Help needed on how to breed/produce Cornish cross chicks for meet

[Ridgerunner]

I'll grant she developed the first version of the bird that has been developed into today's Cornish Cross. Are you trying to say there have been no improvements to that bird in the past 70 years? Are you saying her original birds are the ones that are being used today? That the millions of dollars that Tyson and others have spent on research haven't resulted in improvements? Improvements genetically as well as improvements in how to manage them.

The original question was "Can anyone tell me what breeding stalk would I need and where will I get them from."

Your response was "You absolutely CAN do this at home," "it's just simple cross breeding" "Give it some experimentation and you can beat the commercial CX".

Do you honestly think it is that easy? You are on some of the threads where people are trying to improve or develop their own strain of meat bird, often incorporating the genetics of the Rangers or Cornish X. Many of them are developing some pretty nice meat birds, but not up to Cornish X standards. Even if they did get those genetics they don't have the management methods to keep them alive and reproducing.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. In my opinion someone developing today's Cornish X in their back yard just isn't simple even if they were willing to maintain seven different breeding flocks to get the hatching eggs.

 

[RiverOtter]

Yes, obviously there have been improvements, but it's all been tweaking, as far as the cross goes. There have been no major changes - in the same way that we still have Barred Rocks, and obviously there are different lines. But the fact that there are highly bred show lines doesn't make the others *not* Barred Rocks or change the fact that you can breed Barred Rocks at home, create your own line of them and then improve that line.

From the fact that I know commercial growers - and please feel free to apply to Tyson, or any of the other major corporations, most of their research hasn't been genetics - because selectively breeding their parent lines has worked just fine - but conditions and feed. Those growers are WHY you and I can go to the feed store and get chick crumbles and layer pellets and everything in between. And that is a huge, HUGE improvement on how birds were fed in the first half of he 20th century.

As far as modern crosses go, let's not overlook the time you need to put into it and that's fact that a lot of people are starting from scratch. The White Rocks that Mrs. Makowsky had access to had been bred specifically for meat since the creation of the breed. We don't have that today. Today's White Rocks have been bred for egg production and showing. Which brings us to todays major stumbling block - how to breed in rapid growth, from parent lines that are no longer bred for it.

So yes, it's difficult. **But difficult is not impossible**.

But the main thing is time. You need to dedicate at least 4 years of 4 dedicated breeding pens - and yes, while I'm not sure why you keep quoting 7, 7 would be better and 10 better yet, for experimentation, and because it DOES make a difference if it's X roosters over Y hens or Y roosters over X hens - to the project. And then at least that long again tweaking it.

And most people just can't. Life gets in the way, and there's no urgency - our suppers aren't hanging on this, Thank the Light. For example, I've had fantastic luck with putting commercial (aka, fast maturing) Leghorn roosters over heavy hens. But between one thing and another (had a baby, had to move, husband bailed, moved again, etc) I've never gotten to the third generation, and have often been happy to just be able to keep chickens at all.

So, while lots of us would love to be able to play with a line for years (see the hundreds of threads about wanting to show or develop a color) a lot of us just don't manage it.

But plenty of others absolutely DO, so if someone wants to give it a go, I'm not going to tell them it's way too hard and they can't, although some folks seem to take satisfaction in that mindset. I'm going to tell them that if in the mid 1950's, Mrs. Makowsky was able to breed a bird that weighed 3# by 5 weeks (there are records) that they certainly can too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

not sure why you keep quoting 7,

Because the current Cornish X broiler breeding requires you to keep 7 flocks. The four grandparent flocks, the two parent flocks, and finally the flock that lays the eggs that hatch into the Cornish X broilers. 4 + 2 + 1 = 7

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

I was also considering this. Yes was is past tense lol! Thanks for feeding my curiosity.
So ordering a Male and female CX would not produce eggs that hatch CX?

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

If u breed a black australorp rooster and hen you get a black australorp chick. What happens if u breed a CX rooster and hen? And could you "lock in" the genetics ?
Quick and easy explanation will do lol.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quick and easy for complicated subject. I'll try.

Black Australorp are a breed. There are Standards of Perfection (SOP) that define that breed. Comb type, body shape, egg color, all the things that define that bred.

CX are not a breed. There are no standards that make them a breed. They are a type that produces a good meat bird.

CX are hybrids. That means their genetics are somewhat mixed up. Because of the way their parent's genetics are put together, you consistently get a great meat bird.

If you breed a hybrid to a hybrid you do not get consistent results. If you manage to get a male and female CX to breeding age and they produce chicks the chicks will not be put together to give consistent results, some will be better than others. But all of them should produce a great meat bird, the genetics are there. It's just that some will be better than others.

 

[CindyinSD]

I want to start producing/breeding/hatching my own cornish cross/broiler chicks, so that I don’t need to keep buying chicks when I want to grow my own meat. Can anyone tell me what breeding stalk would I need and where will I get them from. Please tell me what will be the process.

There are meat birds you can raise and breed. You might consider Chanticleers, a Canadian breed developed especially for meat production in cold climates. I'm interested in them. Once this whole plague thing passes, I hope to venture across the state to buy some chicks from a breeder. You can get white ones from a hatchery, but a white bird is a target and I'd rather have buff or partridge, which he has.

I too looked into CX crosses. Most folks haven't had good luck with them, though. You can either have them big and fast-growing or viable/reproducible. I suspect that natural meat birds are always going to be slower growing and smaller than CX. BUT CX eat themselves to death. They're literally designer birds, designed for super fast growth and short lifespan. In ordinary circumstances they cannot reproduce naturally even if they live that long.

Any breed you have (with the possible exception of bantams) can be caponized to produce tender meaty birds that live as long as you please without growing tough. Not as productive as CX, but sustainable and much more humane. This is another avenue you might consider pursuing in your quest for sustainability in your meat flock. It's a lot easier to do than replicating CX in your back yard. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...day-learning-to-caponize.675898/#post-9129500