- Dec 11, 2012
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Do you have pure bred Cornish or Cornish x Rock hybrids? There is a significant difference. From the sounds of it, you have cornish/rock hybrids. In either case, they are typically poor egg producers and you should invest in some laying or dual purpose breeds for egg production. I would suggest leghorns, production reds, or any other light to middle weight breed. Even when the odd cornish or cornish/rock hen does lay well, they are so heavy and awkward they often crush their eggs. It really is a shame, because they tend to be somewhat broody and lay huge double yolk eggs. I regards to your question "how do they breed if they don't live past 3 mos.?" The parent stock is carefully selected and fed a strictly rationed breeder feed. When you buy cornish/rock chicks, it is assumed that you are buying them for their intended purpose, MEAT. So you are told to keep them on chick starter until slaughter. Chick starter is formulated to help get baby chicks as big as possible in a short amount of time. If you want to keep your cornish/rocks alive for pets, eggs, or breeding, you need to make sure you strictly ration their feed from day 1. Allowing them unlimited access to feed is the fastest way to guarantee a death sentence at 11 weeks old. I would also recommend putting them on a lower protein ration, like an all purpose poultry blend, slightly sooner than you would with other breeds. Too much protein can cause them fluid accumulation (edema). They should be allowed to forage as much as possible, only providing feed as a supplement. A good way to get dumb, little cornish/rock chicks to forage is to let a broody hen look after them and teach them how to look after themselves. Otherwise they will lay down next to the feeder and happily proceed to gorge themselves to death like we designed them to
Some farmers recommend allowing them access to feed only a few hours per day to curb growth. FREE RANGE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!! Get creative in encouraging them to exercise, make them run to you when you feed them scratch. If they are feathered out, try to get them to fly if they are still young and slim enough to. I do this by placing them in a low tree branch or on a fence post and making them fly down. Give them treats like apple or other low cal fruits when they do what you want. I rehabilitated an old, crippled bantam cochin roo this way. Do not do this with old, fat birds as they can injure their legs, feet, and/or hips. If you keep them "slim" and active, you might get lucky a get up to 3 years out of them..They will not, however reach 10-15 years like some chickens do, under any circumstances.
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