Doing a meat breed comparison, White Rocks and Cornish X

[cutechick2010]

I have a brooder full of now 15 day old chicks, my layers and my meat birds for the year. With my meat birds this year, I decided to go with half of them the Jumbo Cornish Cross to butcher this spring, and the White rocks to do later on in the year. Saves on freezer storage! LOL Anyway, I decided to do a size/growth rate comparison just out of curiosity. So here are my results so far. I am going to try to update this twice a month, more if I have time.These birds are all on the same feed, in the same brooder, etc. I weighed them on a food scale, ironically enough, and the Cornish X weighs 10.6 ounces. The White Rock is 4.2 ounces, it is a cockerel BTW. The Cornish I don't know, I got those straight run. Pictures for visual comparison below, is this nuts or what?

 

[HEChicken]

Great experiment - I'll look forward to following along. If these are the same two birds you weighed, I'd wager the Cornish is a roo as well.

 

[Chicks on DL]

I am looking forward to following along as I have considered buying chicks for meat but haven't decided what type.

 

[cutechick2010]

It's quite possible the Cornish is a rooster, although one thing I have noticed about this breed is that even when they get to butchering size it can be hard to tell the roos from the hens. I think the longest I have ever kept one is about four months, you had to look closely to tell. The internal male anatomy on the Cornish breed is a lot less, *ahem* impressive than on a Buff Rock roo of about the same age that I butchered last month also, so that may be why. Oh, the two chicks in the picture are the same two I weighed, I meant to say that in my last post, sorry.

 

[HEChicken]

I would agree with that. I've only had one Cornish X and I was certain it was a girl. "She" dropped dead at the age of 10 weeks and I basically saw it happen from my kitchen window so, not wanting the meat to go to waste (I figured it was flip), I processed and was stunned to find two rather large, well-developed gonads when I did.

 

[floridapoultry]

Very worthwhile project. Will be watching for an update on your results.

 

[cutechick2010]

I would agree with that. I've only had one Cornish X and I was certain it was a girl. "She" dropped dead at the age of 10 weeks and I basically saw it happen from my kitchen window so, not wanting the meat to go to waste (I figured it was flip), I processed and was stunned to find two rather large, well-developed gonads when I did.

Yes, they are very prone to heart attacks and respiratory failure. Basically they put so much energy into growing meat that they don't have any energy left over to grow their own internal organs. It's sort of sad, but that is the reason that the big commercial "chicken factories" use these birds, even with the losses to heart attacks etc they are still so much cheaper to raise. The commercial places process them at right about 45 days old, they basically just pump feed into them day and night.

 

[jamband]

Yes, they are very prone to heart attacks and respiratory failure. Basically they put so much energy into growing meat that they don't have any energy left over to grow their own internal organs. It's sort of sad, but that is the reason that the big commercial "chicken factories" use these birds, even with the losses to heart attacks etc they are still so much cheaper to raise. The commercial places process them at right about 45 days old, they basically just pump feed into them day and night.

They have issues due to fast growth not small hearts....in fact their organs are much bigger than standard breeds. The hatcheries recommend food 12 on 12 off to reduce losses.

 

[jamband]

oh and the cornish x is the most effecient feed to weight conversion of all chickens.....This is BIG business after all

 

[cutechick2010]

They have issues due to fast growth not small hearts....in fact their organs are much bigger than standard breeds. The hatcheries recommend food 12 on 12 off to reduce losses.

Yes, they grow so fast that it puts serious strain on their hearts. You said pretty much the same thing I at least meant to say, sorry if my wording was poor. Oh, and I agree with you about the feed conversion rate. I already know the Cornish are going to easily outgrow the WRs, my comparison is mainly to compare health, predator losses (my birds are free-range) and any other tidbits of info that I may come across as I go.