Newbie

[Trish1947]

Well….tomorrow I will receive my first Cornish crosses. Needless to say I am a bit nervous. So much to learn. I have been on th site for a short time and can’t seem to get enough of it .
my question is, can I keep a hen and rooster from the shipment to breed my own meat birds and if so how do I prevent them from getting to big and heavy? Any information is most welcome.

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

Meat birds... My friend, it is so hard to breed meat birds and to keep them alive. You can try tho. They often die of hard attacks as soon as 9 weeks. It's bad. And they are living in pain almost always. Try separating the roo and 3 females that you want to keep. Maybe do two roos since they die a lot.

Otherwise I would suggest getting duel purpose birds. You'll get WAY more eggs and the meat will taste much better. Barred rocks and Buff Orpington are great duel purpose breeds. They do take longer to mature and you'll have to give the roos a small area so that they don't build up muscle. Then it's hard to eat and you'll have to roast them. And female chicks you can sell as young chicks or as laying hens. Laying hens can go for 20 bucks sometimes! And female chicks can go for 3-5. If you comfortable with sharing, what general area do you live? That could help determine how much to sell them for.

I think that that makes much more sense than trying it with Cornish cross. You could give it a go or you could get some Barred rocks and Cornish crosses and try both... You could also try criss crossing the breeds and get some better breeders that have a less chance of dieing from heart attacks. Good luck with whatever you do!

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

Cornish X meat birds are what's known as a Terminal Cross. They are a 4-way hybrid specifically designed for one thing only -- to eat a LOT and grow FAST.

If you want to keep any for breeding you'll have to raise them specially on a strict feed-restriction and exercise program (you can search threads to see how people have done it), and even then the male may grow too large to mate effectively.

Lots of people have tried to breed their own meat birds. Few have gotten results that they are happy with over the long term and none can compare for speed of growth to harvest, quantity of breast meat, and feed conversion efficiency.

 

[The WinterWolf]

 

[Trish1947]

Welcome to BYC.

Cornish X meat birds are what's known as a Terminal Cross. They are a 4-way hybrid specifically designed for one thing only -- to eat a LOT and grow FAST.

If you want to keep any for breeding you'll have to raise them specially on a strict feed-restriction and exercise program (you can search threads to see how people have done it), and even then the male may grow too large to mate effectively.

Lots of people have tried to breed their own meat birds. Few have gotten results that they are happy with over the long term and none can compare for speed of growth to harvest, quantity of breast meat, and feed conversion efficiency.

Thand you for this information. Very helpful. They didn’t arrive last week due to a fire at the hatchery. Are due this Friday instead. Appreciate the help.

Welcome to BYC.

Cornish X meat birds are what's known as a Terminal Cross. They are a 4-way hybrid specifically designed for one thing only -- to eat a LOT and grow FAST.

If you want to keep any for breeding you'll have to raise them specially on a strict feed-restriction and exercise program (you can search threads to see how people have done it), and even then the male may grow too large to mate effectively.

Lots of people have tried to breed their own meat birds. Few have gotten results that they are happy with over the long term and none can compare for speed of growth to harvest, quantity of breast meat, and feed conversion efficiency.

a

 

[Trish1947]

Meat birds... My friend, it is so hard to breed meat birds and to keep them alive. You can try tho. They often die of hard attacks as soon as 9 weeks. It's bad. And they are living in pain almost always. Try separating the roo and 3 females that you want to keep. Maybe do two roos since they die a lot.

Otherwise I would suggest getting duel purpose birds. You'll get WAY more eggs and the meat will taste much better. Barred rocks and Buff Orpington are great duel purpose breeds. They do take longer to mature and you'll have to give the roos a small area so that they don't build up muscle. Then it's hard to eat and you'll have to roast them. And female chicks you can sell as young chicks or as laying hens. Laying hens can go for 20 bucks sometimes! And female chicks can go for 3-5. If you comfortable with sharing, what general area do you live? That could help determine how much to sell them for.

I think that that makes much more sense than trying it with Cornish cross. You could give it a go or you could get some Barred rocks and Cornish crosses and try both... You could also try criss crossing the breeds and get some better breeders that have a less chance of dieing from heart attacks. Good luck with whatever you do!

Thank you. I think I will do the dual purpose and save myself a lot of work

 

[nicalandia]

Well….tomorrow I will receive my first Cornish crosses. Needless to say I am a bit nervous. So much to learn. I have been on th site for a short time and can’t seem to get enough of it .
my question is, can I keep a hen and rooster from the shipment to breed my own meat birds and if so how do I prevent them from getting to big and heavy? Any information is most welcome.

Your absolute best chance of obtaining good meat chicks is to save a few females and get yourself an old fashioned Dark Cornish Rooster or a big dual purpose breed, their grow will be the same regardless of the rooster(but the Dark Cornish sire will give them a huge boost in breast shape and size), The F1s will grow the average of both parents plus 10% heterosis.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

@Trish1947, dual-purpose rooster raiser (as a byproduct of all the hatching I do) here.

I typically process my cockerels by about 5 months old - give or take a month - but have also processed roosters over a year old. Two words: Instant Pot. Seriously, I've yet to meet a rooster that couldn't be rendered tender by pressure cooking. Plus, incredible bone broth in 2 hours!

My point? Don't be afraid of the "toughness" of a dual-purpose rooster. Other BYCers have already presented persuasive arguments for considering sustainable breeds and crosses, and I just wanted to add my support for that approach, as well. And with Black Friday coming up, there will be electric pressure cooker deals...just saying.

Best of luck!

 

[Trish1947]

@Trish1947, dual-purpose rooster raiser (as a byproduct of all the hatching I do) here.

I typically process my cockerels by about 5 months old - give or take a month - but have also processed roosters over a year old. Two words: Instant Pot. Seriously, I've yet to meet a rooster that couldn't be rendered tender by pressure cooking. Plus, incredible bone broth in 2 hours!

My point? Don't be afraid of the "toughness" of a dual purpose rooster. Other BYCers have already presented persuasive arguments for considering sustainable breeds and crosses, and I just wanted to add my support for that approach, as well. And with Black Friday coming up, there will be electric pressure cooker deals...just saying.

Best of luck!

Thanks for that. I have 3 pressure cookers. My fav tool in the kitchen.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and SAUSAGE! (old birds). If the sausage recipe works for pork, it will also work for chicken, with one caveat. Chicken fat doesn't get as firm as pork fat or beef fat, which can result in inferior texture in the sausage, and considerable fat rendering out during cooking, leaving the casing filled with a mealy (still tasty) meat mix. Recommend using pork or beef fat when adding some to bring up the total fat content of the recipe. Also recommend pushing it as lean as you can - if your recipe calls for 8# of ground pork shoulder and 2# of fat, use 8# of old chicken meat (the connective tissue and more fibrous meat of the thighs and legs in an old free range bird are good things here) and 2# of pork fat. Now divide the whole recipe by four, and prepare it once as a trial - 2# chicken meat, .5# pork fat, 1/4 of the called for spices...

Adjust to personal preference before scaling back up.