CornXDeleware?

[Buster52]

I guess what I mean is, the Cornish Cross carries both the genes of its Cornish parent and the genes of its White Rock parent. It's offspring will have one or the other, either the genes for size from the Cornish, or the genes for size from the Rock. That's what people mean when they say they "don't breed true", I think, and that's what I mean by "roll of the dice".

I don't pretend to understand anything about breeding chickens, mind you, but that seems to be a bit of information rolling around in my head from my genetics class back in the day.

 

[TimG]

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I don't think it is quite that simple. Just like two humans of average height could have an offspring that is above (or below) average in height. I don't think size is like barred or not barred, but rather a combination of genes some of which probably involve incomplete dominance.

I have read reports from cross breeding that show the weight of offspring was generally in between the weights of the parent stock.

 

[dancingbear]

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What I'm planning to do is , rather than keep sustainable population of several breeds at once, (during early stages anyway, until I see which combos look the most promising) is just keep standard Cornish roos, with several breeds of hens. That way, except for short periods here and there, (like when I have some young cockerels growing out for freezer camp, or even one or two for further breeding) keeping them separated won't be an issue.

The people who have experience with standard Cornish as part of the parent line for meat crosses generally say that C. roo over whatever-breed hen works better than the other way around.

The lack-luster egg production could still be an issue with the female offspring of these crosses, though. They say that the egg laying ability is passed on through the sire, rather than the dam, so you want a roo who's mother was a good layer, to pass that along to his female offspring. With standard Cornish that's hard to do, most of the hens don't lay all that well, though some are definitely better than others.

But for the initial crosses, at least, you'd have plenty of eggs for hatching, from most of the hens you might want to cross w/Cornish.

BTW, I have a few Dels, nice looking, vigorous, active birds, and they seem smarter than most chickens. But my roos are really aggressive. Not to me, but to other chickens. I saw my 3 roos surround and attack a chick one day, I saw them actually work as a team to do this, like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. The mom hen was right there and ran in before I could react, and put a quick stop to it. The chick was fine, but it was really kind of creepy. All the years I've raised chickens, I've never seen that particular behavior before. I've been watching them, and they pick on the smaller birds a lot more than any others I've ever had. I decided to keep my Del hens, and the roos are destined for freezer camp, this weekend. I don't want baby chick stalkers in my flock.

 

[TimG]

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Whenever my wife's grandmother said "they say" she meant "Hannah Finberg says" and Hannah Finberg wasn't always that reliable.

I've read through some of the old chicken classics and don't recall any study results that supported this claim that egg laying ability is passed through the sire. I could easily have missed something regarding egg production (since that is not my main area of interest), but I would suggest doing a little research to make sure that your "they say" isn't just an old wives' tale.

 

[dancingbear]

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Whenever my wife's grandmother said "they say" she meant "Hannah Finberg says" and Hannah Finberg wasn't always that reliable.

I've read through some of the old chicken classics and don't recall any study results that supported this claim that egg laying ability is passed through the sire. I could easily have missed something regarding egg production (since that is not my main area of interest), but I would suggest doing a little research to make sure that your "they say" isn't just an old wives' tale.

I got this info from several people who post over in the genetics section of BYC. They seemed fairly knowledgeable about chicken genetics. A lot more so than I am. They were the first people I ever heard this from, so if it's an "old wives' tale", it's an obscure one that not many people have ever heard of. Most "old wives' tales" are fairly well known.

I'll see if I can locate some of the sources, and add a link or two.

Some of the stuff in "old chicken classics" has also been proven incorrect, or incomplete, by more recent research, too. I have some old books on many subjects, homesteading, herbal remedies, and other interesting stuff, that have some pretty absurd notions in them. Mixed in with some excellent info.

Many make the mistake of thinking that just because something got published, it's correct. Unfortunately, it's not that clear-cut or simple.

 

[nicalandia]

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YAY..!!! thats what we are all working for...

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I meant to ask in the other thread, why do you want egg weights at starting lay and at peak?

...to asses a hens overall production quality on the short and long run.., if we want to be as productive as we can possible be, we have to use the most productive hens at our hands..you know I already have a SIRE line hen but she still 8 months old and is not laying yet...

thats whay I am doing the much slimmer production type RIR...


Quote:
Whenever my wife's grandmother said "they say" she meant "Hannah Finberg says" and Hannah Finberg wasn't always that reliable.

I've read through some of the old chicken classics and don't recall any study results that supported this claim that egg laying ability is passed through the sire. I could easily have missed something regarding egg production (since that is not my main area of interest), but I would suggest doing a little research to make sure that your "they say" isn't just an old wives' tale.

I got this info from several people who post over in the genetics section of BYC. They seemed fairly knowledgeable about chicken genetics. A lot more so than I am.

its common knowledge that rate of laying is a polygenic trait, many many unknown and a percentage of those genes are unquestionably sex linked therefore the rooster have a greater influence in egg laying traits than the hen...