I'm on a mission to produce the biggest best tasting dual purpose bird in tha south!!!

[AlvinsFinest]

I happen to be attempting that right now myself! I am experimenting with Black Australorp x New Hampshire and then a Black Australorp x Rhode Island! Got babies popping out of incubators all over the place! My three week olds from the BA x NH are already pretty good size so I think i'm on to something here!!

Definitely keep me posted and let me know how that works out send me some pictures of them on here when they get older!

 

[Spangled]

If you have any ideas let me know!

Right now I have breed Delaware and new Hampshire for six generations now lookin to
Breed 100% Cornish not a cross! Then plan to breed to back to the delaware and new Hampshire cross! What do you think!?

Having experience with those breeds myself, I believe it sounds like a good plan. However, how are your Cornish laying? I had Dark Cornish and didn't get as near as many eggs from them as I did our Delawares and New Hampshires, which both were/are good, steady layers in my experience. However, half of my Dark Cornish birds got a bad start and I think that a bad start can affect egg laying throughout the life of the bird, so maybe my Dark Cornish were poor layers without it being a breed trait. But for me, I'd be doing a bit of back crossing to keep up egg numbers (which I think is what you say you're going to do) while still trying to retain the broadness of the Cornish.

Oh, and what do you think ... do you think what chickens are fed has much bearing on their taste or do you think it is all in the breed/strain? To me, what we feed the chickens makes their eggs taste better.

Good luck! Post photos sometime if you get a chance.

 

[Bullitt]

The Cornish chickens, whether the white or dark, are poor egg-layers. You will get about one or two eggs a week on average in a year from those breeds.

Wouldn't it be easier to raise Cornish Rocks, which are ready for processing in six to eight weeks, for meat, and use Leghorns, which will produce an average of six eggs a week, as egg-layers?

 

[AlvinsFinest]

The Cornish chickens, whether the white or dark, are poor egg-layers. You will get about one or two eggs a week on average in a year from those breeds.

Wouldn't it be easier to raise Cornish Rocks, which are ready for processing in six to eight weeks, for meat, and use Leghorns, which will produce an average of six eggs a week, as egg-layers?

I want the pure 100% dark Cornish because I am gonna back breed to get my egg production back!

 

[AlvinsFinest]

Having experience with those breeds myself, I believe it sounds like a good plan. However, how are your Cornish laying? I had Dark Cornish and didn't get as near as many eggs from them as I did our Delawares and New Hampshires, which both were/are good, steady layers in my experience. However, half of my Dark Cornish birds got a bad start and I think that a bad start can affect egg laying throughout the life of the bird, so maybe my Dark Cornish were poor layers without it being a breed trait. But for me, I'd be doing a bit of back crossing to keep up egg numbers (which I think is what you say you're going to do) while still trying to retain the broadness of the Cornish.

Oh, and what do you think ... do you think what chickens are fed has much bearing on their taste or do you think it is all in the breed/strain? To me, what we feed the chickens makes their eggs taste better.

Good luck! Post photos sometime if you get a chance.

Yes definitely agree with you give your chickens alot of protein and stay away from onions and bitter stuff! But the meat to me doesn't have nothing to do with breed but definitely strain! All breeds taste good just some strains taste better!

 

[IowaHeritage]

Jersey gaints aren't the best laying chicken I'm goin for a dual purpose chicken! But I do plan on breeding them in somewhere! I'm just now getting into domestic chickens I use to just be into game breeds!

Oh I beg to differ. My Giants have out produced my leghorns, RIR's and are atleast equal to my layer flock ( production Reds ).

 

[GableBabble]

The farm down the road has crossed birds with a nice egg production, color, and body. The guy told me he used Orphington, Cornish Rock, Wynadotte, RIR, EE's, Austrolorp, JG, Speckled Sussex, and leghorn. He gave us a rooster as a chick and the darn thing is HUGE now. Fat boy is just a big goofy rooster who eats everything in his path and waddles like a duck. Loads of breast and leg on this guy, solid white, but really friendly. I am not real sure about some of the breeds he used, but I do know that most people around here prize their leghorns and austrolorp's.


** Oh and I am a firm believer in whatever you feed your hens makes the eggs taste so good (drools).

 

[galanie]

I wouldn't put the cornish in there either. My dark cornish hatchery hen lays quite well, but she isn't true enough to type to be a good addition. If you get breeder stock, which is difficult to do, you'll get a poor layer. If you get hatchery stock, which are good layers, they wont' have that meat you want them to add to your line. I have hatched a half orp/half dark cornish roo and and trying to get rid of him now. He's a sweetheart otherwise I'd just eat him. Maybe you'd be interested in experimenting with him https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/629399/orp-dk-cornish-cross-roo-houston-tx-area

My mission is actually to have Orps more adapted to the heat. It will be a long way off though because I'm limited right now by the size of my property but in the future I hope to be able to move out where I can have a few acres. In the meantime I'll just be concentrating as much as I can on overall quality.

 

[Bullitt]

Oh I beg to differ. My Giants have out produced my leghorns, RIR's and are atleast equal to my layer flock ( production Reds ).

You must have a very unusual situation, because the Jersey Giant will lay about 3 eggs a week on average in a year, while the Rhode Island Red will lay 5 eggs on average in a year and the Leghorn will lay about 6 eggs a week on average in a year.

Maybe your Rhode Island Reds and Leghorns are poor egg-layers and your Jersey Giant is an exceptional egg-layer.

But this is not how it usually works.

 

[IowaHeritage]

There is an old saying in cattle breeding :" There is as much difference within a breed as there are between the breeds."

To get good stock, research individual lines within whatever particular breed.

Look at the differences in the genetic variance ( structure, ability ) of Quarter Horses.... the extremes barely resemble each other.

Chickens are no different, start with good stock and know the history of any given line......

To say Giants are poor layers is akin to saying Angus Cattle produces poor meat.