Dark Cornish Meat Birds

[dancingbear]

I like the DC's a lot, but it's hard to find any really good quality ones. The ones I got from MHM were way undersized for the breed. A couple of other people who got them from MHM told me the same thing. From what people tell me, and what I've read here, the ones from Welp, and the ones from Ideal and Cackle are better than the ones from MHM. MHM's birds are very healthy, but tend to be off-type.

The best would be from a breeder, but good luck with that, depending on where you are. My luck with shipped eggs has been dismal, so I've been trying to find breeders within a half-day's drive, to get fertile eggs from.

Now, what I plan to do, and you may or may not want to try something similar, is use a good DC roo over various breeds of hens, and see which turn out the best. Cornish roo over What-ever hens, seems to be the best way, rather than the other way around. I've seen some Cornish/Delaware crosses that a guy not too far from me raised, they were huge. The ones I saw were over 6 months old, so I don't know how big they were and various younger stages. I raised some Brahma/Cornish, done backwards, Brahma roo and my undersized DC hens from MHM. They dressed out to over 6 lbs, and over 7 lbs, (2 each) at around 20-25 weeks. Too old for fryers, but extremely good slow cooked in the crock pot, very meaty, not scrawny or boney at all. Not a lot of fat, either.

I finally got a few Cornish roos, that while not the best quality, are at least better than the MHM birds, I'd love a couple of better quality DC hens, and I'll just try to breed to improve what I have. The results I got with not-the-best-breeders, done backwards, is encouraging. I feel like I may be on the right track, or at least somewhere near it.

I'd be happy with a decent sized bird (over 5 lbs.) by 16-18 weeks, if they're healthy, active birds that forage well.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Here are some pics of the White Rocks. The White Rock is in the back of the pic in the first one. The other two are my Delawares. I think a mix between the DC and them would be a nice start. The last two pics are of the Light Sussex and they also might be a good choice for a cross. Both are big birds although the White Rocks got bigger faster, the Sussex are bigger in general.

 

[mountainpridefarm]

I wonder if McMurrays Rocks are comparable. I am hoping to do all of my shopping at McMurray but I may go elsewhere that has the best dark Cornish and White Rocks.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I bought my DC off eggbid. They have a hatchery there. The DC varied in quality. There were a few really nice ones and about 1/5 runty ones and the rest in between. Worked for me. I am keeping the bigger to breed with and the rest will be processed.

 

[Buster52]

I forgot to mention I ordered my Dark Cornish from Ideal, mostly because they were the closest. I believe it is better most of the time to go with a breeder for a project like this, but couldn't find one locally. Now that I have them, I found out there is a breeder for Cornish within a half hour of me.

But that's okay. I needed quite a few for my original tests and that would have probably been too expensive through a breeder. Now I can just keep the big ones and infuse the occasional new blood into the system with a roo from that breeder.

Reading this thread brought to mind another reason why someone might want to raise a heritage meat bird instead of a Cornish X. This is, after all, a chicken site. Maybe some of us are here because we just like chickens. While we may be using them for food, that might not be the only reason we keep them. Therefore, keeping a parent stock and developing them into something special appeals.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Only about 2-3 lbs live weight... they really don't start packing on weight until about 18 weeks. Dark cornish my not be the breed for you if your looking for something that is ready at 16 weeks. Just a thought but there are many other DP breeds that fit what your looking for.

 

[mountainpridefarm]

Hmm, see a DP bird ready at 16-18 weeks would be awesome. Heck it doesn't have to be DP just not a hybrid. I like the idea of the wider bodies and fuller breasts on the dark Cornish though!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Go with the buckeyes... they seem to mature faster than the dark cornish. Talk to the ALBC to contact a breeder closed to you.

Also these birds have just as compact bodies as the dark cornish... I processed two of them in November and was amazed at how they looked.

 

[Ariel301]

Quote:
What about raising cornish X"s are not your own birds???

Myself, I want something self-sustaining. I don't want to have to keep buying chicks when I can hatch my own. I'm going to have chickens anyway, so why not have them provide me with both eggs and meat, the way my goats can give me both milk and meat...sort of a two for the price of one deal. The Cornish cross won't give me eggs. Other breeds will give me less meat, but I think it's a fair trade. I trade the same way on the goats...I get one that makes enough milk, even though it is a bit less meaty than a meat breed, but I still get enough of both. I also want to be able to free-range my meat birds to cut down the cost of feeding them...with the coyote and stray dog population here, a heavy slow bird like the Cornish cross just isn't realistically going to be able to free range safely; they are too heavy to run away.

I'd rather do it myself than rely on someone else to provide me with food; that's the whole reason for having my livestock in the first place. Buying a bunch of chicks, raising them, killing them, then having to buy more...that's not what I consider raising my own birds. I may as well just order my meat already prepared by the case...when you throw in the cost of feeding and time spent working on them, it would be about the same in the end.

Now if it was feasible to put some Cornish cross on a diet and raise them up to breeding age and get them to mate naturally, and be as low maintenance as regular chickens and hatch out some nice meat birds that way...but I don't think that's really going to work, especially with the hot, hot temperatures we get here in summer. I've heard from local people that have tried them that if you don't get them butchered before summer here, they die from the heat. We're talking weeks of 105-ish degree weather with no break, even lighter weight animals suffer some from that, even with shelter they get very hot. It just doesn't seem like anyone has been able to do this.

So I'm thinking of putting together a small meat flock of Cornish with white and barred Rocks (since I already have those available to me), Buckeye, Sussex, and Dorking, all seem to be fairly heavy types but still lay well enough that I can get plenty of eggs both for eating and hatching. I'll be using hatchery stock, since that is all I can afford and I'm not interested in raising purebreds anyway.

 

[Ariel301]

Quote:
'Hybrid' isn't really the correct description, it is more a crossbred animal. A hybrid is a cross between two separate species, like a mule...one parent a horse, the other a donkey. Two breeds of chicken are not different species, just different types, so you don't get a hybrid, just a different looking chicken, like crossing two purebred dogs to make a mutt dog. It's not really a bad thing necessarily. It's how new breeds are made, and new colors introduced into an existing breed, or improvements in desired type can be achieved.