creating my own cornish rock X possible?

[Rathbone]

so if I wanted to skip buying chicks and raise my own cornish rock crosses for meat chicks...could it really be as simple as buying cornish hens and a white rock rooster? This seems so overly simple I am sure I am skipping some necessary info. Otherwise many people would be doing it right? Anyone?

 

[awesomefowl]

sounds cool.

 

[Olive Hill]

No, it's not that simple. CX chicks you buy from hatcheries are not F1 crosses and have many, many years of selective breeding behind them.

That said, you are, of course, free to cross Rocks and Cornish all you want. If you work with quality birds and be patient you can get results, but the first chicks you ever hatch -- or the second or the third or the tenth -- will not be what you get from a hatchery.

 

[Rathbone]

Thank you...I figured there was more to it than meets the eye.
I want to eat healthy meat - and while those big breasted lovelies from the hatchery sound delicious, I feel sorry for a bird that can barely walk around.
So here is my goal:
The birds hopefully would develop rather quickly.
Would of course be meaty types
And would be able to eat regular chicken feed and range around for bugs and grass etc.
I guess my goal is to eat them, but for them to live happily while they are alive.

So many chicken raisers out there...surely someone has tried this and has some great advice.

 

[Lorije1]

hatcheries have them..... Freedom Rangers and Red Broilers (depending on which hatchery you look at).

 

[Rathbone]

Quote:
I went and checked those out...the red and black broilers sound more my speed. I might try those. I know I will have to wait a little bit longer but sounds like they are not so suseptible to some of the health problems.