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

[Cedarknob]

The most I have paid was $200 for a trio. I have paid $25 to $50 for several. But where most of my cost have been was in the travel cost.

I've seen alot of people say that the pure Cornish are really pricey... please define pricey

Pretty much the same as Pepper's quote, but should add I've purchased mostly very young stock that had not reached it's full potential, so there was the chance they might turn out to be crappers.

The most expensive have been the WCs, and frankly I consider the quality of my DCs much better than them. I've yet to be at a show here in the midwest where a WC won best Cornish, let alone gone any farther up, and have been to shows where the WCs had come from 2000 miles or more to compete, but they just did not have the size, width, and head type of the DCs. Yet the WCs were the ones that cost me more by far, and the most difficult to find for sale [and to be completely honest, I absolutely hate one of my white pullets, and if I get any chicks with her leg faults she.is going into an expensive pot of chicken and noodles, but she has better body width than one other]. The WLRCs were also fewer in numbers and lesser in quality than the best DCs, and the only Buff Cornish I've ever seen in person were very mediocre, and I have not asked prices on either. I've only once asked the price on a DC that won in tough company, and they would not price him to me. I've also driven pretty good distances to buy mine, or look at some that I decided were not to my liking. I'm not sure how good my eye is, though the shows have gone pretty close to the way I picked them, but it looks to me like some big named breeders are offerig to sell only their lower end Cornish.

I sold what I considered some of my better quality juvenile DCs at $75 per pair, kept some I considered showed as much promise, and never offered to sell some pullets with what I consider bad color but great bodies.

I should add that I met someone locally who turned out to have the last of the Cornish from the same woman I purchased my first pair from, but who I could no longer locate. He told me she had sold out and moved, and he had promised a cockerel to someone, but said he would split the rest down the middle at his cost, which was a bargain in my opinion. He said "I'll keep those two, now you pick a male and female." and we divided them that way. I would have gladly paid a little more and taken them all, and told him that. He just said he wanted to keep some, not to mention where I got them, and asked that I if I could, to pay the favor forward, so I did, and his name will not be mentioned.

 

[Totalcolour]

I hope some of the "experienced" ones come back. I learn so much from them. I guess I didn't notice any bickering, or if I did, it didn't stay in my mind very long. I tend to let go of stuff like that - I hate to fret!

Al, Big Medicine, Steve, Katie, all you "Yoder's", back to us come.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Quote:
$25-$50 for juvenile or adult birds is not "pricey". No matter what breed you are looking at. There are other breeds that will cost you a lot more than that. Quality birds cost more than hatchery birds. If you want good birds, you have to expect to pay a little more.

And $50, or even $100 for a decent quality bird? Once you have a pair you can start hatching eggs and build your flock fast. It's not worth $200 to you for a quality pair of birds to start a quality flock? You can buy day old chicks from the hatchery for a couple of dollars and you can breed them until that team of astronaut geese reaches the moon, and you'll never get anything but more hatchery quality birds.

If you want good birds, you must start with good breeding stock.

 

[chickened]

Very true. I paid 150.00 for a hen and hve some great birds from her. I have dabbled with hatchery birds and can say they are not what I wanted nor did did I have the time to build on them.

$25-$50 for juvenile or adult birds is not "pricey". No matter what breed you are looking at. There are other breeds that will cost you a lot more than that. Quality birds cost more than hatchery birds. If you want good birds, you have to expect to pay a little more.

And $50, or even $100 for a decent quality bird? Once you have a pair you can start hatching eggs and build your flock fast. It's not worth $200 to you for a quality pair of birds to start a quality flock? You can buy day old chicks from the hatchery for a couple of dollars and you can breed them until that team of astronaut geese reaches the moon, and you'll never get anything but more hatchery quality birds.

If you want good birds, you must start with good breeding stock.

 

[Cedarknob]

$25-$50 for juvenile or adult birds is not "pricey". No matter what breed you are looking at. There are other breeds that will cost you a lot more than that. Quality birds cost more than hatchery birds. If you want good birds, you have to expect to pay a little more.

And $50, or even $100 for a decent quality bird? Once you have a pair you can start hatching eggs and build your flock fast. It's not worth $200 to you for a quality pair of birds to start a quality flock? You can buy day old chicks from the hatchery for a couple of dollars and you can breed them until that team of astronaut geese reaches the moon, and you'll never get anything but more hatchery quality birds.

If you want good birds, you must start with good breeding stock.

I agree completely that show quality is difficult to produce, takes dedication, time, and money, and the price will reflect that. I would consider some of the prices mentioned fair, way too low for really good birds. On the other hand, this is the meat bird section, though with a thread verging on belonging in the genetics section. Most here have gotten their chickens any where from being a free rooster somebody preferred to re-home rather than cull, to hatchery priced chicks as low as 99 cent specials. The mention of $50 or more for a single cockerel that isn't even of breeding age doesn't just sound pricey, it sounds absolutely insane to most of the people here, and maybe it is for an old boy like me living on a fixed income. On the other hand, I'm serious about developing a very good utility flock with qualities not found in anything available from a hatchery, and no breed that I ever heard of.

The body type I seek is found on only two types of chickens; show quality Cornish, and the commercial meat bird which originated from show quality Cornish. I think everyone here knows of the problems associated with commercial meat birds as far as getting them to breeding age, actually breeding them, and then the same rapid growth health issues being passed on to a percentage of the offspring. Now they are getting acquainted with the breeding difficulties of true Cornish, expense involved and difficulty of finding show quality stock of any breed, and especially Cornish. Show quality Cornish were first bought up in great numbers [and they paid good money for that period] to develop the Cornish Cross, then made obsolete by them. I do not expect many [if any] of the few still having the real deal to make them available to me for cross breeding, do expect to pay a fair price for quality, and do expect to get ripped off by both those claiming to have them and willing to sell at discount prices and those unwilling to let me see what I am buying no matter the price. I suggest to those looking to buy quality stock of any breed to first learn what quality stock actually is before seeking it out, and not to rely on those selling it to point out the faults in their stock or what they are worth.

 

[Barnmaradotte]

Ok. I know some of you may have been in contact with me already, but i'll throw this out there for all again.
I was Originally looking for a dark cornish roo of quality. Not having much luck. Does anyone have a Quality Cornish roo of ANY color that would be willing to sell me? Thanks

 

[Cedarknob]

Some more pictures of my LF Cornish. I'll offer a dozen eggs, mixed but marked for variety, from them in the BST section soon. [They are not at their best appearance, live breeding ruins their feathers even worse than most breeds, and it has been in the 80s here with high humidity already, but they are getting 100% fertility so far.]

 

[Barnmaradotte]

Good looking birds Cedar Knob.
Just wanted to say, thanks to everyone that responded. I got helped out.

 

[Cedarknob]

Good looking birds Cedar Knob.
Just wanted to say, thanks to everyone that responded. I got helped out.

Thank you.
I hope you found a good one!

 

[Cedarknob]

One of my White Cornish laid her first egg just in time to go in my incubator three weeks ago tomorrow, and that tiny little pullet egg hatched today!