Favorelles were once bred (long ago) for utility purposes, but the current lines are mostly used for exhibition. They are "pretty", but not very large and not likely to make a spectacular cross for a good broiler. If you do not like the White or Barred Rock hens (which have long PROVEN themselves half of the reliable foundation of the broiler industry, over and above every other breed of chicken out there other than the other half of the hybrid equation, the Cornish roosters), then consider the slightly smaller Plymouth Partridge Rock hens that are considered by experts and hatcheries as one of the BEST setters and broody hens out there. They are slightly smaller, but they will be able to incubate the eggs and protect the chicks for you, so that you can keep the baby broilers in with adult chickens without fear.
Another suggestion that I would consider superior to using the Partridge Rocks (which hens slightly resemble Speckled Sussex in coloration) as the basis for your hybrids, I would suggest using the Barred Rocks (or even White Rocks) as I originally suggested, and then use either a couple or few Partridge Rock, Buff Orphington, or Cochin hens to brood the eggs for you. All three of those varieties make excellent mothers and they will sit on the eggs and raise the chicks from any hen, not just their own. That way, if the Barred ROcks do not want to sit on their own eggs, then you could put 10 of the hybrid cross eggs under each of the momma hens that you keep just for the purpose. Even old spent hens of those varieties will work good as mothers for you. The standard Orphingtons and Cochins are so big, you might even be able to get 12 eggs under each of them.
So, depending on the size of the flock that you want to raise, perhaps you could use one Dark Cornish rooster for every 10-12 White or Barred Rock hens to produce the good broiler hybrid cross eggs (hopefully one egg per hen per day), then use Partridge Rock, Buff Orphington, or Cochin hens to sit on the eggs and raise the offspring.
Remember, if you want to use the production hens (the Rock hens) to brood their own eggs, then they will stop laying while brooding the eggs. Then, you will lose production rates considerably. Also, they will be spotty at best in laying while raising the young. Therefore, it is to your advantage to keep the Barred Rock hens OFF of their own eggs so that you can keep them IN production. Use other larger hens as the brooders so that your Rocks can keep laying eggs. That is the best way to increase production and give you a larger flock of broilers for you to pick from so that you can watch the hens to see what hens produce the best broilers. (You can mark the eggs according to the mother hen before putting them under a broody hen. Or, since you can wait ten days after laying before putting the eggs under a broody, then put all of one hens eggs under the same broody hen so each batch will come from the same mother hen and you can track it easier.) That way, you can cull the hens to get the best genetic matches to produce the best broilers.
So, 1 or 2 Cornish roosters to 12 Barred or White Rock hens, with 10 to 30 Buff Orphington or Cochin hens to brood the hybrid eggs. If possible, keep the broody hens separate from the production hens and rooster. Harvest the production hybrid eggs daily, marking them according to the Rock hen that they came from (if possible), then place 10-12 eggs (preferably from the same production Rock hen) under each large broody hen.
That way, you have the best of both worlds. You have your good homestead broiler cross, pluss you have your broody hen flock to raise the babies. Your broody hens will have their hands full raising a bajillion hybrid broiler chicks and will not worry too much about laying their own eggs. That is part of the reason why spent Buff Orphingtons or Cochins would be great for the job, especially if you could find some cheap.
You won't have to have an incubator or to pay for your broiler chicks. In fact, you might be able to sell the excess and make some money off of it. If you keep all of the eggs and brood them all, then you will definitely need to build a tub plucker and then you will have a second part time job harvesting broilers on the weekends. Sell them whole at $4, and make some bank. As soon as I get a little more room, this is what I want to do.
