Cornish Thread

[JRNash]

I have 4 Cornish cross, about 9 weeks old. I know I should just butcher them, and I might yet, but was going to try to keep them for layers. I have about 4 acre property I let my hens free range. I just started turning the Cornish cross out. They will not move very far from the coop, I know they cannot be finding enough food in the little area they are hunting. I have to actually close the coop door or they would spend the entire day laying in the barn. I do not give them any feed until evening, trying to make them range.
They are young, will they get bolder as they get more accustomed to their environment? Or have they just been bred to be lazy?

The ones I've raised were all ways very active. In order to keep them past the recommended period you have to severely restrict their feed intake from the start. I'm giving Welps. Slow Broilers a try now for that very reason. I don't have to worry about restricting their food. I seriously over feed my birds.lol after I process this batch I will go back to CX

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

The ones I've raised were all ways very active. In order to keep them past the recommended period you have to severely restrict their feed intake from the start. I'm giving Welps. Slow Broilers a try now for that very reason. I don't have to worry about restricting their food. I seriously overflowed my birds.lol after I process this batch I will go back to CX

Yeah I got them on accident, I did not understand all the breeds. I had been giving them continuous feed but it was layer feed. I couldn't free range them until they were big enough to scare the cats. Hopefully they get a bit bolder.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Are these the right kind of eyes?

Yes I believe they are...........Very jealous. !!!

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I suspect just about all white Cornish are pretty much dark Cornish with the addition of two copies of recessive white.

Hmmmm maybe that would be the best way to get those pearl eyes back into my dark cornish then......... I know of some nice white Cornish.

 

[JRNash]

That's exactly what I'm going to do

 

[hellbender]

There are multiple ways to skin a cat...so to speak.

 

[big medicine]

Bear in mind, a white Cornish ( and I am talking a show type white Cornish, not a broiler here) bred to a dark Cornish will produce colored chicks, but each will carry a single (non showing) copy of recessive white. Breeding these chicks together will produce, in theory, 50% one copy recessive white dark looking chicks, 25% two copy recessive white chicks, and 25% no copy dark chicks.

So if going that route you will likely be finding some white birds popping up in your pens for the foreseeable future .

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Are there any white cornish that are dominant white? That might be easier to get rid of (in theory)(or maybe not!) but now that I think about it, a white cornish popping up from time to time wouldn' t necessarily be a bad thing...............

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

There are multiple ways to skin a cat...so to speak.

Is there an easier way to get the pearl eyes back into dark cornish? Assuming of course the white cornish are of better quality and have the pearl eyes? Better quality/pearl eyed dark cornish of course would be the simplest.........but if they aren't available........how else could you do it?

 

[varidgerunner]

The reason that traits (like pearl eyes) have disappeared is because of dilution by other breeds. Crossing a different strain to fix a specific trait will add whatever dilution that strain contains. Breeds can become a cumulative product of their dilutions.

There are some people who have tried re introducing the original ingredients of the Cornish using oriental game breeds that have remained pretty pure since the time of the Cornish's invention. The examples I have seen in pictures from Australia and Belgium among other places, looked very nice, much like the old pictures of Cornish that the hatcheries put in their catalogs to avoid the embarrassment of using a picture of the birds they typically ship.