crossing CORNISH CROSS?

[bluefeather2697]

i have a CX hen, alive, healthy, and believe it or not.. slimmer than a normal CX because of her diet.

i read topic here in BYC that CXs are not capable of producing CXs again because of the mixed breeding to produce them.
i plan to cross her with a leghorn roo. what d'ya think will happen?
will i get a pure mix of leghorn and CX, i mean, will the offspring be meaty and good layer?
OR will i get something that looks more like cornish chickens? or maybe a has a descent of white rocks?

honestly i don't like the looks of a cornish chicken.

 

[sonew123]

Not sure but just had to say..if that's your photo....wow. Beautifully done!

 

[bluefeather2697]

Quote:
no, haha, i got that pic online.

 

[1muttsfan]

You won't get a pure anything, a cornish cross is a mixed breed bird bred specifically to produce first-generation offspring with exceptional growth and meat- producing characteristics. It's not that they can't breed, it's just why breed them, because they would not predictably produce offering with good growth.

Having said that, if you want to experiment go ahead! Some accidental chicks are great. Just keep in mind that the offspring of a cross like that are unlikely to be great at either egg laying or meat production.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

will i get a pure mix of leghorn and CX, i mean, will the offspring be meaty and good layer?

If it were only that simple. I'd cross a V8 pick-up truck with an ultra-compact smart car and hope to get something that can haul 60 small square bales of hay in the box, pull a 5th wheel and get 50 MPG.

Cross CX and leghorn and most likely you would end up with a cross that was neither a good layer nor a good meat bird. Plus you would end up with an end product that would not breed true, so chicks from a single batch could be all over the place in terms of charicteristics and quality. With generations and likely years of selective breeding it might be possible from that initial cross (and some additional gennetic inputs) to develop an end product that would breed true and have some desirable traits. Even then it would likely be better to choose two closer middle of the road DP breeds to work with or just work on developing some realy good genetics in a single breed.​

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chickens inherit traits from their parents. I'm not certain what traits a Leghorn over Cornish X will inherit, the two types are so different. Or rather, I don't know which traits would dominate. The Leghorn will contribute genes for a real good feed to egg conversion rate, but have a small compact body and not convert feed to meat very well. The broiler will contribute genes that convert feed to meat real well and seem to make them want to eat a lot. What you will get is some kind of cross, but I really don't knwo what traits will dominate.

Don't worry about a throwback to either Cornish or Rocks. The broiler is a breed all its own. Although it may have been developed from crossing those two breeds, that was so many generations back that it does not matter. I would no more expect to get a Cornish or a Rock from a Cornish X than I would expect to get an Orpington from an Australorp. Orpington were used to develop the Australorp.

 

[RAREROO]

Yeap you would never get a bird looking like a cornish from that cross, even the CX have had the pea comb and bull dogg face of the cornish bred out and they just look like oversized white rocks, so crossing them to a legorn I would imagine would tone them down to about the size of a typical barred rock. I'm actually planning on doing this same cross myself. And yse you can keep CX slim and breed them, I've done it before.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
I once had a project like yours, you need to feed restrict the hens and cull the boys, use a slow growing and Large roo over the hens(Cochin, JG, Brahma) and you will end up with a bird that matures a a slower rate than cornishX and going to be almost as meaty.. dont use a leghorn roo over her..

 

[draye]

Quote:
I once had a project like yours, you need to feed restrict the hens and cull the boys, use a slow growing and Large roo over the hens(Cochin, JG, Brahma) and you will end up with a bird that matures a a slower rate than cornishX and going to be almost as meaty.. do use a leghorn roo over her..

I would have to agree here. Use a larger rooster.

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
I once had a project like yours, you need to feed restrict the hens and cull the boys, use a slow growing and Large roo over the hens(Cochin, JG, Brahma) and you will end up with a bird that matures a a slower rate than cornishX and going to be almost as meaty.. do use a leghorn roo over her..

I would have to agree here. Use a larger rooster.

This would depend on what the OP is wanting to do with these crossed birds, if just hatching them to eat, then yes a large rooster would be better, but if bluefeather wants to breed them and produce more meat birds, then crossing with a leghorn roo would be a good idea to cross and keep the pullets from theses as they would be a bit slimmer, not eat as much and get the cood laying abilities from the leghorns. And then on these hens, you could use a large rooster from a CX /Large roo cross. That's how commerical poultry breeding are, a cross of a slim, high egg laying, feed efficient female line, on a large meaty male line and the resulting offspring are a combination off these traits and produced more affordably than feeding lots of big heavey hens that eat a lot more.