Good meat bird breed.

[Buster52]

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I have one about 700 feet behind my house, and that guy will take anything I ask him to. And for FREE, too! That's the best kind.

 

[Smokin Silkies]

Whats the deal with not doing a colored bird?? Don't understand....I'm still learning everyday!

 

[CARS]

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Maybe colored wasn't the right word to use. What I am saying is that they will not work with, for example, Buff Orpington's, Easter Egger's, Leghorns, etc. because they feel the Cornish X's are so much easier to clean. After doing some of each myself, I must agree with them. Cornish X's barely have any feathers compared to a 4 month old roo or hen.

 

[jaku]

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Yes- Cornish X. Those horror stories are false. I've raised a ton of them, and have NEVER had a single one's legs collapse. I had TWO birds die out of 78 in my last batch. They live just as happy a life as any other chicken. They take a little bit more work, but if you're willing to do a few basic things, Cornish X's are well worth it.

 

[kstaven]

Those stories are not always false Jaku. We had 5 major poultry growers in this province and several other operations in other provinces last year with many years of experience have huge losses. It was all tracked back to one Hatcheries meat bird lines. Genetics of the meat breeds is a precarious balance at best and it doesn't take a huge glitch to cause major problems. It is the price payed for performance.

 

[Pathfinders]

We like Buckeyes for our dual purpose birds, the ALBC has done a whole project on raising them for meat.

 

[jaku]

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True- and your barn could burn down and you could lose everything too, no matter what you raise. There's always something that could go wrong. My point is that people avoid a really good bird because of horror stories they hear that just aren't reality. Cornish X's aren't sad, lazy birds that can't walk or lift their heads, waiting to die. They act just like other birds, and while they are a bit harder to keep than regular breeds, it's only because other breeds require almost NO work after they're out of the brooder.

 

[TimG]

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I don't know about sad, but they sure seem lazy. In my limited experience, they are much less active than regular breeds.

I do agree with you that they're not much harder to keep and that the horror stories should not scare people off. They're really rather easy to keep for their brief life.

 

[honeydoll]

I just finished processing a Barred rock, buff orpington, and 8 dominiques. Last summer I processed 6 cornish X's. In my experience, which is limited, I will say the cornish X were much easier to clean and raise. I hear alot of people say the cornish X's are more work but I don't think so. They were my first meaties ever and I did everything wrong and I still got a wonderful result. They seem easy to me. The heritage were pretty easy too, but I had to keep them much longer (which means more work), they were much harder to clean and ate sooo much more than my cornishes. Now granted, I have very limited experience, maybe in large numbers there is a huge difference. I think cornish X's are very easy, I had zero issues. That being said the heritage did taste different, but I haven't tried the doms yet. The Barred rock I ate had huge breast portions and the breast meat was delicious, the legs were a bit rubbery but that was my fault. I am still learning all this too. I processed a cuckoo maran last summer as well and the taste was very good. Hope this helps.

 

[jaku]

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I don't know about sad, but they sure seem lazy. In my limited experience, they are much less active than regular breeds.

I do agree with you that they're not much harder to keep and that the horror stories should not scare people off. They're really rather easy to keep for their brief life.

Yeah, I worded that wrong- they're definitely less active, except at mealtime, but some people have described them as being so fat and near death that they're unable to move.