Purebred Cornish roo x plymouth barred rock hen cross

[bigz1983]

I was wondering has anyone on here crossed a purebred Cornish(dark, white etc)rooster with Plymouth barred rock hen?

Did the offspring produce a lot of meat?

Did the offspring grow faster than average?

This cross would be a sex link right?

 

[nicalandia]

I was wondering has anyone on here crossed a purebred Cornish(dark, white etc)rooster with Plymouth barred rock hen?

Did the offspring produce a lot of meat?

Did the offspring grow faster than average?

This cross would be a sex link right?

Yes, it will be a sex linked cross, the males will inherit the barring gene from mother and will have a cream head spot and the pullets will be all black at hatch with no head spot.

This cross was made about 60 years ago, it produce more efficient cross than both combined parent due to heterosis, but over the past 60 years improvements have been made that would eclipse any cross that one could possibly make now with standard breeds.

Red Rangers and colored broilers would outperform such cross in every measurable metrics.

 

[varidgerunner]

There is a lot of variability in both breeds mentioned. Assuming you are starting with standard hatchery stock, you will get a nice bird, but nowhere near the explosive growth of commercial broiler chickens. To make those the parent lines are a lot more specialized than just a hatchery rock bred on a hatchery cornish. It is more like a four way cross using special proprietary commercial genetics. I have good reason to believe there are leghorn genetics present in the commercial strains, and that the leghorn genetics are responsible for the explosive growth. Leghorns grow crazy fast, they just don't get big. Cornish can be painfully slow growing and some rocks not much better. Your white rocks will get big faster than most other varieties. The rock part of the equation gives them a big frame, and the cornish puts meat on that frame.

 

[nicalandia]

There is a lot of variability in both breeds mentioned. Assuming you are starting with standard hatchery stock, you will get a nice bird, but nowhere near the explosive growth of commercial broiler chickens. To make those the parent lines are a lot more specialized than just a hatchery rock bred on a hatchery cornish. It is more like a four way cross using special proprietary commercial genetics. I have good reason to believe there are leghorn genetics present in the commercial strains, and that the leghorn genetics are responsible for the explosive growth. Leghorns grow crazy fast, they just don't get big. Cornish can be painfully slow growing and some rocks not much better. Your white rocks will get big faster than most other varieties. The rock part of the equation gives them a big frame, and the cornish puts meat on that frame.

I made a summary of such 4 way crossing and some references: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/red-ranger-breeding.1247705/#post-20017260