Red Laced Cornish X and project talk (pics p. 8)

[galanie]

Haven't seen any of them post in a couple weeks.

 

[big medicine]

Just wanted to let folks know I have some eggs availlable from the blue laced red Cornish large fowl project. I feel these birds are a very good start toward the sustainable home meat bird. The hens lay a very large dark egg. The males develop a nice large finished carcass. Natural breeders. I would like $50 + $15 shipping per dozen. PM me if interested.

 

[SethsArk]

Those are some pretty birds.

Thanks to everyone on trying to define "pricey". I'm in Northern California and raise chicks from the local feed store and sell them when they lay their first egg for $20, and those are just barred rocks or whatever. So I was expecting them to be well over $100. Trying to get a good sustainable meat bird is definetly worth the initial investment if you know what you'll get.

I look forward to seeing more pictures of your projects. I'm starting from chicks because I've chosen to get some Freedom Rangers to play with. So, I wont have anything to report until next year, if this thread is still around.

 

[Cedarknob]

Those are some pretty birds.

Thanks to everyone on trying to define "pricey". I'm in Northern California and raise chicks from the local feed store and sell them when they lay their first egg for $20, and those are just barred rocks or whatever. So I was expecting them to be well over $100. Trying to get a good sustainable meat bird is definetly worth the initial investment if you know what you'll get.

I look forward to seeing more pictures of your projects. I'm starting from chicks because I've chosen to get some Freedom Rangers to play with. So, I wont have anything to report until next year, if this thread is still around.

Best wishes with your project, I know FRs are occasionally kept for breeding by some but too few people stay the course with projects, and meat projects especially. Quite frankly, in my opinion, there are already many good breeds well suited as sustainable egg/meat flocks, but finding the good sized, true representatives of those a bit difficult as those sold by hatcheries never seem to measure up. Then too, the commercial crosses have been developed to far out perform those old dual purpose breeds. so maybe those of us wanting to breed our own really are a little crazy.

 

[Cedarknob]

I have an Ameraucana X CX chick out, another pipped, and waiting on the pure bred Cornish. The CX gals are now under a Cornish cockerel. Selling a friend 2 dozen mixed pure Cornish and Cornish X CX eggs this weekend because I have too many to set myself. PM me if you're interested in true Cornish and Cornish cross hatching eggs.

 

[al6517]

I have just been pretty busy with work and of course it's spring so that means hatching season. I have been after it pretty hard and have had some very good hatches so far. I have more than 200 LF Cornish chicks on the ground, Whites, WLR's & Darks. I have been getting 5-6 good looking whites at 2-3 wks old out of every 25 birds hatched, it's all a numbers game for good birds. I begin to cull as early as 2 wks old and that continues at intervals until young adulthood. I have another 160 in the bator now with more waiting to go in when those hatch, I probably won't stop hatching till june and then gear up again in the late fall for a few well timed hatches.

I hope everybody is doing well and having good hatching luck.

 

[galanie]

I have just been pretty busy with work and of course it's spring so that means hatching season. I have been after it pretty hard and have had some very good hatches so far. I have more than 200 LF Cornish chicks on the ground, Whites, WLR's & Darks. I have been getting 5-6 good looking whites at 2-3 wks old out of every 25 birds hatched, it's all a numbers game for good birds. I begin to cull as early as 2 wks old and that continues at intervals until young adulthood. I have another 160 in the bator now with more waiting to go in when those hatch, I probably won't stop hatching till june and then gear up again in the late fall for a few well timed hatches.

I hope everybody is doing well and having good hatching luck.

I only wish I had some hatching going on with the number of broodys I have! These Orps...

 

[al6517]

I know it is also broody season, I have 4 trying hard but I am putting a crimp in their efforts LOL. I have these two nice dark hens in a pen and they are trying to brood no eggs on top of each other, it's funny to see.

 

[Cedarknob]

I have just been pretty busy with work and of course it's spring so that means hatching season. I have been after it pretty hard and have had some very good hatches so far. I have more than 200 LF Cornish chicks on the ground, Whites, WLR's & Darks. I have been getting 5-6 good looking whites at 2-3 wks old out of every 25 birds hatched, it's all a numbers game for good birds. I begin to cull as early as 2 wks old and that continues at intervals until young adulthood. I have another 160 in the bator now with more waiting to go in when those hatch, I probably won't stop hatching till june and then gear up again in the late fall for a few well timed hatches.

I hope everybody is doing well and having good hatching luck.

I'm glad you're hatching is going well Al.

I've yet to hatch a dark, the first one pipped internally and drowned because I wasn't home to control humidity, but have more due to hatch Tues..

I've got a pretty good number of whites hatched out, but the colors have me questioning my male's color genetics. I have three whites and three darks under him, and had some hatch as typical blacks with the penguin pattern [the oldest now has red showing in its wings], a couple looking almost exchecquer due to heavy black leakage on snow white down, and the majority look typical of recessive white. It looks to be an egg from the same pullet that is producing the spotted chick, but I don't know if it's from a dark or white pullet. [Edited to add that I just discovered my DCs may be carrying white, explaining the off-colored chicks when crossed to my WC. I'm rotating my two DC cockerels over the CX hens, and while holding one, found three white feathers on his neck. I decided to quit using him on my DC hens. He's a very nice bird, both younger and larger than my White male, and the fact that he's displaying some white may actually be an advantage to my WC line.]

The Ameraucana X CX chicks are mostly white with an occasional chick showing just a bit of color, which is typical of dominate white. They are easily twice as large as the Cornish at hatch, but then the eggs they are coming from are twice as large as Cornish eggs. LOL The CX hens are now under true Cornish, and those chicks should be monsters.

 

[Cedarknob]

I was watching chicks hatch this morning, and suddenly realized I already have DCs hatched out.
Since I've hatched several breeds and mixed breeds in the past few years, and still am, I had kind of forgotten what each chick looks like when first hatched. [Getting old I guess

] I looked up DC chicks on Feathersite, and sure not getting anything looking like the chicks labeled as DC there or at McMurry. As I watched a white head emerge from an egg marked DC, I suddenly remembered that true Dark Cornish are E^Wh/E^Wh, not e^b/e^b like Barnevelders and Wyandottes. Their heads and most of their bodies are supposed to have yellowish white down at hatch, and first feathers have white on the ends also.

In other words, Dark Cornish are supposed to be based on wheaten, while the other two are based on partridge.