LF Dark Cornish?

[Birch Run Farm]

Anyone breeding SQ or breeder quality Cornish? Show me some photos and tell me about your birds. Any special traits, personality, color of their eggs? I saw some darks at a local show and was impressed. Truly they look like something from Jurassic Park! I am thinking of adding this breed.

 

[mikarod]

Got some photos of some Cornish from Superior Farms while I was there:

 

[greyfields]

I would love to upsize my Dark Cornish flock as well. The only sire I have is only medium sized with a daft Leghorn tail on him. I've only ever seen bantam Cronish at poultry shows. Speak up breeders!

 

[Birch Run Farm]

The LF cornish I saw this weekend were very big. Their heads were quite something, thick and burly looking. The legs were as thick as fence posts. Awesome.

I think the breeder was out of Virginia, he wasn't real chatty though I tried to express my interest in the breed, he wasn't real interested to talk about them.

I get the impression they are rare. The bantams were nice too, one placed on champion row at the Northeastern Poultry Congress. I think I took a few pictures but need to look over the camera card yet.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Quote:
Greyfields, you've given me a lot of great info in the past, and we've also discussed cornish before. I'd like to ask you another question about the cornish breed. How are they in respects to feed conversion? Compared to an average dual purpose breed, do they eat considerably more?

 

[greyfields]

Wow, interesting question. I assume when talking about FCR you mean this with the intent of raising them for meat production. My gut instinct would be they will perform like any other purebred, with an FCR around 3.0. Dark Cornish were used exclusively for meat production 100 years ago, so perhaps they had improved the breed back then. But I doubt any of that will still be present in today's birds, which surely have been outcrossed to improve their laying ability.

My guess is they would be on par with any dual purpose bird, with the caveat that dual-purpose birds aren't particularly meaty (I think dual purpose means "better than a Leghorn" in all practical senses).

 

[shelleyb1969]

Thanks again, greyfields. I still have the opportunity to get a pair of dark cornish, heritage type, super nice quality....so I think I'm going to make room in the coop for them. I've been reading a lot about the CornDel cross, and since I've already got some pretty nice Delaware hens, I'm thinking about starting a project of my own. I just wanted an idea on their FCR since my initial breeders will be around for a while. I'm really intrigued by the appearance of the cornish...there's just something about them that's appealing to me...I guess it's the peculiarity of their features.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

The SQ birds I was looking at were huge. I am betting there is plenty of meat on them as they are a tight feathered breed. That would mean culls would be awesome roasters.

I found my show list and realized all the exhibitors addresses and phone numbers are published. I am going to try again with the guy who had the birds I really liked. He does LF and bantam.

If anyone else wants his info PM me, I won't post it public.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Wow, I didn't realize they came in buff and white laced red too. Here is a photo of a bantam dark from the show:

 

[Ranmarans]

Got some photos of some Cornish from Superior Farms while I was there: