Cornish Thread

[triplejfarms]

here is some of my LF dark cornish rooster is 1 year old, pullet is 5 months.

 

[Cedarknob]

here is some of my LF dark cornish rooster is 1 year old, pullet is 5 months.

Welcome to the thread.

 

[Cedarknob]

A pair of double blue laced project large fowl Cornish pullets with a younger dark, hatched this summer. I had decided not to pursue breeding blue laced red large fowl, but since fate dealt me these, will go ahead and breed for the European accepted version of Cornish.................... I think the color is sharp.





A pen of different variety, large fowl Cornish hatched the last of May.






A young dark cockerel and white pullet.

 

[triplejfarms]

nice! love the blue laced!

 

[Cedarknob]

nice! love the blue laced!

Thank you.

 

[Lacey1988]

My dark cornish pistol crowed for the first time the other day ^^ ...it sounded like some one was strangling him

 

[animalsRawesome]

A friend of mine recently told me they were looking into getting some dark Cornish... I had never really paid that much attention to the breed until then, but have been looking into them a little. I searched this thread but couldn't seem to find an answer... can anyone tell me how many pounds of feed is required per pound of gain for your Cornish? I'm trying to determine if they gain more EFFICIENTLY than other large breeds such as a Jersey Giant or maybe a Buff Orpington, or if the Cornish simply just get bigger. Does that make sense? Also, from what I have read, I'm probably only going to get about 150 eggs/year from a Cornish, is that correct?

 

[peeps family]

like your cornish photo's , They seem to have very thick legs. how big do they get and are they noisy. compared to Japanese quail.?

 

[Cedarknob]

I was not satisfied at all with the hatchery type Cornish I once tried, though have seen others here that seemed to be a bit closer to true Cornish in type which means they have a more meaty body along with coming a bit closer to the Standard of Perfection. The body type that good Cornish have is simply not designed for heavy egg production.

I've never tracked feed to meat ratios, so can't answer that question. My hatchery type were good at ranging, but being more active is not necessarily a good thing for maximum weight gain or feed conversion, and they were slow growers as are quality Cornish; but good Cornish pack on a great deal of meat and make a dressed carcass that looks very much like a commercial broiler in shape. While the true Cornish are slow to mature, they are more meaty than any breed I've known, and to me much better flavored than the fast growers. They aren't a noisy breed, though the cockerels/cocks can certainly be heard when they do crow and the pullets/hens do have a song when they lay. Both the hatchery type and quality Cornish I've had lay medium sized eggs, the hatchery type were better layers. Quality Cornish are not huge, but will provide more meat faster than the the giant breeds like Brahmas or Jersey Giants. However, I would not recommend Cornish as a dual purpose flock for anyone wanting to sell excess eggs; most people wanting to buy fresh country eggs want large eggs. Those bred towards the standard of perfection are the ultimate meat breed in my opinion, with heavy breast meat that seems much better flavored than commercial white meat along with short, heavy thighs and drums; and do lay enough eggs in season to keep the flock going plus provide extras for eating. I keep handful of other hens for large eggs and winter eggs, but consider well bred Cornish a great self-sustaining meat breed. With their hard feathering, that body shape you see in the pictures of my birds is the same shape as the dressed bird.

 

[mcrooke45]

I got some dark cornish from Ideal this year. Three of them were real nice in the old type that cornish used to be. I hate the short legs on the modern day cornish. A coon killed my cockerel this year before he got to full size. He had long legs and looked alot like a Malay. That is the type they used to breed for in the past. I have Dark Cornish bantams and their legs are so short they have a hard time breeding. It is funny to watch as the rooster tries to mount the hen and he just rolls off of her because his legs won't reach the ground because they are so short. I sold all my large fowl cornish because I could not find another rooster to go with them. Modern day cornish are fine from the chest up but their legs are just to short now. The same thing is happening with Sumatras now to. People are breeding them to get their legs shorter to make the tail appear longer. When you look at old pictures of the birds from the late 1800s and early 1900s they all had long legs. I myself like the longer legged birds compared to the short stubby legs people try to breed for now. I don't show birds anymore so I breed my birds to my own preferences now. I have both Dark Cornish bantams and Sumatra bantams and I am going to try and breed mine to the old standards.