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

[Minniechickmama]

First, is this what you all are referring to as Jubilee? If so, I have 3 pullets with this type coloring:

These are some of the cockerels I have in the batch. I know, they aren't typey, they are hatchery from MM, but I thought I would check them out at my brother's urging. But, they are shaping up a lot better than I thought they would.

 

[SteveH]

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I'm not sure on the first picture, but that appears to be multilaced. I've often suspected that hatchery Cornish are the result of useing crossbreds of egg layers to boost egg laying and fertility................... and lost type in the process.................... often even the hard feathers of Cornish. I processed some hatchery sourced WLRC and same age EE cockerals together; there was very little difference in size and shape of the carcasses.

 

[big medicine]

They also look to me to be somewhere beyond double laced, verging on a pencilled, or partridge type lacing. Although I would expect to see mostly white breasted males if of the same pattern. This might likely be a tweener also, not really one clean lacing pattern, but maybe somewhere between double laced, and pencilled.

 

[Minniechickmama]

That is what I was thinking, I figured it was just a blunder in breeding and was going to cull them. I have a couple of nicely marked pullets and the roos are all about the same as for coloring. They aren't horrible, but they aren't great either. I just moved them to this pen last night and I am always so amazed at the weight and the density of their bodies. Even the pullets were meaty as all get out!

But yes, the coloring is just like an EE I hatched out of some DC hens and an EE roo, and one has this same type of lacing, except with the coloring of a DC.

I hatched some DC eggs from SandS this spring, and so far, they are about the same quality. So, Big Medicine, I think I may need to get some eggs from you!

All the Cockerels of this batch have the normal WLRed coloring, not like the girls. I had a couple of very white girls too. You know, at first, I thought that maybe MM is crossing in some DC just to get some change of blood, but it would have thrown off the color altogether, I would think, if they had.

 

[SteveH]

I too found my hatchery sourced WLRC pullets to be more dense and weighed more than they looked to weigh. The four pullets steadily produced three eggs per day unless upset by handling, and did so right up to their deaths by the buffalo gnats...................... and I doubt that the owners of quality Cornish are gathering that many.

The cockerals did not even look like Cornish; standing upright on much longer, more narrow shanks. I didn't give a hoot whether they had good color or not [and several never]; they're sole value to me was as a cross on my CX to prduce a larger, faster growing, Cornish bodied bird to keep for crossing with my Ameraucanas. I kept the most meaty cockeral, that later prooved to be more interested in aggression mounting than breeding. He looked more like a true game cock than a Cornish. You have to look through the two fences, but you can see here that he had a fairly wide, muscular chest, but sure didn't resemble a true Cornish. [The cross might have worked well; if only he had done his job.]

The pullets were finally made fertile by my quality DCs. On average, the chicks I hatched are now wider bodied and heavier shanked than their hatchery sourced parents were at that age; we'll see how they grow out.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I might keep a trio of the best, then again, maybe not. I was sitting and observing my WLC pen and even the ones with the good lacing in front and on their backs have that double pencilling in their tails.
I know, start with type, then work on color. So, the jury is still out. I have plenty of boys to put in my freezer either way, I think 7 or 8 in that pen.

 

[MobyQuail]

8 Bantam Cornish and 3 Bantam RIR Chicks we hatched after purchasing the adult birds on CL. They had been setting for 10-14 days so we took the eggs with us not knowing what would happen, they all hatched!

 

[SteveH]

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Congrats................................ please show us some pics of the bantam Cornish as they grow. [They're very silvery white in the picture.]

 

[MobyQuail]

better pics.

 

[SteveH]

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Perhaps not as silvery white as I thought.