Secrets of the broiler cross

[bigz1983]

Why do the big commercial hatcheries keep the formula to make a cornish-rock hybrid a secret?

Are they worried backyard chickens breeders will put them out of business if we find out? I don't we would...

How hard would it be to actually find out the formula? Get to know a hatchery employee? Or are they sworn to secrecy or something? Lol

 

[R2elk]

Why do the big commercial hatcheries keep the formula to make a cornish-rock hybrid a secret?

Are they worried backyard chickens breeders will put them out of business if we find out? I don't we would...

How hard would it be to actually find out the formula? Get to know a hatchery employee? Or are they sworn to secrecy or something? Lol

They are trade secrets just like any business has to keep the information and the profitability of it to themselves. They are not just keeping it from the public, they are also keeping this information from their competitors.

I am sure the hatchery employees that are involved have to sign NDAs (non disclosure agreements).

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is not a formula like cross a Dark Cornish to a White Rock. It is geneticists analyzing the offspring of many controlled crosses over several generations, looking for the genetics that gives them the traits they want. It's not like you could steal a piece of paper or hack a computer and be breeding your own in a year or two. You would need to steal the eggs from the breeder flocks or the actual breeding birds that make up the breeding flocks. You probably could get some of the knowledge on how to feed and otherwise manage them to get them to grow as they do once you have the breeding flock. But then you would need the expertise to select which offspring would go back into your breeding flocks. It is not a one time thing, it's selecting the right ones every generation.

As R2elk said they don't want to help out their competitors though there is probably less secrecy than you'd expect. The real secret is the birds that have been developed in the breeding flocks. You can develop your own. Just hire experts in chicken genetics, chicken reproduction, chicken feeding, and many other aspects of chickens to develop the best management methods to produce these broilers. After several years and many millions of dollars you could be breeding your own. You might even get pretty close to as efficient as commercial companies.

 

[Mosey2003]

They spent a LOT of money to get their strains and breeders, they're not letting them 'out there' for a competitor to copy without spending the time, money, and effort.

 

[Compost King]

There are 2 different lines (at least) if Cornish X, or that is what I read on a thread where someone grew 2 different flocks of these lines to compare the 2. If I was trying to create or recreate CX I would get a male from one line and a female from the other and see if you can get some vigor from crossing the 2 lines. Its not on my to do list but maybe one day. I have my own meat projects going on now.

 

[bigz1983]

I would like to buy a couple purebred cornish chicks and raise them for meat to compare the flavor and carcass to the cornish-rock hybrid.
I know the purebred cornish grow slower than the cornish-rock hybrid.

 

[Compost King]

I would like to buy a couple purebred cornish chicks and raise them for meat to compare the flavor and carcass to the cornish-rock hybrid.
I know the purebred cornish grow slower than the cornish-rock hybrid.

I would do the same if I knew a breeder close to me. I learned not to trust hatchery breeding stock when it comes to getting a meat sized heritage breeds. I have some tiny flighty Delawares that lay nice eggs that I received from Ideal Poultry.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I would do the same if I knew a breeder close to me. I learned not to trust hatchery breeding stock when it comes to getting a meat sized heritage breeds. I have some tiny flighty Delawares that lay nice eggs that I received from Ideal Poultry.

Yeah, that's something many people don't understand about hatcheries. Their business model is to mass produce chickens that look like certain breeds at affordable prices. Their breeding methods (random mating between large numbers of males and females) do not produce the show-quality birds in size or appearance even if the person selecting which chickens get to breed tries to follow the SOP. If a breeder is breeding for show or something special they carefully select one male to breed with one or two specific females that they think will give them the best offspring. The SOP requires a certain size, typically larger than the "normal" size the chickens would grow to. Breeders also tend to feed a specialized diet so they grow to that larger size. If you can find a breeder that knows what they are doing and is breeding for larger size you will get chickens that have the genetics to grow to a larger size but they will not be at hatchery prices.

Something I've noticed with hatchery cockerels, they vary a lot in how early they mature and final size. I've butchered hatchery cockerels from the same batch at the same time, around 5 months, and while I did not weigh them it was obvious I got about twice as much meat from some than others. A good breeder breeding for show will reject 80% or more of the chicks they hatch as not meeting SOP but most of that is not size.

@bigz1983 if you do get true Cornish you might want to get more than a couple to give yourself a better chance of getting a good one for comparison purposes of what they can be.

 

[Compost King]

As much as I like to knock hatcheries on some really crappy birds especially as the breeds I purchase become more rare... they do produce great commercial type layers, all my Sex Links and White Leghorns etc from Hatcheries laid really well and thrived. All the Meat hybrids I received from hatcheries were very meaty too, I can't say if they were the best meat birds for that particular hybrid because I wasn't doing a feed conversion comparison but I have no complaints about them.

 

[Molpet]

There are 2 different lines (at least) if Cornish X, or that is what I read on a thread where someone grew 2 different flocks of these lines to compare the 2. If I was trying to create or recreate CX I would get a male from one line and a female from the other and see if you can get some vigor from crossing the 2 lines. Its not on my to do list but maybe one day. I have my own meat projects going on now.

Cobb is one of the producers. They have grandparent and parent lines.. all a secret as to what breeds, but they sell them...just have to buy a 1000 I think LOL
Here is a bunch of their info https://www.cobb-vantress.com/academy/management-guides