Maturity vs. Growth Rate

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
I think rabbits have spoiled me. 8-12 weeks from birth to dinner table, just a bit longer on the 'incubation' period...Cornish X are the only chicken so far that can hold a candle to a rabbit and they suffer for it whereas the bunnies do just fine and dandy...

Now if only it didn't cost so much to house the furry little suckers!

 

[PineappleMama]

Yup, and the runts can be Pebbles.

All sorts of nifty names possible. I'm SO glad someone decided to tell me WHY the rocks were used.

Is there a list somewhere... chart... something that shows which breeds are fast, which are slow... growing and/or maturing?

That sure would help a lot... bet it's in a book... somewhere...

 

[DIYSeattle]

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

Ran across this chart earlier. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about breeds. This one says Dels are early maturing (but does it mean that they are fleshed out early?), and contradicts some other info I have read and been told.

I have been reading and talking to people and basically going in circles. I supposed that I would have to experiment on my own using what I thought was the best info.

I also have champange d argent rabbits and they are faster than chickens, easier to clean/process, cleaner, quieter, take up less room, are worth more live at a much earlier age, produce year around, require only one feed pretty much (hay and pellets), and seem to be healthier than chickens. They do not lay eggs (unless you count the little brown fertilizer ones).

Today I was thinking why bother with chickens for dual/meat if I didnt want them flying off out the yard. I want a heavy quiet chicken that lays pretty good and is friendly. If I can get it to be faster growing all the better but it seems it is unobtainable. Unless I buy the frankenchicken chicks. I like heritage breeds though. However I am up to trying hybrids to experiment with.

Seems like from what I have read that White Plymouth Rocks crossed with whatever makes it grow faster. Cornish arent all that 'fast' growing but ar ebig, but they arent good egglayers. It seems it would be better to cross dels with white rocks.

I dont know lol.

 

[City Chicken]

i don't know if you ever did this. but i have crossed a light sussex with a white rock and i would say that the crosses are substantially bigger than the pure light sussex. i know this is an old thread, but in case you were still interested.

 

[r devries]

Yup, and the runts can be Pebbles.

All sorts of nifty names possible. I'm SO glad someone decided to tell me WHY the rocks were used.

Is there a list somewhere... chart... something that shows which breeds are fast, which are slow... growing and/or maturing?

That sure would help a lot... bet it's in a book... somewhere...

The white rock crossed with the cornish happened 50 plus years ago the hybrid ( what it really is) is totally different now.

 

[Haunted55]

i don't know if you ever did this. but i have crossed a light sussex with a white rock and i would say that the crosses are substantially bigger than the pure light sussex. i know this is an old thread, but in case you were still interested.

Oh good! I was hoping to get a sustainable cross between rocks and dark cornish. I have also thought to add in Jersey Giants and the Speckled Sussex. The ones you can buy are great but it's also sad to know they will have no kind of a life. Don't mind me, I am a firm believer in eating and raising my own. I just hoped that I could get something that could live longer and still have some of the qualities of the cornish X. Something that could be butchered as needed rather than processing them all at once.

 

[City Chicken]

Oh good! I was hoping to get a sustainable cross between rocks and dark cornish. I have also thought to add in Jersey Giants and the Speckled Sussex. The ones you can buy are great but it's also sad to know they will have no kind of a life. Don't mind me, I am a firm believer in eating and raising my own. I just hoped that I could get something that could live longer and still have some of the qualities of the cornish X. Something that could be butchered as needed rather than processing them all at once.

yeah, at first i wondered why the crosses were so much bigger than the pure chicks. then i realized, they are growing faster because of the white rock influence. i def think this would be a sustainable meat bird. i can post later after we have processed and put in final weights. we plan to process in dec depending on growth beg or end...

 

[Haunted55]

yeah, at first i wondered why the crosses were so much bigger than the pure chicks. then i realized, they are growing faster because of the white rock influence. i def think this would be a sustainable meat bird. i can post later after we have processed and put in final weights. we plan to process in dec depending on growth beg or end...

That would be fantastic! I am very interested in what you come up with. If and when I can get some babies hatched from my birds I'll post as well. This is so cool.