How is it possible? Talking about Cornish X

[M To The Maxx]

How is it possible that there are so many Cornish? I thought they live a short life and the hens are not very good layers. How do the hens stay alive for so long when they have a short life span to have chicks? Please explain. Thanks!

 

[TimG]

I think you are confusing Cornish Crosses and just plain Cornish.

 

[Ariel301]

Regular cornish live the same lifespan as any other chicken. The cornish cross doesn't make it often to reproducing age because of its size, but you don't get cornish cross by crossing one cornish cross to another, it's a special genetic 'recipe' of regular cornish and plymouth rock matings.

 

[karabbitry]

Quote:
It is actually more than even just a cornish crossed with a rock. The initial cross was done years and years ago. Now you have a "breed" and I use that term loosly. But when I was finishing up my bachelors degree last year I did a study on hatchability of cornish cross breeders. We ran a flock of about 100 parent stock breeders for the terminal cornish cross meat chickens. These birds did not live to be that old...up to a year old but this generation still lays well (at least moderately). They were also on a very strict diet and all 100 breeders were weighed every 3 weeks and their diets were adjusted accordingly. This was to improve longevity on the breeders. The parent generation to the terminal broilers are very expensive birds to buy if you are able to obtain them. We were able to because it was for research purposes...other than that they don't let out their genetics normally. This is why we monitored their weights so close

 

[Ariel301]

What I mean is that those two breeds were the ones used to create the end result, the cornish cross. I know that way more goes into it than just mate a cornish with a plymouth rock, otherwise we'd all be doing it at home!

 

[nzpouter]

Quote:
Do you have a pic of how the parent birds looks like?

 

[Goose and Fig]

Are Dark Cornish smaller than other ones? Mine is 2 years old, lays pretty well, and actually looks better than she did at 1 year old. She's even gone broody on me.

 

[Bantimna]

Quote:
Thats weird normally they don't go broody and are not good-layers

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:
Thats weird normally they don't go broody and are not good-layers

Aren't Dark Cornish and Indian Game the same thing? I thought game hens were good broodies & mothers. Well- anyway- mine is

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Thats weird normally they don't go broody and are not good-layers

You may have them confused with another breed. Standard Cornish aren't great layers, but often they lay reasonably well, for the first couple of years, anyway. But they are well known for being very broody. My best brooders are a pair of dark Cornish hens, and some light Brahma hens. All LF, no bantams.