Meat Bird Project - Delaware, White Rock, Dark Cornish

[KoopOnTruckin]

I'm thinking you should post your soup recipe! That would be a true start to finish picture of your Gen 1 project.

I never really use recipes for my soups, I just wing it until it's colorful and flavorful. I do add beans, barley, rice, etc to it whenever possible, makes it more filling and satisfying to me. I'm the only one in my family that really eats soup, so it's up to me to eat the best soups, as well as the pots that just didn't quite make the mark!

I'm also working on a new project, it's going to be the sequel to this project (I'm going to stop with these birds after Gen. 2). The next project will include breeder stock of Delaware and Cornish. I think it will be a vast improvement in size and temperament, which has become a factor since my 3yo son is traumatized by our rooster "Chicken Nuggets".

 

[lcertuche]

I like to skin my yardbirds. I watched a couple of youtube videos. After about 4 or 5 birds my hands are too tired to do much more. I try to get my sons and husband to help but they are not much help. More whining than anything. I could do six if I pushed it and they were young and tender. Tough birds are hard to skin!

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

It's been a busy few weeks here, but I'm going to weigh the chicks this weekend. Including the Cornish Cross "meat bags". Those things disgust me. I really don't want to be too cruel, they are still "God's creatures" and all. But they are lazy eating and pooping machines. When I move the tractor-coop, I have to get my kid to stand by the wheel with a stick, poking them to get them to move so they don't get run over. It's more of a "push" now than a poke.

And one of them started "turtling" today - that's when they roll over onto their backs and are too wide to roll back over to get up. I just read about this on another thread with pure White Cornish roos doing the same thing as they get older, around their second mating season. But these meatbags are doing it at 5 weeks old. Anyways, I had to de-turtle that thing 4 times today, twice in the same trip out there. If you don't flip them back over, they can die pretty quickly.

For anyone curious about raising Cornish Cross fast-growing chicks, I can tell you that they are not like your other chickens. They are void of personality and brains, and that is replaced with meat. That part of the brain that tells them danger is approaching? Replaced by meat. The 2 things they care about are food and laying down. And they only care about laying down because their legs hurt. It's sad. And because of these major voids in their heads, they are a lot more work than other chicks. Or maybe as much work as other chicks, just distilled into 6-8 weeks.

Long story short, I look forward to turning them into freezer meat and being done with them.

My Dark Cornish Crosses, however, are full of personality, but aren't growing at nearly the rate as the meatbags. I'm okay with that! I'll take a photo of my 9wk old and 4 week old DCXs, as well as the CXs, so you can see the vast difference.

 

[Molpet]

yeah raising CX in a tractor isn't healthy for the birds, and who wants to eat that

I let them free range and restricted the food, all they could eat 2x a day...they would range 100 - 300ft eating grass and bugs.
they were the sweetest birds, not at all like tractor birds... after they ate all they could, they would come over to me and pull on my pant leg for attention... of course at feeding time they about ate me too.. broke my heart on freezer camp days.. doubt I will get any more... I kept the smallest one (she lived almost a yr) and have some of her offspring... and am incubating some of their offspring right now.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

I'm sure that any breed of chicken can be a good pet if under the right conditions. I have no desire to keep these as pets, they were simply an experience to end in the freezer. That said i want them to still live a happy and healthy life before they meet the cold. I had them in a regular coop but i kept finding them laying in their own filth, even when the other 3/4 of the coop was clean. And they never wanted to leave the coop to free range, even when i pushed them out the door they would just sit by the door waiting to be let back inside. So at least the tractor keeps them in fresh grass daily. The other chicks are fine for 2-3 days before i need to move the tractor, but the CXs are pooping machines! I do have them on restricted feed, 12-14 hrs per day. At the rate they're growing, 6wks may be all they need.

And i hope nobody takes my comments about them being "meat bags" seriously, it's just what my wife started calling them and i think it fits. This is solely my opinion based on my experience.

Also that one that keeps turtling is becoming a part time job - 4x already again today. Then again last thing in the evening and first thing in the morning. Her wing feathers are looking ragged from spending so much time on her back.

 

[Molpet]

LOL meat bags does fit those.. since she keeps turtling...might want to think about a Cornish hen dinner before she croaks.
I do not consider them as pets, trying to get away from buying meat chicks and speeding up the heritage types. .. some other BYC are having some success

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

I totally hear you on that dream - that too is what I'm working for. I don't have a lot of aspirations that the DC crosses are going to be much better than either purebred. But we shall see - I will weigh them shortly.

I just wanted to edit to say that I don't think MY DCXs will be too much better, whether it's because they're hatchery stock or because I just haven't hit the correct combination yet.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

So I've got 2 potential hatches happening right now for my next project. I have dibs on the next hatch of Delawares from a breeder here in FL, they are set to hatch on May 8. I'm hoping for 10 of them, then will keep 1 roo and 3 hens from that batch. Add that to my 2 Dels from the hatchery and I've got 5 breeding hens with at least 2 bloodlines, more likely 3-4. That could give me a diverse enough group to get started on breeding for what I would consider "homestead excellence" (best dual-purpose w/ heavy emphasis on meat growth rate, flavor and end-cost).

Then I have eggs in the incubator of my own - I purchased a dozen eggs from another breeder here on BYC, White Cornish eggs. Those are what I'm really excited about. I won't go too deep into how excited I am here, you'll think I'm a 12 year old girl with my first crush... Anyway, I received 20 in the mail, very well packaged and the eggs all arrived in superficially good condition. But I was clearly warned by the seller that shipping eggs isn't the best way to get viable eggs. I'm a week into the incubation and found that 2 of the eggs had detached air cells and weren't viable, and all the rest but 6 appeared to be a bit cloudy. The final 6 had clearly defined embryos and seem to be very viable. Of those 6, 3 are from one bloodline and 3 are from another. That's a great start, but a bit shy of the 3 different bloodlines I was hoping for. Anyway, I'm still holding out hope for those that were "cloudy". I mean, who knows, they could just be a bit harder to tell at this time. I really only need one cockerel from the first bloodline and a hen from the second to get started, and with more hens I'd be that much better off. And if those other eggs are scrambled and I only get 6 or less, I will make another order maybe next year, and get that third bloodline added.

I've been reading a lot about the spiral breeding program and "Clan Mating System". It's really interesting, I'm boring my wife by talking about it so much but I just find it fascinating. With 3 bloodlines, you can potentially go 20 years without noticing the amassed genetic defects. With 5 bloodlines, that timeline can extend to 100 years or more. That is huge. So I'm hoping for 3 bloodlines for both the Delawares and White Cornish, then when my kid is going off to college I can begin worrying about getting that 4th bloodline for each breed. By the time the 5th bloodline is needed, it will be my grandchildren's problem.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Also, side note - I weighed the chicks yesterday, but my phone died afterwards and I lost my "note" with the weights. The only one I remember as being significant was that my Gen. 2 White Rock cockerel was about 60g heavier than his father at the same age. The rest of the numbers didn't stand out, so I assume they weren't terribly significant.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

I know it's been a while since I posted on this thread, figured I'd give an update on the DC crosses - see the below pics:

The largest group is 14 weeks old, then 10 weeks and 6 weeks old.

(The White Rock roo is top-right, pullet is bottom-left, both will be keepers for Gen.2 of that breed.)

(The WR/Del pullet is on the right)

The smallest set, mixed with Delawares:

And then the ultra-elusive WHITE CORNISH!!! (they spilled their food, normally their brooder is much cleaner...):

I would say the coolest thing about mixing the DC with the WR and Dels is the coloring that comes out! The 3 black and white birds from the 14 weeks old set have a hint of green and blue in their black, VERY beautiful birds - one is a cockerel and his tail feathers are already showing some cool colors and I expect will be very nice, should he live that long. All of the colors are different and stand out.

I've also been spending a bit of time with @Fat Daddy on his thread about White Cornish trying to figure some things out, like how to incorporate the DCs to my White Cornish line. FD has 3 bloodlines of his own White Cornish, and I purchased fertile eggs from him - unfortunately only 5 hatched (from 2 of the pens) and only 3 have made it to over 2 weeks old. So I have 2 from FD's Pen A, and 1 from his Pen B. I'm hoping that, by adding the DC (roo and hen are from different bloodlines as well) bloodline, I can add new blood while also removing the dark coloring genes. It should take about 3 generations to get back to White being the dominant color.

(He is on the bench, she is at the bottom of the pic)

I have a few different plans to keep the bloodlines as pure as possible (to avoid overly inbreeding) while still removing the dark genes, but I have to first wait to find out the genders of the 3 WC I have in the brooder.