Favorite True Breeding Meat Birds or First Generation Crosses

[trescloudy]

I read an article about using A/B to C/D heritage birds to create a fast growing meat bird. I tried this and it did not work. I concluded that the fast growing Cornish Cross is breed specific, so I recently bred a Breese Rooster/Cornish X hen for A/B and a Dark Cornish Rooster/Cornish X hen for C/D. The next step is to breed the A/B line to the C/D line to see what happens. The A/B line is going on 3 months on 2/08/22 and the C/D line is a about month behind. The body shape of the A/B line is round and low to the ground like the Cornish X, but they did not grow as fast. I will weigh them on 2/08/22. They should dress around 4 to 5 lbs in 3 month since they got that look. Its interesting to note that some of the A/B birds have blue legs.

I also have another experiment going on with a Standard Dark Cornish rooster/White Plymouth Rock hen for A/B and a Standard Dark Cornish rooster/White Breese hen for B/C. However, the Standard Dark Cornish rooster/White Plymouth Rock hen line is 3 months ahead of the Standard Dark Cornish/White Breese hen line, so its going to be a while.

I am also working on turning my Standard Dark Cornish line white. I got some white looking chicks with pea comb in a recent hatch. I'll be pairing them with my Standard A/B cross, my two roosters from that hatch are mostly white with scattered red feathers and they both have pea comb. I could line breed the white ones, but I don't like the idea of pairing brother and sister together.

Im also crossing American Bresse to CX soon. I talked about using 4 truebreeding lines to create an F2 or 4 way polyhybrid.

I think i saw you responding to one of my posts on this topic. Maybe we could trade or work together on this idea.

 

[CNJ]

Im also crossing American Bresse to CX soon. I talked about using 4 truebreeding lines to create an F2 or 4 way polyhybrid.

I think i saw you responding to one of my posts on this topic. Maybe we could trade or work together on this idea.

My Dark Cornish/Cornish X cross failed to inherit any traits from it's Cornish X mother.. Four of the chicks that hatched from this group had pea combs and I ended up with 2 females and 2 males. I think I will end up culling all of my Dark Cornish crosses.

I just hatched 5 eggs from my Breese rooster/4 daughters (father/Cornish X) . In addition, I hatched 2 pure Breese chicks and I have 10 eggs in my incubator from a brother sister group from my Breese/Cornish X cross.

I kept two roosters from my Breese/Cornish X cross, one of them is 8lbs and the other is 11lbs. The bigger 11lbs rooster is a month younger than the 8lbs rooster. I will put the 8lbs rooster back with his 4 sisters for a 3rd line. His 4 sisters are currently with their Breese father.

 

[trescloudy]

My Dark Cornish/Cornish X cross failed to inherit any traits from it's Cornish X mother.. Four of the chicks that hatched from this group had pea combs and I ended up with 2 females and 2 males. I think I will end up culling all of my Dark Cornish crosses.

I just hatched 5 eggs from my Breese rooster/4 daughters (father/Cornish X) . In addition, I hatched 2 pure Breese chicks and I have 10 eggs in my incubator from a brother sister group from my Breese/Cornish X cross.

I kept two roosters from my Breese/Cornish X cross, one of them is 8lbs and the other is 11lbs. The bigger 11lbs rooster is a month younger than the 8lbs rooster. I will put the 8lbs rooster back with his 4 sisters for a 3rd line. His 4 sisters are currently with their Breese father.

Awesome! Glad to hear you are still chugging along.

You can always make CX back cross with your dark cornishx by using one against a pure CX again... that would make the offspring 75% CX and more likely to look like a CX...

 

[NatJ]

My Dark Cornish/Cornish X cross failed to inherit any traits from it's Cornish X mother.. Four of the chicks that hatched from this group had pea combs

Pea comb is a dominant gene. I would expect ALL chicks from that cross to have pea combs, but they also carry the recessive gene for single combs, and can pass that on to half of their offspring.

What other traits were you looking for, that did not show up? If any of them are caused by recessive genes, the chicks probably carry the genes but do not show them.

 

[trescloudy]

Pea comb is a dominant gene. I would expect ALL chicks from that cross to have pea combs, but they also carry the recessive gene for single combs, and can pass that on to half of their offspring.

What other traits were you looking for, that did not show up? If any of them are caused by recessive genes, the chicks probably carry the genes but do not show them.

Yes, by making "F2" the trait would reappear in some offspring

 

[CNJ]

What other traits were you looking for, that did not show up?

I was expecting big birds, since they had the Cornish X blood, but they were normal. The hens did not start laying yet and I already culled the roosters, they were about 4 to 5lbs, so they must have been a little past 4 months old. I think Dark Cornish hens start laying around 5 months old..

I like the color of my other line's Dark Cornish/Breese roosters. One is white and brown (Pyle type) and the other is white and black (grey type). The hens from this line are brown and white (Pyle type) and both rooster and hens are about the same size as the Dark Cornish/Cornish X cross.

I also crossed a Dark Cornish rooster with a White Plymouth Rock hen, but only kept a Pyle color hen from this cross. She kind of screwing my breeding project up, because she lives with my Breese/Cornish X cross hens and I can't tell which egg are hers.

 

[trescloudy]

I like processing NNs because when you hand pluck like i do, having fewer arm and leg pit feathers really helps

Ive never tried NN but i have an interest. On top of dressing a little easier ive heard they are tasty birds too.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ive never tried NN but i have an interest. On top of dressing a little easier ive heard they are tasty birds too.

Taste probably matters more in what they eat and how they're cooked. My boys don't taste any different than other breeds I have

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I’m hoping to have a few roosters to choose from this year’s hatching eggs to use in crossing experiment…

Goal improved size of NNs, hoping for a RIR, and RIW cockerels to hatch this year for this purpose. I do have three Egyptian Cockerels but they will be little road runner chickens, they are maturing quicker though… very interesting how fast they mature, but very lightweight breed.

 

[trescloudy]

I am using my biggest best shaped Henry Noll New Hampshires on CX hens right now. Actually im down to one hen but she keeps laying. Its not easy keeping them and the story of how i just lost my last one is semi horrific so ill keep it at that.

BUT....

On a brighter note im getting some very interesting chicks. These new NHxCX chicks have very long breasts like a CX and when you hold them in your hand at one week old they are putting off mad heat like a CX.

Some are all white and some of biggest ones have reddish heads. I have a good feeling these birds are going to grow fast.

Ill get some pictures. These are twice the size of the American Bresse that are the same age, 1 week. They are also larger than the HN New Hampshire chicks.

Think im on to something here. Ill get pics