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

[15littlem]

Could you guys check out my new thread and possibly add to it? You guys have great birds and projects, so I know you guys would have some great input! Check it out here Don't forget to post lots of pictures of your birds! Thanks

 

[Cedarknob]

Wow, I hope they turn out good. So are you working on a dark colored one along with a white one?

Only to the degree that for now I'm leaving the option open of having a pen of birds that are not white in addition to staying the coarse for a white bird. I'm breeding for utility mostly but white birds look better to me when plucked and processed with their skins on. No one, including myself, likes seeing a pin feather that got missed when the bird was dressed and colored pin feathers really stand out; you gotta look real close to see a white one. LOL Sometimes colored feathers leave pigment in the follicle it was plucked from also, but neither of these things would affect the taste of the bird if you were blindfolded or after the bird is cooked. It's kind of the same with the blue egg laying trait.................... the blue shell isn't going to add one bit of difference to the egg's utility value.......................... unless it's Easter and you don't have any food coloring.

[One lady did tell me that she often made boiled eggs from those that she bought from me and that the blue or green eggs peeled easier.]

ETA; There are plenty of old heirloom breeds still available from hobby/show breeders, plus modern strains of production birds, to choose from for choosing a great utility flock from. I have no lurking notion that I can breed a better self-sustaining flock of meat birds or a dual purpose flock than those already developed. Breeding a self-sustaining flock with better qualities for producing meat than Ameraucanas, Aracaunas, or the mutts sold as such by hatcheries is an achievable goal.

 

[kfacres]

Well, now that we have that out in the open...

Anyone doing any hatching, or have all the cornish and project birds shut down for the winter...

 

[Cedarknob]

F2 chicks from my project. Hatching and raising chicks in the winter is a bit of extra hassle, but I do it to insure that my project line will come from parents that are winter hardy and winter layers. The breeding pen has no artificial lighting or heat, and it has been cold enough to freeze and crack eggs [which can't be incubated so are eaten by me or used as feed]. I suspect the chick to the upper left will be another blue barred, though at one week it's still too soon to know. The larger chicks are a week older.

 

[free burd]

ETA; There are plenty of old heirloom breeds still available from hobby/show breeders, plus modern strains of production birds, to choose from for choosing a great utility flock from. I have no lurking notion that I can breed a better self-sustaining flock of meat birds or a dual purpose flock than those already developed. Breeding a self-sustaining flock with better qualities for producing meat than Ameraucanas, Aracaunas, or the mutts sold as such by hatcheries is an achievable goal.

hello Cedarknob,

i have followed your project through all 2500+ posts here and thank you for the
quoted statement - but for clarification, what is the end goal of your project?
a pea combed (cold hardy) green or bluish egg layer / dual breed that will hatch
out its own from time to time?

and does the reported flavor of the EE / Ameraucana play into your mix in any way?

by the way, with the CX outcross, your results will have a better 'filled out'
carcase than most old dual breeds, wont it?

spell it out for me here, you are a good communicator and what you are doing is
more engaging to me than about any other meat bird discussion that i have studied.

- cornish purists not withstanding, but they take a l-o-n-g time to mature and eat
like horses so why inject that into your mix when you already have the CX?
economy and quick maturity being such a key ingredient in the meat bird
for people who don't want to have to get a job to support their chickens.
(or, why didn't you just stop at EE with a CX outcross?)

i'll listen to anything you have to say.

respectfully,
robert braun [email protected]

 

[coberdor]

Well, now that we have that out in the open...

Anyone doing any hatching, or have all the cornish and project birds shut down for the winter...

I just started hatching from the small flock I got from hatching eggs from Big Medicine. I have 5 hens a a roo from his blue laced Cornish cross. I posted pics earlier in this thread of the hens when they were younger.

I'm getting nicely shaped chicks. Some blue laced, some white and blue. I had one white hen hatch out from his eggs, so the blue laced roo over this hen should create some interesting colors.

This small flock will be a good start to my sustainable meat flock!

 

[coberdor]

Here's a couple of pics from this summer when they were just a couple of months old.

 

[Totalcolour]

That's a very pretty bird.

I have a couple of nice DC girls that I'm going to cross with my Barnevelder Cock. I want a decent meat bird with dark eggs.

 

[knjinnm]

Hi Al,
Are you still working Hulk?
Joe

 

[big medicine]

Not sure if this is the proper procedure, but since they changed the for sale section, I hardly go there anymore. But anyway my sustainable blue laced red Cornish meat project birds(really need to come up with a shorter and catchier name for them) are laying beyond my capacity to hatch. If any one is interested in getting a start, shoot me a private message.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-of-a-sustainable-duel-purpose-meat-egg-flock