Heritage breed Cornish Chickens: why are they ignored and not widely bred

[NewJourney]

I was looking for Cornish Chickens earlier this year. I had a terrible time trying to find them through breeders all across the USA. There are none. At least, there are none that are publicly mentioned on any website that lists breeders of chicken breeds. The ones I found were no longer breeding/selling them. I only found two hatcheries that sell any variety of Cornish, and both of them had nearly non-existent availability for chicks. I only saw Dark and White Laced Red Cornish.

Why?

These strange birds are very rare here in the United States, but the Livestock Conservancy states it's only in "watch" status. That seems wrong.

It seems to be that nobody wants to breed these birds and keep their lines active. I see through research that they don't lay very many eggs, and the mating success is low. Are these the reasons for ridiculously low availability through hatcheries and non-existent breeders across the nation?

As soon as my birds reach maturity I will be breeding them.

These birds are a major component in the trademarked and hidden lines of the commercial broilers. I believe this is why many people are not breeding them. I think that the hobby farm and homesteaders don't want to be seen as "competing" with the major producers of Cornish Cross. Perhaps they have been sued. I don't know. It just seems so odd to me that the Cornish is barely being produced here in the US.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

They are not popular because they do not grow as quickly, are not as meaty as hybrid broilers and don’t lay that many eggs. Most people who raise chickens want meat and eggs. Some raise for pets, but meat and eggs I think we all can agree are the biggest reason the majority of people own chickens. In this economy feeding birds can also be expensive so the most economical breed options are chosen. That is why hybrid layers and hybrid broilers are extremely popular. It’s the American way. We want as much as we can get, as big as we can get, as fast as we can get for as cheap as we can get. Now there are still people who raise heritage breeds the old way, but I would say the supply and demand for heritage breeds when it comes to meat/egg production is much lower than hybrid broiler/layers. I like Marans and orpingtons for meat and eggs. I know orpingtons are not the most popular meat option and while many people have Marans they are not know as the egg machines hybrids are. I have the space to grow them out, I prefer the slow growing meat texture of my orpingtons vs. broiler and I prefer Maran eggs. However, I am well aware I am in the minority or at least in my area everyone buys as many broilers as they can fit in their coops and butcher them right at the 8 week mark so they don’t have to feed them longer than they need to. When it comes to eggs in my area everyone wants to sell eggs to pay for feed so they usually buy the hybrid layers so they can sell more eggs.

 

[Amer]

@Redhead Rae raises them and uses them for meat.
Certainly they are rare, though I saw a nice one at a show recently.

 

[NewJourney]

They are not popular because they do not grow as quickly, are not as meaty as hybrid broilers and don’t lay that many eggs. Most people who raise chickens want meat and eggs. Some raise for pets, but meat and eggs I think we all can agree are the biggest reason the majority of people own chickens. In this economy feeding birds can also be expensive so the most economical breed options are chosen. That is why hybrid layers and hybrid broilers are extremely popular. It’s the American way. We want as much as we can get, as big as we can get, as fast as we can get for as cheap as we can get. Now there are still people who raise heritage breeds the old way, but I would say the supply and demand for heritage breeds when it comes to meat/egg production is much lower than hybrid broiler/layers. I like Marans and orpingtons for meat and eggs. I know orpingtons are not the most popular meat option and while many people have Marans they are not know as the egg machines hybrids are. I have the space to grow them out, I prefer the slow growing meat texture of my orpingtons vs. broiler and I prefer Maran eggs. However, I am well aware I am in the minority or at least in my area everyone buys as many broilers as they can fit in their coops and butcher them right at the 8 week mark so they don’t have to feed them longer than they need to. When it comes to eggs in my area everyone wants to sell eggs to pay for feed so they usually buy the hybrid layers so they can sell more eggs.

I won't raise hybrid broilers because they are so gross to raise. They get too meaty too quickly and have too many health problems. I don't want to eat meat that came from a sick bird.

I have White American Bresse that I'm raising. Whether I stick with them long-term I don't know yet. They're only 17 weeks old.

I have two Buff Orpingtons and they are excellent daily egg layers. They are docile, wonderful birds. I'd consider raising more Orpingtons for their temperament, potential for meat, and daily eggs. Though I'm allergic to chicken eggs, those go to the rest of my family while I eat my duck's eggs.

My hybrids, Sapphire Gems, laid excellently the first year they laid, now the second year they've barely laid anything. I'm honestly stating that each bird laid less than one egg per week all year. Most weeks I had zero eggs from them. I just dispatched one of them due to long-term weak constitution, she was sick yet again. It was the humane thing to do for her. I'm taking one of my SGs and placing them with my ducklings and my Buff Orpington that's healing from an injury. I can now see if she lays eggs. If so, how many. If she lays regularly she stays, if not, she goes. I wait about a week then swap her out for another one and take note of which one lays and which doesn't.

These are our first hybrids and so far they are disappointing.

The only other hybrids I have now are a 6 month old Easter Egger who lays quite often, and three 12 week olds: 1 Prairie Blue Bell and 2 Starlight Green Eggers. Considering they are half Leghorn, we should see many eggs from them each week.

I'm not impressed with the SGs and would never suggest anyone buy them if they want eggs more than the first year they lay. They are also having a terrible time molting. They started molting in spring and now we're heading into fall and they still haven't finished molting. It's ridiculous. All seven of them had this problem (one of them is now gone). I tried raising the protein to be 20-24%, didn't help. I tried lowering it significantly (per people who supposedly know how to help birds molt) and it did nothing except made my birds extremely hungry and sad.

I'll stick to heritage breeds. At least they are able to be bred to continue the line and characteristics of the breed over the years. I won't have to rely on a hatchery and the post office to get my birds each year, and I can take my time raising them instead of having to watch a bunch of sick birds struggle to get up and walk around, lying in their own filth. Ugh.

Heritage birds should be cherished, coddled, and bred for health and breeding capabilities to keep the lines active so that we don't end up living like people did in the movie Idiocracy.

Rant over.

 

[NewJourney]

@Redhead Rae raises them and uses them for meat.
Certainly they are rare, though I saw a nice one at a show recently.View attachment 3956289

Ooh beautiful!

I had ordered 6 hatching eggs from someone on eBay earlier this year but none were viable. Two started development then stopped within the first week. The others were duds. I LOVE the look of the Dark Cornish. I have 5 White Laced Red Cornish chicks, 12 weeks old. I don't yet know which are male vs female.

I can't find any information online about Cornish, and how to sex them. That's part of my frustration is there is no online information for them. The only info is for the (IMHO detestable) Cornish Cross broiler. If I wanted to know bout Cornish Cross I'd search for Cornish CROSS. Search engines do not allow the searching of the internet. Look up "dead internet theory"...

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I won't raise hybrid broilers because they are so gross to raise. They get too meaty too quickly and have too many health problems. I don't want to eat meat that came from a sick bird.

I have White American Bresse that I'm raising. Whether I stick with them long-term I don't know yet. They're only 17 weeks old.

I have two Buff Orpingtons and they are excellent daily egg layers. They are docile, wonderful birds. I'd consider raising more Orpingtons for their temperament, potential for meat, and daily eggs. Though I'm allergic to chicken eggs, those go to the rest of my family while I eat my duck's eggs.

My hybrids, Sapphire Gems, laid excellently the first year they laid, now the second year they've barely laid anything. I'm honestly stating that each bird laid less than one egg per week all year. Most weeks I had zero eggs from them. I just dispatched one of them due to long-term weak constitution, she was sick yet again. It was the humane thing to do for her. I'm taking one of my SGs and placing them with my ducklings and my Buff Orpington that's healing from an injury. I can now see if she lays eggs. If so, how many. If she lays regularly she stays, if not, she goes. I wait about a week then swap her out for another one and take note of which one lays and which doesn't.

These are our first hybrids and so far they are disappointing.

The only other hybrids I have now are a 6 month old Easter Egger who lays quite often, and three 12 week olds: 1 Prairie Blue Bell and 2 Starlight Green Eggers. Considering they are half Leghorn, we should see many eggs from them each week.

I'm not impressed with the SGs and would never suggest anyone buy them if they want eggs more than the first year they lay. They are also having a terrible time molting. They started molting in spring and now we're heading into fall and they still haven't finished molting. It's ridiculous. All seven of them had this problem (one of them is now gone). I tried raising the protein to be 20-24%, didn't help. I tried lowering it significantly (per people who supposedly know how to help birds molt) and it did nothing except made my birds extremely hungry and sad.

I'll stick to heritage breeds. At least they are able to be bred to continue the line and characteristics of the breed over the years. I won't have to rely on a hatchery and the post office to get my birds each year, and I can take my time raising them instead of having to watch a bunch of sick birds struggle to get up and walk around, lying in their own filth. Ugh.

Heritage birds should be cherished, coddled, and bred for health and breeding capabilities to keep the lines active so that we don't end up living like people did in the movie Idiocracy.

Rant over.

I agree I much prefer the heritage breeds. I bought heritage English orpingtons last year and I’m looking into heritage Marans since my current Marans are hatchery grade. My heritage english orpingtons were fantastic mothers this year and the males were nice meaty without the funky broiler texture I hate (I grew them out to the 5-6 month mark). The only hybrids I have are my kids chickens that they picked out. They exist and I help them take care of them, but my Orps and Marans are my favorites (welsummer and speckled Sussex close seconds). I thought about trying some heritage Cornish, but like you said they are hard to find and when you do they are sold out.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ooh beautiful!

I had ordered 6 hatching eggs from someone on eBay earlier this year but none were viable. Two started development then stopped within the first week. The others were duds. I LOVE the look of the Dark Cornish. I have 5 White Laced Red Cornish chicks, 12 weeks old. I don't yet know which are male vs female.

I can't find any information online about Cornish, and how to sex them. That's part of my frustration is there is no online information for them. The only info is for the (IMHO detestable) Cornish Cross broiler. If I wanted to know bout Cornish Cross I'd search for Cornish CROSS. Search engines do not allow the searching of the internet. Look up "dead internet theory"...

You sex them like any other breed. My bantam male's usually give themselves away at about 12 weeks. Probably sooner honestly, but I suck at pea comb sexing.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Cornish bantams have a hard time breeding because of their stout legs and round bodies. Many of the really good quality cornish have a even harder time because they are so round and chunky. It is quite sad that these lovely birds are rare in the US, but in many other places they aren’t as rare. Such a cute and sweet breed, I adore them greatly and hope the good bloodlines continue to live on when I can start up a flock of purely cornish bantams.

 

[NewJourney]

I agree I much prefer the heritage breeds. I bought heritage English orpingtons last year and I’m looking into heritage Marans since my current Marans are hatchery grade. My heritage english orpingtons were fantastic mothers this year and the males were nice meaty without the funky broiler texture I hate (I grew them out to the 5-6 month mark). The only hybrids I have are my kids chickens that they picked out. They exist and I help them take care of them, but my Orps and Marans are my favorites (welsummer and speckled Sussex close seconds).

All of my birds are hatchery-grade, except maybe the White American Bresse. Though they, too, are not all that good quality IMHO. I have two BCM, 12 weeks old. They grew significantly faster than any of the other chicks they were raised with. I've never had BCM so I'm not sure if they are going to be large Australorp-sized birds, or not. They are nearly twice the size as the others.

Since I'm starting to raise my own meat birds, (White American Bresse, and perhaps the Cornish) I'm toying with the idea of trying a hybrid Cornish x BCM considering how quickly the BCM have grown (for meat). I know Cornish Rock cross is more traditional, but the BCM are larger than the White Rocks by far at 12 weeks of age.

I haven't yet had any broody hens, though I've had a duck that keeps trying to go broody. I've only been raising them about a year and a half now.

I may have a younger (7 month old) Magpie duck hen that is trying to go broody. I pick up eggs multiple times daily (mainly because my chickens don't lay in the morning). She runs around trying to shoo everyone away from her nest. My broody Khaki Campbell girl was doing that early this year. She went full broody, I let her set on two eggs, but she cracked them and they never grew into anything.

I already have too many chickens and ducks, we are downsizing now that I had to close my Hobby Farm small business. It nearly put us into bankruptcy. There isn't enough demand out where I am to try to make money from selling eggs. People want grocery store cheap prices for organic quality. I'm done with it. They can raise their own and find out for themselves how expensive it is.

 

[NewJourney]

You sex them like any other breed. My bantam male's usually give themselves away at about 12 weeks. Probably sooner honestly, but I suck at pea comb sexing.

AFAIK none have crowed yet. I see no combs popping up. They are too skittish for me to get super close to them. They look very similar in height and size. Two of the five have much more dark red coloration, three of them are much more evenly speckled red and white. Leg size and color is comparable. Wing style are all comparable at this age. I don't see noticeable hackle, or saddle feathers yet.

I want to say that the ones with much more red in their feathering are males, but since I've never raised this breed (or color style) before I have no way of knowing. Online sources are non-existent for this breed and color. Certainly no information is available on sexing them in any color way.

I'll have to look up "pea comb sexing" as I've never heard of such a method. But, My EE is my first bird to have a pea comb, and she's only 7 months old. And I've only got one. lol