Dark Cornish x Delaware Flock

[DancingSheltie]

Hello!

We have Delawares and were thinking about getting some Dark Cornish too. We use to have a mix flock but we got rid of it because we wanted to pursue one breed (Delawares) and while we still love Delawares we thought we would try a second breed if only just for this year. We had some questions out of curiosity:

1. If we had say 2 Dark Cornish and 2 Delaware Roos and a bunch of Dark Cornish and Delaware hens, would we just get a bunch of crosses or would we get crosses, Dark Cornish, and Delawares?

2. Assuming that we wouldn't just get crosses (that from what I understand would be sex linked), would the crosses look more like the Dark Cornish chicks, the Delaware chicks, or neither?

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

@Redhead Rae

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. If we had say 2 Dark Cornish and 2 Delaware Roos and a bunch of Dark Cornish and Delaware hens, would we just get a bunch of crosses or would we get crosses, Dark Cornish, and Delawares?

You would get crosses, Dark Cornish, and Delaware if you hatch enough chicks. The mating would be random so no telling who would mate with whom.

2. Assuming that we wouldn't just get crosses (that from what I understand would be sex linked), would the crosses look more like the Dark Cornish chicks, the Delaware chicks, or neither?

A Dark Cornish rooster over a Delaware hen would give you red sex links. The male chicks would be yellow and the female would be red. I'm not familiar enough with the Dark Cornish to know exactly how they would look. It will also give you black sex links, not that the chicks would be black but any males from that cross would be barred and any females would not be barred. Due to down color you would not to be able to see the spot but they will feather out that way.

A Delaware rooster over a Dark Cornish hen should give you yellow chicks. When they feather out they should all show barring at the non-white feathers. They should pretty much look like Delaware at hatch and after they feather out. They will not be sex linked.

So a yellow chick could be from a Delaware/Delaware mating, a Delaware rooster over a Dark Cornish hen, or it could be a male from a Dark Cornish rooster over a Delaware hen. A red chick could be a Cornish/Cornish mating or it could be a pullet from a Cornish rooster over a Delaware hen.

It's possible you could tell the crosses apart from a different shade of down but more likely how they feather out if you can at all. The red from the crosses might be a different shade for example.

The Cornish have a pea comb which is dominant over the Delaware's single comb. So any yellow chick with a single comb has to be a Delaware/Delaware mating. Any yellow chick with a pea comb has to be from a cross, but you won't know if it is a Delaware rooster over a Cornish or a sex-linked male from a Cornish rooster over a Delaware hen.

Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Hello!

We have Delawares and were thinking about getting some Dark Cornish too. We use to have a mix flock but we got rid of it because we wanted to pursue one breed (Delawares) and while we still love Delawares we thought we would try a second breed if only just for this year. We had some questions out of curiosity:

1. If we had say 2 Dark Cornish and 2 Delaware Roos and a bunch of Dark Cornish and Delaware hens, would we just get a bunch of crosses or would we get crosses, Dark Cornish, and Delawares?

2. Assuming that we wouldn't just get crosses (that from what I understand would be sex linked), would the crosses look more like the Dark Cornish chicks, the Delaware chicks, or neither?

You would DEFINITELY get crosses. Probably more Delaware over Cornish than Cornish over Delaware since Delaware are a LOT more nimble. I'm not sure if you would get sex linked out of Delaware/Cornish or Cornish/Delaware. Sex linked traits are generally barring based (solid colored male not dominant white/barred female) or red based (red male/silver based white female). You can get sex links from Chocolate male/black female and get chocolate pullets and black cockerels, but this is more rare. I'm not aware of any sex linking that can be done with Cornish/Delaware. Maybe @The Moonshiner can clarify.

For what it is worth, I had Delaware chickens last year, I ended up selling them because the hens were too bossy for my liking.

I bought a trio of show quality LF Darks in Oct '17 and I love them. They are nice meaty birds. Much meatier than any of the DP birds (Buffs, New Hampshire, Delaware). The only breed I've had the comes even close is my Cochins and they are only better in the breast meat department than DP birds.

This is what a 6 month old Cornish cockerel looks like. They have a good amount of breast meat, but are really 2/3rds thigh and leg meat.

This is the meat off 1 leg and thigh. That is a full sized dinner plate.

This is the meat off the entire bird

 

[Mrs. K]

If you wanted pure bred birds, or to know what the crosses are, consider just using one breed of roosters one year, and another breed the next year. If you can tell which bird is laying which eggs... well you would know what you were going to get pretty solidly.

just an idea.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

because we wanted to pursue one breed (Delawares)

If you want pure breeds you'll have to segregate the birds for 3-4 weeks.
Then keep the Del girls and boys together, with no access to the DC cocks.