing the food dye on the vent tests on all of our birds and tracking egg production for a week,j ust to see who is producing and who is not. Should be interesting to say the least.

Here is a shot of our broody girl, I know she isn't the breed standard and we have been told she might not be a cornish but a Barnevelder or a mutt. We got all of ours from Meyer hatchery.

 

[big medicine]

Hello all, we have five Dark Cornish in our flock and we have had a couple go broody at 8 months. I have read some reviews on the breed and several people report they are good at hatching and raising babies. Can any of you share your experiences with broodies and hatching. Thanks

With real Cornish, breed to the SOP, it has been my experience with large fowl that while you might have a higher hatch rate under a broody, it likely will not be under a Cornish. Between their heavy bulky build, somewhat less than graceful movement, and tight feathering, the tend to break too many eggs, making a mess of the survivors.

I think the tight feathering also handicaps the hen to a degree when brooding successfully hatched chicks. Which makes me wonder if maybe nature compensates somewhat for that by making it common for Cornish males to have low fertility till it warms up more.

Now the mutts I raise, while I strive to retain as much meat producing traits as possible from their Cornish ancestry, are definitely looser feathered, lay better, and the hens tend to be lighter than true well bred Cornish, but still well ahead of most hatchery Cornish I have seen.

 

[COChix]

With real Cornish, breed to the SOP, it has been my experience with large fowl that while you might have a higher hatch rate under a broody, it likely will not be under a Cornish.  Between their heavy bulky build, somewhat less than graceful movement, and tight feathering, the tend to break too many eggs, making a mess of the survivors.

I think the tight feathering also handicaps the hen to a degree when brooding successfully hatched chicks. Which makes me wonder if maybe nature compensates somewhat for that by making it common for Cornish males to have low fertility till it warms up more.

Now the mutts I raise, while I strive to retain as much meat producing traits as possible from their Cornish ancestry, are definitely looser feathered, lay better, and the hens tend to be lighter than true well bred Cornish, but still well ahead of most hatchery Cornish I have seen. 

Ok thanks for that insight as well. Interesting you bring up the feathering on the Cornish as I have noticed that their coats have more sheen than some of our other breeds and they do not have the saddle sores from the roosters. Maybe their tight feathering is the difference. Well it should be interesting for hatching, so should we pick larger eggs for them to sit on if they tend to break them easier. Thanks

 

[big medicine]

Ok thanks for that insight as well. Interesting you bring up the feathering on the Cornish as I have noticed that their coats have more sheen than some of our other breeds and they do not have the saddle sores from the roosters. Maybe their tight feathering is the difference. Well it should be interesting for hatching, so should we pick larger eggs for them to sit on if they tend to break them easier. Thanks

The extra sheen on your darks is likely a result of the added melanizers that darks posses (and possibly barnevelders) that give them the deep colorization, and black neck hackles.

As to the egg size, keeping and incubating the larger eggs might help encourage that trait in future generations, I don't know that it would necessarily make the eggs stronger and less susceptible to breakage. Upping the calcium in their diet would.

 

[COChix]

The extra sheen on your darks is likely a result of the added melanizers that darks posses (and possibly barnevelders) that give them the deep colorization, and black neck hackles.

As to the egg size, keeping and incubating the larger eggs might help encourage that trait in future generations, I don't know that it would necessarily make the eggs stronger and less susceptible to breakage. Upping the calcium in their diet would.

Interesting on the melanizers in th darks and barnies, they both have beautiful plumage. We provide calcium free choice and I do feed the egg shells back to the gang,of course completely crushed up. Thanks