Meat qualities of Delawares - a BYC "article" :)

[yotetrapper]

So then, would it be possible, if one could keep one alive long enough, to breed a cornish x to a delaware to make them more into a meatbird strain? I have a cornish x currently that is much smaller than the others, perhaps it could live to breed back to a delaware?

 

[seriousbill]

Quote:
Absolutely. My cousin did just that very thing a couple of years ago, except with a RIR male and a Cornish X hen. The offspring was a big white male she then used to start a free range broiler flock. Uglier than sin, but big meaty birds.

 

[yotetrapper]

I tried to pm you serious bill but your box is full.

 

[turducken]

Has anyone tried a cornish x and delaware before. what kind of results?

 

[TimG]

Quote:
Try this article (a word document) which was recently cited in this thread.

 

[lostsoulhelpmejebus]

Quote:
Yep...Cordel was what it was nicknamed. My memory cannot tell you right now what the persons name was but he left the project and moved overseas. Timothy Shell is his name, I knew it would come back to me. The 2 individuals that bought his stock ended up getting rid of it. Here is what they look like:
http://www.ovabid.com/detail.asp?id=14259&pic=0

 

[TimG]

Quote:
Yep...Cordel was what it was nicknamed. My memory cannot tell you right now what the persons name was but he left the project and moved overseas. The 2 individuals that bought his stock ended up getting rid of it. Here is what they look like:
http://www.ovabid.com/detail.asp?id=14259&pic=0

That's a Dark Cornish crossed with a Delaware which is what was coined the "Improved Corndel Cross". Turducken was asking about a Cornish x crossed with a delaware. Tim Snell (who is the guy who moved overseas) used this Improved Corndel Cross crossed with an Improved Pastures Peeper (a standardized, commercial, Cornish Rock Cross) to produce his meat birds. All this information is in the article I cited a couple of posts up.

 

[lostsoulhelpmejebus]

Oh, so sorry, my bad. Guess I am not doing well at multitasking today. Better get my eyes checked!!!

 

[turducken]

Thanks for the info. I was asking about Cornish x, but I have seen Cordel's article before. I wasn't sure if anyone could find good Dark Cornish after reading some of the other threads.

We were frustrated with the Cornish X due to the amount of feed they went through. We then tried some Delaware and were impressed with the growth rate of these guys. Ours would be free range though and we only have a small flock for meat birds.

If I knew where to find good quality Dark Cornish, I would prefer them for our free range flock.

 

[sealsandwich]

I am very interested in the Delaware (and a few other heritage breeds too). Forgive me for being a new egg, but I have a hard time understanding when a bird is produced somewhat simply (New Hampshires and Barred Rocks) that it is no longer a hybrid. At what point does the bird cross the line from a cross to a breed? What determines this? If I have New Hampshires and Barred Rocks in my backyard, get smart and take a stab at this, select well and produce a Delaware looking chicken in however much time, will it ever be considered a "real" Delaware? Thank you. I really want to learn about this kind of thing.