Cornish Vs Heritage: A few questions

[SJ]

I raise heritage breeds in WI. If Utah winters start in early November like here in Wisconsin I have to say, Too late this year. I did a little math. Two weeks left in July plus four in August plus four in September, plus 4 more weeks in October minus three weeks to hatch them equals? 2+4+4+4-3=11. If you got day olds today or tommorrow I think you could sqeeze them in yet. I had a hatch last sunday. A good line of pure heritage types will be in the +16 week range.
30 weeks

! Fred i hear you, my first batch of hatchery stock Delawares took nearly 24 weeks to reach 7lbs alive. Except one guy that i kept as my breeding Roo because he was 8.5lbs by then. I've crossed a Delaware roo with Buff Orpington, New Hampshires and silver laced Wyandottes to get a faster grower but it wasn't until my F3 cross of White Laced Red Cornish roo over a half Delaware half Buff Orpington that I got a 7lbs 14 week meat bird out of heritage breeds. For this year I would stick with the CornishX for freezer fodder. Good Luck.

Fred where were your 30 week birds from?

 

[Fred's Hens]

I was referencing our Barred Rocks that came from Kathy Bonham who got them from JWhip who got them from Frank Reese of Good Shepherd Poultry. These are the 100 year line of ringlets of E B Thompson. These are true bred, heritage birds. Such birds cannot be gotten from a hatchery, of course. They are only available from preservationist minded breeders.

 

[SJ]

BEAUTIES!!!

 

[popsicle]

OP: Are heritage breeds going to be crowing before they are big enough to eat?

I processed a 14-week old Houdan last week--he'd been crowing for at least a week. Last month I processed a 12-week old Easter Egger that had been crowing for at least two weeks before processing (and I gave away another EE cockerel from the same batch that started crowing at 11-weeks). I didn't weigh them, but none of the processed birds were "ready"--however I was more than ready to be rid of birds crowing at 6 am.

I will certainly consider Houdans for meat again in the future. I'd also like to try Buckeye and Cornish (not CornishX). However, I don't have any neighbors that care about crowing.

 

[rbefarm]

I processed some 14-15 week old Delaware roosters this past Spring that ended up about 3-3.5 lb roasters...just hatchery birds and nothing special breeding wise. Not bad at all and the meat was incredible...put even the Freedom rangers to shame. I cooked them a touch lower heat but that was all I did differently. Next time I'll wait a bit longer and process at 4.5-5 months and I'd probably get another pound. I managed to sell a few as heritage roasters also and had a customer who is a chef come back to buy more as she agreed that they were that much better eating than even the slow growing broilers. I don't raise Cornish X...I can't stand them honestly..I like a bird that moves and forages and prefer the additional flavor you get processing at 10-12 weeks.

Just as a side note...I sell my chicken at the farmers markets and most customers are quite OK with a roaster in that size range. Some do want them bigger but most are willing to go 3-4 lbs.

 

[loveourbirds]

Quote: in my crossed birds I do not let them get 5 months old, they do not crow before I butcher them. everyone has their own methods, on a pure bread they probably will crow - remember with premium feeds 5 lbs is the premium weight.

 

[loveourbirds]

I don't know how easy they are to find, but there are people who selective breed white rock and heritage rhode island red for fast growing traits. I have them in both breeds here and it is not uncommon for us to have a 12 lb rooster at 20-22 weeks. keep in mind feed does have a lot to do with this too. if I have selected a group of birds for butcher, I will feed them a 24% protein feed. you should NOT do this if you plan on breeding the birds as it causes some long term issues. the feed I use is "bowles range bird pellets" im not sure of their availability everywhere but I do swear by them.

 

[loveourbirds]

your barred rocks are beautiful, I would be interest in chicks or eggs for my show lines. im not sure of all the breeding behind the ones I have, they came from Tim Bowles - the same guy who developed the pellet I mentioned earlier. he has spent 20 years or so selecting for growth and coloration. unfortunately they end up to big for show.

 

[kfacres]

How long does it take a typical heavy breed male to get to say 5 pounds dressed?

It is doubtful, that you will ever get a heavy breed male to dress out at 5 pounds- even mature. Most hatchery sourced birds don't come close to SOP weights anyways.

If I am raising 25 males, am I going to have an issue with fighting before they are old enough to eat?

No, not as long as you do not seperate them ever.

I live in a semi-suburban area (as in, across the street from a neighborhood but we are still zone agricultural) on land owned by my mother (whose house we live in and she is NOT happy about roosters). Are heritage breeds going to be crowing before they are big enough to eat?

Yes, they'll be crowing long before they are ready to eat. Most will crow 7-12 weeks of age, and you'll be hard pressed to find one butcherable by 16-20 weeks of age.

Is it true that the feed conversion is about the same as with the Cornish - slower eating=slower growing?

Anything but the CX will have poor to horrible feed conversion. Sure you can reduce feed costs by letting them free range, but at the same time, you are also increasing days until butcher-- which is costing money.

I have something going on here, which is a meatier, faster growing- self sustainable bird better suited for backyard projects. But, I don't sell baby chicks.

 

[homeworkin]

Thanks for all of the input. I ended up getting a few local heritage breeds to play around with and will maybe do one more batch of Cornish. I just took 18 birds (17 CX and 1 4 month old Red Ranger pullet) to the processor. They averaged almost 5 pounds each, with 10 of the birds over 5 pounds and one at 3 1/2 (CX runt, I think, one was looking puny).

I now have a breeding trio of Buckeyes, a BLRW chick was thrown in along with a Buckeye chick. So, of course, I had to get a BLRW roo - he is about 4 months old and so sweet. Follows us around like a puppy. Even came and got into the coop last night when I called him! I plan to put him with SLW and GLW as well as the BLRW. I got lucky on him - he is a Foley line and very large. The chick is clearly hatchery stock, but still pretty. But, can't just raise two chicks, right? So I had to get another Jersey Giant and a pair (I hope) of Black Copper Maran babies. Combined with my EE/Ameraucanas I am hoping for some olive eggers in the spring. We can always eat the less than pretty Wyandottes and the Buckeyes.

On a side note, took in 3 teenage geese. Best info I could find on Google said to process them around 15-17 weeks, these were about 16 weeks. 5 pound each! Huge waste of time and money - they looked huge but there was nothing under all that fluff.