DelawaresxCornish???

[heritagehabitatfarms]

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if you read up on the Delawares here https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=249618&p=1 they say that the size difference from hatchery to breeder is quite a bit...

i would be real interested in the weights of your White Rocks and Delawares...

the hen line needs to lay alot of eggs... there is something about the birds that are hard feathered like the Cornish they never lay real good... so the Cornish x rock is a Cornish rooster over rock hens...

the Cornish x rock has alot of problems with there legs and there hearts... the asil is one of the breeds that was used to create the Cornish breed... they gave them the hard feathering and the big strong legs...
i am hoping that by crossing back to the asil i can increase these traits and the vitality from the (gameness) of the asil with out losing to much of the fast growth...

i guess in about 5 years ill be able to finish this thread and tell y'all what i have discovered lol

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Well, I will try to catch them and weigh them! Poor little terrorized Roos! They both hatched out on July 9th so it will be a good comparison. I will try to catch the hens too.

I really shouldn't say they are hatchery because when I went back and looked at the sellers, they came from ebay. The Del seller just reminded me of "hatchery" the way the site was presented. They were both from private sellers.

Elias, have you looked at the Delaware posts? It is a really good one and has alot of pics of everyones Dels. Some are Huge.

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

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yep i have read all 50+ pages of that thread lol... and i am subscribed to it...

and yes i do know that im a little obsessed with chickens and need a life lmao...

 

[BirdBrain]

Sandhill Preservation is supposed to have good sized Dels.

 

[WalkingWolf]

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I have a buff sussex roo and a light sussex hen, they both grew at the same rate as meat chicks I got about the same time, and now 6 months later they are HUGE. They were a mixup in eggs from a breeder who was shipping me pumpkin eggs. I have just started getting eggs from the hen and I plan on keeping one meat roo to mate to the a few sussex hens for my own meat birds. I have one meat chick that hatched with some other chicks just recently and it is double the size of the other chicks. The mating was between a meat roo over either a RIR or BR hen. The sussex grow at a much faster pace, and grow larger than both the RIR or the BR, I can't wait to get chicks from the Ranger/Sussex mix.

 

[Buster52]

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I have already considered it. I figure there is no way you can keep a parent stock and hatch the chicks for the price you can buy and ship CornishX. You have to have other reasons for doing it.

You mentioned for fun. That's one reason. Also the health problems with the CornishX. That's two, although seems to me any big, surperfast growing hybrid (your stated goal) is going to have similar problems.

Now, I will tell you I am keeping a parent stock for my meat birds. They are Dark Cornish from Ideal hatchery. They are some nice little birds and will supply plenty of meat. There are a couple of three bruiser roos in the batch that will go to my 12 or 15 hens. I plan to grow out 100 to 200 birds for the table per year.

I know for a fact I could ship in DC every year for much cheaper than I can hatch them myself, but my efforts are all about sustainability, and that just isn't sustainable farming. I'm also interested in maintaining heritage breeds. Those are my two primary goals, and I'm willing to bite the bullet cost wise to attain them.

Although long term the plan is to grow and grind our own feed, which would make it much cheaper,
but that is down the road a bit.

 

[WalkingWolf]

I have already considered it. I figure there is no way you can keep a parent stock and hatch the chicks for the price you can buy and ship CornishX. You have to have other reasons for doing it.

A good reason would be having birds spaced out at hatching, meat birds poop more than most breeds and for some people having a few at a time would be easier to handle. If ordering minimum quantities it is not as cost effective as ordering a large shipment. I myself sell a few at a time live to a small market, it makes more sense for me to hatch my own. Extra eggs if not hatched can be sold just as well as any other egg, and my dogs don't notice the difference even if they are not sold. It is not necessary for a large breeding flock for these purposes. I have heard of others breeding the ranger roos over dual purpose birds with good luck, so it would be necessary to obtain a colored or black ranger from a source.​

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

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im all about sustainability myself... and staying local witch is a big part of sustainability

 

[Buster52]

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im all about sustainability myself... and staying local witch is a big part of sustainability

I was just saying the economics just aren't there, so there have to be other motivations to do what you are doing. Seems you have found them.

There are more important things than saving money.

 

[estpr13]

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I have some White cornish roo crossed with some Delaware hens from Godzillaskitty on ebay that I hatched out last November. Most were slow growing and unimpressive but I ended up with three roos that have gotten large. I am currently using two of the large roos to breed with the hens that came with them and have a bunch of their offspring which are now 14, 11, and 7 weeks old.

Still nothing impressive but if I cull hard and keep doing line breeding I might come up with something. Some of the chicks are small and some are modestly large compared to each other. I will cull the small ones and try to breed the larger ones back with the original roos.

The third roo was cooked and eaten and was one of the best tasting chickens I have ever eaten. Which is why I am now breeding the other two. I will try to get some pictures.

Personallity wise they are less aggressive towards each other than Delaware roos. I had 5 Delaware roos in one cage and came home to find blood all over the walls and chunks of comb and wattles missing. I don't know what set them off but two went into the stewpot that week and two went to a nephew who wanted to use them for breeding his flock. (I no longer have Dels)

Also personallity wise they are curious like the Delawares and not skiddish like the Cornish roos. Cornish roos (and hens) seem to panic when you get into the cage with them. (I only have Dark Cornish at this time.) I can at least pet these guys just a little prior to them scooting away from me. And if I pick one up, he doesn't fight me but calmly waits till I put him down again. I really like their personallities.

Hope this helps a bit.