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

[kfacres]

Well G........ I think it has to do more with the trends and fads among the new kind of chicken owner. anytime you get a bunch of suburbanites keeping a few hen's in the childrens old playhouse out back, then your going to start to see a growth in crazy things. Heck 10 years ago you never heard or saw a chicken with a diaper or apron on, and pet chickens free ranging in the living room and sleeping on the couch, or rescue chicken facilities for otherwise culls. And the hatcheries catering to that crowd, it's just the way it is and should peter out in a few years when they become bored with it and the next new pet trend/fad emerges, history repeats itself.

mis-placed Urbanite is how i heard it once...

 

[Minniechickmama]

Thank you. The Ameraucana X CX cross is the beginning of developing a breed of winter hardy, dual purpose chickens that are more suited for meat production than Ameraucanas or Araucanas. This generation actually has no Cornish blood other than the distant ancestors of the CX.

My White Cornish cock evidently has two copies of recessive white and one copy of dominant white. He has produced all white chicks from my white pullets, but both white with black splotches and black chicks from my DC gals and the same from a test breeding to a partridge EE. [Only one of four from the EE have hatched alive, and it's a huge black chick with muffs. A white and two more blacks failed to pip, but the live one pipped and hatched from an egg after sitting out in the trash over night because it went 22 days without pipping.] All of my CX crosses also have one copy of dominant white but many are pure white, and some show only a little blue bleed. I have no idea why the Cornish's chicks are leaking black so heavy, but they should also carry a copy of recessive white, so future chicks from them may be pure recessive white, pure dominant white, paint, or colored.

If what you are looking for is a winter hardy, dual-purpose, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Get some Buckeyes. I have to admit, the Cornish was my favorite when I set out on this journey of chickendom, but after raising the Bucks for a couple of years, they have risen to the top of the list. They are truly a dual-purpose bird and quite hardy, in addition, they are wonderful to have around - not aggressive but assertive toward each other only. In fact, I have a friend who got a couple of real nasty Buckeye cockerels last year and I about flipped when she told me they are mean. I have never heard of a mean Buck. I advised she eat them and get some different ones from me.

 

[Cedarknob]

If what you are looking for is a winter hardy, dual-purpose, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Get some Buckeyes. I have to admit, the Cornish was my favorite when I set out on this journey of chickendom, but after raising the Bucks for a couple of years, they have risen to the top of the list. They are truly a dual-purpose bird and quite hardy, in addition, they are wonderful to have around - not aggressive but assertive toward each other only. In fact, I have a friend who got a couple of real nasty Buckeye cockerels last year and I about flipped when she told me they are mean. I have never heard of a mean Buck. I advised she eat them and get some different ones from me.

Buckeyes as well as many other breeds can make a great dual purpose flock, if they're bred to the breed standard. In my opinion, good Cornish are the ultimate meat bird, but were never intended to be a dual purpose breed.

I already have some nice Orpingtons that would fill the bill of a very good dual purpose and winter hardy flock if I wanted. [Though the cockerel's comb got frost bit last winter, and he is now re-homed with a friend that was looking for a large, meaty bird to cover his flock of mixed hens.] However, I'm wanting a larger, blue/green egg layer that can be processed at an early age [maybe 12 weeks for a small carcass with heavy meat suitable for cooking whole on the grill]. I would like to see them develop meat at the same rate they grow their frame; allowing me to process a good looking but smaller carcass very early, or letting them grow out to a larger yet still tender carcass when processed at a more conventional age. If I wanted, I could cull one of these April hatched CX crosses today and have a small but nicely shaped bird sitting on my table tonight. I have some slightly older purebred Ameraucana juveniles that are visually as large, but there is so little meat under their feathers that I they would look terrible dressed, and hardly worth the time and effort to process.

 

[galanie]

A meaty bird that lays a green egg - how cool is that? Like the idea.

 

[kfacres]

Buckeyes as well as many other breeds can make a great dual purpose flock, if they're bred to the breed standard. In my opinion, good Cornish are the ultimate meat bird, but were never intended to be a dual purpose breed.

I already have some nice Orpingtons that would fill the bill of a very good dual purpose and winter hardy flock if I wanted. [Though the cockerel's comb got frost bit last winter, and he is now re-homed with a friend that was looking for a large, meaty bird to cover his flock of mixed hens.] However, I'm wanting a larger, blue/green egg layer that can be processed at an early age [maybe 12 weeks for a small carcass with heavy meat suitable for cooking whole on the grill]. I would like to see them develop meat at the same rate they grow their frame; allowing me to process a good looking but smaller carcass very early, or letting them grow out to a larger yet still tender carcass when processed at a more conventional age. If I wanted, I could cull one of these April hatched CX crosses today and have a small but nicely shaped bird sitting on my table tonight. I have some slightly older purebred Ameraucana juveniles that are visually as large, but there is so little meat under their feathers that I they would look terrible dressed, and hardly worth the time and effort to process.

how's the temper of your Ameraucanas? My guy went into time out-- a couple of timeouts-- and he'll expire...

 

[Minniechickmama]

My Ameraucanas are flighty and so far, all the boys want to beat up all the other boys. I am not impressed with the from that perspective. However, I have a Black Ameraucana roo out here right now who is quite beefy for his breed.

I have dressed out Buckeyes at 5-6 months that are 3.5 pounds and quite a nice amount of meat for a pure. More breast at that age than other large breeds. Orps and such just take too long to put the white meat on. Cochins are the same way.

 

[Totalcolour]

I have a very nice (only got one pullet out of the hatch) Am/Marans X Dark Cornish that is looking really good right now. My Ams were all good natured and the cockerels too. I'm not sure about the temperament of the Marans, but the AM/Marans roo belonged to a friend and I didn't have a coloured egg layer at the time so I used his.

The pullet is barred with a softer feather than the Cornish mom. But she's also bigger than her hatchmates (black Javas and Black Copper Marans). I'll post pics as soon as I find the camera cable.

I too like a meaty bird that lays coloured eggs. And I really like my Dark Cornish, they are such calm girls (I only have two).

Right now though, we are having a huge Crow problem - they steal all the eggs before I can collect them. They take all the duck eggs too

 

[Cedarknob]

My Ameraucanas are flighty and so far, all the boys want to beat up all the other boys. I am not impressed with the from that perspective. However, I have a Black Ameraucana roo out here right now who is quite beefy for his breed.

I have dressed out Buckeyes at 5-6 months that are 3.5 pounds and quite a nice amount of meat for a pure. More breast at that age than other large breeds. Orps and such just take too long to put the white meat on. Cochins are the same way.

Most of my Ameraucanas are flighty, and the males pretty combative with other males. My Silvers are good sized for that variety, which usually runs small, but very flighty. My male Silver was very protective of his hens and their eggs; so much so that I carried a pole to keep him off me when gathering eggs. He was culled last week now that I have several cockerels to choose from for the fall breeding pens. I left the gate unlatched to the White Ameraucana's pen and got distracted too long in the house this afternoon. They pushed through the gate and the male got bloodied up pretty bad by fighting through the next pen with another Ameraucana, and a pullet was missing when I finally returned. I have plenty chicks to replace her, but really hate teaching predators that chickens are available here.

Here are a couple of siblings to the "paints" sired by the WC bred to DCs. They had black down, skin, shanks, and beaks when hatched. They are loosing the black pigment as they feather; but also showing some red in the feathers.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have asked around about the Ameraucanas and they all sound the same. I love having the blue eggs for selling, but this deal with all the males being so combative with the other males, not something I want to keep around. I may just have to keep one and when he isn't breeding, put him in a pen on his own. The hens I don't think would be as flighty if left to their own. I have one Black who came from a breeder last year that is quite chatty with me and is not flighty, but she was spoiled and held a lot when she was a wee chick and got used to people. The others are very standoffish at best. It seems that rubs off on any other chickens that are in the same pen as they are too. It gets really annoying when the brooder pen or grow out pen just spazzes when you walk by them.

 

[shadowmane]

I have 7 Americaunas/Easter Eggers. They are all pretty chatty with me. The Wyandottes I have boss them around. I don't have a rooster, though, so I can't speak to that. Mine were flighty as chicks, but now they follow me into the coop when I go to feed them. They don't like being held, though.