Crossing Cornish with others....

[Agape Builder]

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No, I just meant that it's readily available in this area. I get it at my local feed dealer's, a small family owned and operated place. They get it from a feed mill about 25 miles from here. Having distilleries around here might be why it's easy to find, and cheap. It may or may not be as easy to find, or as cheap, elsewhere.

I wondered because, when I asked the guy at a local feed store about distiller's grain, he sort of looked at me really funny (like, "What's that?) and said, "no." Other people at local feed stores have told me that there is no such thing as a difference between starter feed and grower's feed, something that I know is wrong, but maybe is just applicable to them or others around here.



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My hens hatch guinea eggs for me, and I have some incubating in an LG right now, along with some turkey eggs, and some Dorkings.

Guinea eggs are fairly easy to hatch, they're tough little things. The keets are very delicate for about the first 48 hours, (I think it's because they're worn out from breaking through those concrete-hard shells) and susceptible to cold and damp until they start to feather out. After that, they're pretty hardy.

I talked to the lady with the Barred Rock chicks, and she has somebody that is supposed to pick them all up in the morning. However, I am going to just buy the fertile egs from her for a LOT less money, somethin I would much rather do anyways. Instead of $1.50 per chick, I am getting four dozen eggs for $3 per dozen, they will be fresh, and I do not have to worry about shipping damage. Just the savins from buying the eggs instead of chicks will pay for an egg turner and my diesel fuel to to pick them up. I am just going to borrow my friend's little incubator until I get my large incubator built. (That might be a while yet... All of the egg turners needed will be expensive.)

 

[dancingbear]

That's a fact, incubating equipment isn't cheap. I know there are ways to build homemade turners, but I haven't quite worked it out, or found good plans/instructions, yet.

BTW, I meant to mention that I think the BR hens and Cornish roos are a good choice, if you have good quality birds to start with. They're a popular combination for a meat cross. Slower than the C.X's, but faster than either breed straight up. If you can get them to size by about 14-16 weeks, they should be tender enough to be fryers. Or butcher them a little smaller before 14 weeks, to be sure. I crock-pot older birds, and they taste great. Best sandwiches and enchiladas, ever.

 

[NancyDz]

What about a Turken with a cornish? Less feathers to remove...


Nancy

 

[Agape Builder]

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Hopefully, the tub style chicken plucker I am soon to build will make that a non-issue!

 

[Agape Builder]

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I am looking for cheap Hovabator or Little Giant turner racks sans the turner motor. Then, I am wondering if I can shorten the six racks on a grid to four or five, and then hook them together with another egg turner so that one motor turns a total of ten or eleven racks, not just six like normal. That is about the size that I can fit on one rack of an incubator like the one that I am planning based upon using a large upright freezer for the case. That would allow me to incubate up to a total of 70 or 77 chicken sized egs on each rack (instead of the 41 or 42 allowed on a standard Hovabator or Little Giant rack) in the freezer.

Assuming that I space my incubator racks at 6 inches apart and some hatching drawers at about 6 inches apart as well, I should have room for 3 hatching drawers and 5 incubating racks with an extra 6 inches on top and bottom for shelves to hold my heater, fans, humidity pans / pads, etc. And that is just with my little 16.0 cubic foot freezer that I have now. (Which I don't want to use because it still works, plus I want a larger freezer body for the incubator to allow more room.)

With the above setup, I would need to buy 5 to 10 egg turners at about $50 each (someone please help me find them cheaper!). And, I then would be able to incubate 350 to 385 eggs at a time. I figure that would take me 17 to 24 good laying hens and two to three roosters to provide the needed 117 to 128 fertilized egs each week. Given at least a 95% hatch rate after working out initial bugs in the system, I should have no less than 111 chicks to upwards of 122 or more chicks hatched every week from only one of these incubators if kept in full production.

I have four dozen good pure breed Barred Rock eggs I am picking up this week from a breeder that lives around the corner from my fathers house about 45 minutes from here. I will raise those chicks, maybe saving the best couple or three of roosters from among them for bthem for breeding purposes, but the inferior roos will get the ax when they start to crow but are still tender. I will watch the hens to see which ones grow the fastest and are the strongest, then I will take those for breeding stock to cross with either Dark or White Cornish roosters that I will likewise pick out for size and strength and speed of growth. That will give me my initial breeding stock for homegrown broilers.

Over time, I will raise more Cornish roosters and BR hens (with pure bred eggs from other bloodlines) to develop the fastest growing and best broilers possible while retaining the free ranging and other healthy characteristics. They will not grow as fast as the Jumbo Cornish X-Rocks, but they should be better for the average homesteader.

If anyone knows where I can get high quality Cornish eggs at a reasonable price, please let me know your suggestions. I am trying to stay away from highly inbred stock. I want good genetics.

 

[maf2008]

Hi Greyfields,

Your crosses of free range and cornish cross is what I am looking for. Can you and will you ship "test eggs" for me to hatch and grow some meat birds? thanks

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My largest best growing crosses were all Dark Cornish with Freed Ranger hens.

I did grow a crop side by side with my colored range broilers. They had a 2.5 week headstart and weighed 1-2 lbs less than the broilers.

It's not an overnight proposition to convert from buying broilers to breeding your own. It's going to take years of work.

I agree on the hard work part and it is sure worth it when the cast iron skillet is all fired up !!!

I may purchase some Freedom Ranger hens too to try this out. Thanks for the input as always !

 

[WalkingWolf]

My game rooster got a hold of a neighbors BR hen, and wow is that chick growing. A little rooster and at 3 weeks he is 3 times the size of the other chicks. Apparently the fast growth genes are not limited to the Cornish, and games are NOT fast growers.

 

[Agape Builder]

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You know, WW, that the Cornish ARE game chickens! They were developed in Cornwall, England from a cross of the Old English Game chickens and the Asseels from India. Then, the American broiler industry throughout the 1800's and early 20th century was based upon a cross between the Cornish roosters and Plymouth Barred Rock hens (which themselves were developed as a cross between Dominiques and Black Javas). Even the modern broiler industry is based upon a hybrid developed between select White Cornish roosters and select Plymouth White Rocks hens. That is what the Jumbo Cornish X-Rocks are.

So, what you said above about the growth of thechick from the game rooster and Barred Rock hen is not at all surprising to me. That is the sort of stuff that broilers are made of. Of course, he probably bullies and eats three times as much as the other chicks too, LOL...

 

[dancingbear]

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Good luck with that. They're hard to find, at any price. Most pure Cornish breeders won't sell fertile eggs, at all.

BTW, while Cornish are a game bird, they're not the same as most game birds here in the U.S. Most of the game birds here, I'm not sure what the specific breed names are, but they're kind of tall and skinny looking, not built at all like a Cornish. They're fast, tough, and have strong muscles, but the build is entirely different, long and lean.

 

[Agape Builder]

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Good luck with that. They're hard to find, at any price. Most pure Cornish breeders won't sell fertile eggs, at all.

Well, if I have to buy 25 Dark Cornish roosters (chicks, of course), I will. I can get 25 of them shipped to me for $38 and change from a place here in Florida that I found online and at eggbid.com. I just wanted to get some eggs to save even more money. I am getting four dozen fresh fertile pure bred Barred Rock eggs for $12 in a few days when the lady has them all collected, and that is local. I would like to find the Cornish locally, but I am afraid I may not be that lucky.

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I understand what you are saying, Jenny. I know that the Cornish are stocky compared to the ones used as gamers today. I was just expressing to the other person how the Cornish came directly from gamers. It just happened to end up with the thick chest and legs, making it better for meat than gaming.