"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

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1MrsMagoo said:
Celie said:
I was wondering about raising a cornish line for a meat chicken. I heard they are slow growers and do not lay well, so I might cross it with a faster grower like a White Rock or would another breed be better? I bought the Meyer's special last October, lost a lot due to winter coming on before they had any feathers and the generator we had to run the heat lamps in the barn, running out of gas before morning, but it has been 4 months and these guys are still not put n much weight! I have 36 left and they are so active, they are running the feed off ! They actually are free ranging with the Layers and the Turkeys! guess they did not get the memo that they are suppose to be lazy and grow fast? LOL:lol:
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Guess it may have helped the chickens if the memo was translated into a language they could speak. Plus, that all takes into account that they can even read...lol. Yes, the heritage Cornish fill out pretty slowly: It easily takes 7-9 months for them to fully fill out. Oh boy when they do though......they are nice solid little birds. Mine are large fowl, but don't seem nearly as large as some of the other breeds out there. For instance, they are absolutely dwarfed by the German New Hampshires. However, when you pick up any of the Cornish, the roos all weigh close to 9 pounds and the hens around 7. I don't have any pictures of them dressed out, but they are a nice looking roaster. Their egg laying varies. I got 2 decent sized medium eggs from my 3 hens both yesterday and today, but may only get 1 tomorrow and then none the next day. They also don't lay terribly well in cold weather. However, overall I can't really complain. They all go outside (when not in the breeding pens) and forage all day: They always have full crops when they return to their roosts at night. Also, for being such big heavy birds, they still fly well enough to get to the top perch which is over 54" off the ground. You ought to hear them hit the ground when they jump down from the higher perches: It is a very loud thump that you can actually feel under your feet....like somebody dropped a brick. I hatched mine from eggs purchased from a guy with hatchery hens under roos culled from an exhibition flock. This is my favorite Rooster, Log...he is an absolute puppy dog and comes into the feed room for his treat every morning. My other two Cornish are more stand offish and the one with the more correct body type has attempted to flop me a couple times. Luckily, they do not move quickly and due to their nice large breast make great kick balls. This is the better rooster Brick, from behind...His legs are much shorter than the other two and are wider set apart. Anyway, as to crossing them. I put a couple of my bigger bodied hens in the breeding pens with one of them last month, but none of the girls was laying well..so didn't get anything from those tries. I want to cross them with my Marans and my German New Hampshires...plus a particuarly large Naked Neck hen, which I will try again in the next week or so. White Rocks would be a really good choice to cross with these to make some meat birds. I mean, we aren't trying to re-invent the wheel (Cornish X) or anything. Any breed that matures early and gets large would be good. I would think that Rhode Island Red would be good as well, since they also have the more square body shape. Also surprisingly, I have some big fast growing Easter Eggers that lay great and that may make a nice hybird as well.
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Nice looking roosters! :love
 
PrimroseMom1 said:
Log?
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Yep, Log, Brick, and Block. The names fit them...trust me!
 
Celie said:
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I love those birds! They look like a nice wide firm meaty bird and that sounds like a good meat bird for the farm. i have too many layers and need to cut back this summer, way back. I had about 6 to 8 hens go broody this past summer and knowing I would just pick them up and take the eggs anyway, hid to hatch out their eggs! When I found their hiding places, they were close to hatching out and I did not have the heart to take them by that time! The buggers raised their mutts and were very good mothers. most of them turned out to be hens and have started laying now. I have an assortment of quite a few Duel purpose Heavy breeds, hatchery chickens and some Easter Eggers and the rest are mutts. I was selling a nice collection of what I called Rainbow eggs, for eating, because of such a large variety of colors, but with the price of feed being so high, it is not even a break even proposition. I am increasing my turkeys and decreasing my ducks and chickens. I will pick out about 3 dozen good layers and sell or give away the rest. I have a few Marans that lay chocolate colored eggs, EE that lay all shades of green and blue colored eggs and the duel purpose that lay from very light brown to very dark brown. I was processing the extra roos when they got to be too many for the hens, so I am going to be looking to raise some sustainable alternative for a meat bird. I have about 10 huge Holland toms reaching full maturity this summer, too, to process for the freezer, while the new meat chicken breeding stock is growing up. I definitely want some Cornish !
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Is the meat also firmer than must other chickens?
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Yes, the meat is much firmer than the Cornish X and the dark meat is probably better than the white ( I have never really cared for the dark meat). I have used every one we butchered as a roaster (Hatched 13 and 10 were boys!). I put them in a dutch oven and put them in on 275 for a couple hours depending on weight, Then turn them up to 350 for the last 30-45 minutes and remove the lid to brown the bird. My sons who had never had a home grown chicken thought they were the best thing they'd ever eaten. The last one we cooked was over a year old and just as good as the first one. The only other rooster we had that compared was one of our Easter Egger cockerals. My EE Rooster throws some big beautiful sons!
 
PrimroseMom1 said:
Where do I look to know the dates and places of poultry shows/swaps/sales in south LA? I'd like to keep up with the dates in hopes of making it to some.
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We have a sale every month in Covington: The next one is this Saturday. They are located at O'Keefe's Feed and Seed 900 N. Columbia Street, Covington, LA from 10AM till 2PM. We have a Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/294697733934637/
 
1MrsMagoo said:
Yes, the meat is much firmer than the Cornish X and the dark meat is probably better than the white ( I have never really cared for the dark meat). I have used every one we butchered as a roaster (Hatched 13 and 10 were boys!). I put them in a dutch oven and put them in on 275 for a couple hours depending on weight, Then turn them up to 350 for the last 30-45 minutes and remove the lid to brown the bird. My sons who had never had a home grown chicken thought they were the best thing they'd ever eaten. The last one we cooked was over a year old and just as good as the first one. The only other rooster we had that compared was one of our Easter Egger cockerals. My EE Rooster throws some big beautiful sons!
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Thank you so much for this information! The Cornish are definitely in my future,as soon as I process these meat birds ans cut way back on egg layers! I have some large breed Brahmas and Black Jersey Giants, and a lot of EE, but the Brahmas and Giants are late to mature, like the Cornish, but the roos get huge. I am also considering the Delawares and White Rocks, since they mature quickly. I'm not trying to reinvent the CornishX or anything like that, but since they are messing with the old Cornish, I will need to have some chickens to raise primarily for meat. I have cooked as lot of roos to falling off the bone tender and recently bought a smoker/ BBQ slow and slow cooker, that cooks at 225 to 275 with or without the steam.
 

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