My Dark Cornish project

[Sara L]

No, I am only interested in self sustaining flocks. I went with Standard Cornish figuring more breast. Maybe I got small birds from a hatchery? But the roosters look good and the hens are a bit small at 20 weeks from what I was expecting. Maybe I should have bought a few from a heritage breeder? But I don't know of any near me.

The Brahma/RIR crosses my daughter raised are every bit as heavy as my largest Cornish Hen. I was considering starting over with something else and was hoping someone else was on here with heritage meat birds.

My wife is getting attached to anything we raise now. I have to lock up "eaters" somewhere she can't see them, or she can't eat them. I made chicken soup from an Azzhat rooster she wanted dead and she wouldn't touch it. Because it was "Bigman". I said "Stop naming your food and it wouldn't be a problem."

I think you might need to find some faster growing birds and see if crossing them into the meat birds will result in better birds. You might end up with smaller though. I raised a Brahma rooster and he took a long time to grow out, was going to keep him for breeding until he turned into a jerk. I think he was about 8 months when I butchered but he was big. Brahmas are slow growing.

 

[ThracianHorse]

No, I am only interested in self sustaining flocks. I went with Standard Cornish figuring more breast. Maybe I got small birds from a hatchery? But the roosters look good and the hens are a bit small at 20 weeks from what I was expecting. Maybe I should have bought a few from a heritage breeder? But I don't know of any near me.

The Brahma/RIR crosses my daughter raised are every bit as heavy as my largest Cornish Hen. I was considering starting over with something else and was hoping someone else was on here with heritage meat birds.

My wife is getting attached to anything we raise now. I have to lock up "eaters" somewhere she can't see them, or she can't eat them. I made chicken soup from an Azzhat rooster she wanted dead and she wouldn't touch it. Because it was "Bigman". I said "Stop naming your food and it wouldn't be a problem."

Cornish are not known for being fast growers, nor are they known for being particularly big birds. What they have is density. They have that wide-set frame with a proportionately wide breast even though they are not huge. This is why you see cornish crossed with lots of things especially if they grow faster (EG; red rangers) - what you are trying to do is impart that wide frame into the offspring, but adding the size and growth rate of the other chicken you are crossing with. If you want faster maturing but big bodied birds in the future, I suggest doing something similar. Start with your biggest and best cornish and cross them to something with a higher growth rate. Do the same with each subsequent generation by breeding your biggest and best, and you will eventually get a nice, sustainable meat bird line without the issues of the CX. Are they a true heritage breed at that point? No, but you will get something with the genetic diversity and the lack of health problems the CX chronically suffer from.

 

[Molpet]

I have a dark Cornish from a breeder in Louisiana. Only egg that hatched from 22 eggs the PO shook up. I was wondering if it was a bantum, it was small as a chick compared to my heritage/CX mixes
Broody is left , dark next, and two mixed chicks

2nd from left is dark Cornish and rest are cx mix... Same age

 

[archeryrob]

One of the hens laid the first egg on Sunday some time. Also, the roosters, are acting like roosters and causing problems. Not as bad as the Rhode Island Red rooster my daughter had, but in other ways. They chase down and fight with my daughter hens. I am not sure if they are trying to have sex with the other flock, or just been mean to them. They try and court the Cornish hens, but they want none of it yet. The rooster will try and bite some hen neck hackles, but the hens fight back and refuse.

I have some to the point where I am not sure I am keeping but one rooster. The constant crowing and they are starting to be azzhats. Not fighting with each other yet, but picking on hens in their flock and down right mean to my daughter flock sometimes free ranging together. 1786 might be the only one to survive. I thought about keeping 1788 as a backup, but he was one of the ones attacking my daughter chickens and pinned a brahma hen in the corner of a run. SO, shortly some of the rooster should be available for taste testing.

 

[Sara L]

One of the hens laid the first egg on Sunday some time. Also, the roosters, are acting like roosters and causing problems. Not as bad as the Rhode Island Red rooster my daughter had, but in other ways. They chase down and fight with my daughter hens. I am not sure if they are trying to have sex with the other flock, or just been mean to them. They try and court the Cornish hens, but they want none of it yet. The rooster will try and bite some hen neck hackles, but the hens fight back and refuse.

I have some to the point where I am not sure I am keeping but one rooster. The constant crowing and they are starting to be azzhats. Not fighting with each other yet, but picking on hens in their flock and down right mean to my daughter flock sometimes free ranging together. 1786 might be the only one to survive. I thought about keeping 1788 as a backup, but he was one of the ones attacking my daughter chickens and pinned a brahma hen in the corner of a run. SO, shortly some of the rooster should be available for taste testing.

Sorry your cockerels are being jerks. Hopefully they will calm down soon. Culling away from aggressiveness is a good thing. I hope the extras taste good.

 

[archeryrob]

Two of them were smaller and I figured to cull them, but they were all getting along good and no fighting. Mating seems to be changing it toward the hens, not to each other. I figured on it, and cockerel are cockerels.

1788 was originally the biggest. He runs funny, lifts up his right leg high sometimes and runs like a limp. Not sure if he got hurt or is just broke in the head or something. Plus he has an upright tail and Frank said that is not cornish standard.

 

[archeryrob]

My world, My wife didn't want chickens, my daughter and I did. She wanted nothing to do with them. Now my second rooster, 1788, has been named "hoppy" as he is either hurt at one time or just retarded as I say. Now I need to keep him as she likes him, or so I was told.

God, sometimes I'm glad we don't have cattle or she would name a steer and put on a save list for the pasture. My buddies wife did that to him. He had black angus and had to sell all his off and buy someones elses steer for the freezer.

 

[archeryrob]

Hoppy made it and I kill the two smallest roosters today. I have to wash them and get an cleaned weight.

 

[archeryrob]

Forgot to hit the Post button

Week 24 – 11-18
My big rooster squared off with my daughters Brahma rooster and I had to break them up. Neither one was giving an inch. I didn’t kill him but I figured it is time to thin some out. So, I killed the two smaller roosters for taste testing. I’m a bit disappointed with the cornish in size and breast. Maybe they get bigger over time and maybe these hatchery birds weren’t great. I’m considering starting over with a better egg layers or Delaware or Jersey giants or something different next year. They got until spring to prove me wrong. My daughters RIR/Brahma crossed hen is every bit as heavy as my largest Cornish hen. Close inspection of them and their breast is not showing me they have anything special over any other dual purpose birds at the moment.

 

[archeryrob]

Both carcasses dressed out to about 4# one 4# 1.7oz and the second 3# 14.9oz.

They look nice and I am sure will eat very well. I need to get heritage birds as these are not exactly what I was looking for.