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

[ijon]

Agree= hatched about 60 last summer- a few less this year-- but I wasn't as dedicated to hatching this year. Too much on my plate. Break that down- to 15-20 of each color.

The dark is a true dark- came from some guy in Iowa that is a bantam guy- and had some LF just running around. Don't know bloodlines- but they were a little more leggy than SOP people want them- it shows in my birds too.. but they have way more bone under them- and better heads.

The WLR were half dark as well- Christine somebody I think from Iowa. That's how I got darks first generation...

The big dark cock- as a year old... Lost him just after this pic was taken in the heat of 2012! Remember him weighing 16 or 18 pounds. You guys are doing a great job on your breeding program.

 

[kfacres]

it's been a work in progress, but i can say that I have made huge strides from when I started. Hope the next 2 years can go like the first two- and maybe I'll have something worth something by then!

 

[coberdor]

I must say that when I took my birds that I hatched from BigMedicine's stock, the processor couldn't get over how well built for heritage birds at 4-5 months were. The young cockerels were dressing out at 6-8 lbs. I free range my birds, and feed organic starter to them. Then when I told him that I had kept the best ones for breeding, he couldn't believe I had better ones back home. He wants hatching eggs next spring.

I had kept only 2 DC hens that I got from Steve Sands, which I knew to be some hatchery stock and some not. The dark Cornish I'm getting from BigMedicines roo crossed with these well egg producing hens have been a pleasant surprise. I'm keeping several of the DC hens as well as a couple of the blue laced and white hens. I'll keep one roo, a blue laced splash. He's got nice body type. I still have the original stock and will cross the DC back to their father to see what is produced. Next year though. My freezer is full right now and I still have over a dozen heritage turkeys to process this fall and about a dozen late hatch meat birds.

I couldn't be happier with this grey start to a sustainable meat bird! Best money I've ever spent on hatching eggs!

I like my Araucanas, with their tufts, blue eggs and rumpless butts, but my meat birds produce nice big eggs and great organic free range meat! I Couldn't ask for more!

I hatched some chanteclers this summer too, and will in a year or two, try crossing some of the bigger Roos out to some of the meat hens.

 

[big medicine]

it's been a work in progress, but i can say that I have made huge strides from when I started. Hope the next 2 years can go like the first two- and maybe I'll have something worth something by then!

Do you attribute your progress to breeding, or stock aquisition ?

 

[big medicine]

I must say that when I took my birds that I hatched from BigMedicine's stock, the processor couldn't get over how well built for heritage birds at 4-5 months were. The young cockerels were dressing out at 6-8 lbs. I free range my birds, and feed organic starter to them. Then when I told him that I had kept the best ones for breeding, he couldn't believe I had better ones back home. He wants hatching eggs next spring.

I had kept only 2 DC hens that I got from Steve Sands, which I knew to be some hatchery stock and some not. The dark Cornish I'm getting from BigMedicines roo crossed with these well egg producing hens have been a pleasant surprise. I'm keeping several of the DC hens as well as a couple of the blue laced and white hens. I'll keep one roo, a blue laced splash. He's got nice body type. I still have the original stock and will cross the DC back to their father to see what is produced. Next year though. My freezer is full right now and I still have over a dozen heritage turkeys to process this fall and about a dozen late hatch meat birds.

I couldn't be happier with this grey start to a sustainable meat bird! Best money I've ever spent on hatching eggs!

I like my Araucanas, with their tufts, blue eggs and rumpless butts, but my meat birds produce nice big eggs and great organic free range meat! I Couldn't ask for more!

I hatched some chanteclers this summer too, and will in a year or two, try crossing some of the bigger Roos out to some of the meat hens.

Thanks, check is in the mail.

 

[kfacres]

Do you attribute your progress to breeding, or stock aquisition ?

considering I started out with 4 pullets and 3 cockerels-- and up until I bought the trio of whites from you-- I had not bought anything else.

Now, this year I added those eggs from you- but thus far everything is only half grown-- and physically I don't really see a difference.

I think the reason for seeing improvement is the cockerels I started out with were better than the pullets by a long shot- and last year I kept the best pullets and best cockerel of each color to breed with- and sold off all the original pullets, and two of the original cocks were not here either. As a result, everything that I bred with this year- was hatched out here last.

My most impressive black laced this year- were the result of breeding their sire back to his best daughters from last year.

That good dark- is a half brother/ sister mating around the original dark.

The blues- are sired by the best son of the blue- and have either dark, or black laced mothers. '

I have now pretty much sold off all the birds that I hatched out last year. I have one WLR (sired by the original dark) that is probably the best bodied bird I have. I have some darks to breed to this new dark, and that's it for older birds.


Most everything I hatch out of next year- will be birds that are only half grown right now..

Except the whites-- they're a whole different story... Not sure what the game plan is- those little guys are only 1/3 grown. We'll see how they develop.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Has anyone made any serious progress on their Red Laced White Cornish Crosses? I love the idea of the birds, they sound like they could really be the ideal meat bird to me... It sounds like they could have the fast and heavy muscle growth (maybe even better) of some of the slow-growing broilers (4lbs of meat in 12 weeks) while maintaining the strong foraging capabilities and a really beautiful color.

If I had the land for it I would start my own RLWCX project... But if anyone managed to make their birds the way they wanted I'd love to know.

 

[kfacres]

Has anyone made any serious progress on their Red Laced White Cornish Crosses? I love the idea of the birds, they sound like they could really be the ideal meat bird to me... It sounds like they could have the fast and heavy muscle growth (maybe even better) of some of the slow-growing broilers (4lbs of meat in 12 weeks) while maintaining the strong foraging capabilities and a really beautiful color.

If I had the land for it I would start my own RLWCX project... But if anyone managed to make their birds the way they wanted I'd love to know.

There is no such thing as a Red Laced White Cornish.. The official term is White Laced Red.

My original color was White Laced Red.on the female side. After getting into the breeding projects more in depth- I have found that the other colors either catch my eye more (Blue Laced Red), or simpily perform better (Black Laced Red). I just think the WLR color is so bland.

I expect that within 2 years, I'll only have blue laced reds, and whites remaining. Might have some good bodied females of the other colors-- but the intent will be to hope all offspring will hatch out one of two-- already mentioned colors. Eat the rest.

 

[big medicine]

Some of this years young. I was going to sort by color, but ended up running them together.
The black laced out of the older birds.



The black laced cock.

 

[big medicine]

Mixed group.