Keeping a few Cornish hens.................

[Bigtom Turkey]

Nice, I was just wondering what your purpose for them was.

 

[CNJ]

I have five more eggs in lock down today and another 3 in another incubator 7 days away. I will combine the older and younger hatchlings in the same brooder.

I notice that the first batch spent the night sleeping away from the heat lamp, so I moved them out side to free up the brooder. I see 3 smaller chicks with blue legs, I know for sure that 2 of them are pure Breese chicks and I see one chick with one black feather, so not sure if it got fertilized from my Dark Cornish or Breese rooster. Furthermore, 3 of the older Cornish X chicks are very plump and filled in. I also upgraded their feeder........

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

They are looking great!

 

[CNJ]

I ended up with 3 Dark Cornish / Cornish X crosses and one pure Breese chick, and the next lock down for 3 Cornish x / Dark Cornish eggs is this Friday12/17/21. The father should be a Dark Cornish since the ones that just hatch is from the same and last pairing. They look interesting with 4 different color chicks. I wonder how they will look.
The biggest ones from the first and second batch will be paired with the last two hatches, since they will have different fathers. The results of that pairing will be the conclusion of my project.

 

[nicalandia]

Very impressive results, Congratulations. I wonder if you have determined who the father of these chicks are? Have you seen any difference in growth in any of them? Do the Pea comb ones stand out? They should as they are Dark Cornish/CornishX cross

 

[CNJ]

I wonder if you have determined who the father of these chicks are?

I think the first batch father was a Breese rooster and the second batch was a White Plymouth Rock and the last two will be the Dark Cornish.

 

[nicalandia]

I think the first batch father was a Breese rooster and the second batch was a White Plymouth Rock and the last two will be the Dark Cornish.

Have you notice any difference in growth between them and how they compared to regular CornishX? What is your feeding program for the hens to keep them in laying condition? How did you raised them from chick for Laying duties?

 

[CNJ]

One of my Dark Cornish rooster fell in the pond and almost died when he was 3 months old. I saved him and he got attached to me. Since then he has been living in a small breeder pen that is about 15 feet away from my bed room. For some reason he was crowing earlier one morning around 4 o'clock am and it was non stop-annoying, even with a no crow collar.

I found out that he stopped crowing when I filled his food tray, so this morning before he started crowing I filled his food tray and he didn't crow.

He is kind of intelligent as he always pretend the collar is on too tight, like he knows I will tighten it if his crows are too loud. I really think he was crowing to tell me to fill his food tray. His collar is not as tight as the other roosters in my yard, so I know he is acting.

 

[nicalandia]

He is kind of intelligent as he always pretend the collar is on too tight, like he knows I will tighten it if he crows too much. I really think he was crowing to tell me to fill his food tray.

I have heard horror stories about "No Crow Collars", aren't you afraid of him dying?

 

[CNJ]

Have you notice any difference in growth between them and how they compared to regular CornishX?

The Cornish X that I raised didn't show signs of unusual growth until one month old, that's when they started eating a lot. The first batch of chicks that I moved outside was eating one pint mason jar of broiler crumble a day, but I had to put in another pint at 4 o'clock pm today. They will be one month old this Sunday. All of them are very active, they were digging a pit when I last check up on them, so its hard to tell. I will know for sure in a couple of weeks.