- Jun 15, 2008
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Has anyone raise the Cornish X to maturity? How good of an egg layer are they? Has anyone set their eggs under a broody hen to hatch them out? What are your experiences, advice?
Cornish X
- Thread starter Bossroo
- Start date
Welcome to BYC.
Cornish x broilers is what I assume you are talking about??
They are a cross bred chicken from a white cornish roo and a white rock hen. They are not a pure breed and any eggs you might on a slimmest margin get won't breed true - meaning you won't get more birds like the one laying the egg.
These birds are bred to grow fast and to be dispatched at 8 - 10 weeks of age. Because they do grow so fast their internal organs are under a lot of stress. Most of them do not live very long at all past the age of dispatch. They usually begin to die of stress related illness and organ failure. Sad, but a true fact of the broiler industry.
There are people who have managed to keep one or two alive longer but rarely for more than a year before they eventually die.
They are eating machines. They are genetically programs to eat. you would have to monitor the food and even remove it periodically to keep them from eating themselves to death. they will lay in the feed trough and eat and sleep and not get up very often.
If you can get one to laying age you'll be doing well but still you will not get the same kind of chicken that laid the egg. It is a genetic gamble and you won't know until you get one to hatch.
It is an experiment to try but don't get your hopes up too high on these birds. They maybe fine today and tomorrow half of them die for no cause that you can see.
Cornish x broilers is what I assume you are talking about??
They are a cross bred chicken from a white cornish roo and a white rock hen. They are not a pure breed and any eggs you might on a slimmest margin get won't breed true - meaning you won't get more birds like the one laying the egg.
These birds are bred to grow fast and to be dispatched at 8 - 10 weeks of age. Because they do grow so fast their internal organs are under a lot of stress. Most of them do not live very long at all past the age of dispatch. They usually begin to die of stress related illness and organ failure. Sad, but a true fact of the broiler industry.
There are people who have managed to keep one or two alive longer but rarely for more than a year before they eventually die.
They are eating machines. They are genetically programs to eat. you would have to monitor the food and even remove it periodically to keep them from eating themselves to death. they will lay in the feed trough and eat and sleep and not get up very often.
If you can get one to laying age you'll be doing well but still you will not get the same kind of chicken that laid the egg. It is a genetic gamble and you won't know until you get one to hatch.
It is an experiment to try but don't get your hopes up too high on these birds. They maybe fine today and tomorrow half of them die for no cause that you can see.
When my wife took a poultry science class at NC State when she was in college, they hatched some cornish x eggs, and she brought 25 home with her. We slaughtered all of the roosters except 1 when they were about 8 weeks old. I think we ended up with 12 hens and 1 rooster.
We did not give them food constantly, and they had room to move around and get some exercise. We had them for over a year, and they layed more eggs than we could eat. We had to rehome them, and I heard the hens lived to be a couple years old, but the rooster died shortly afterwards.
Keeping the rooster was a waste, he was so heavy and bow legged he could not breed the hens.
We did not give them food constantly, and they had room to move around and get some exercise. We had them for over a year, and they layed more eggs than we could eat. We had to rehome them, and I heard the hens lived to be a couple years old, but the rooster died shortly afterwards.
Keeping the rooster was a waste, he was so heavy and bow legged he could not breed the hens.
If you live in a warm climate you will really have issues. We had 4 die in about 1 hour the other day. I saved the 5th one that looked like it was fixing to go by dunking it in a bucket of water. Poor thing was probably in shock but he lived. We have huge shop fans on ours 24 hours a day and they still have probs.
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