Some meaty questions about different breeds(cornish, brahmas)

[Chicken7777]

Hi, even though i am new to this forum, and i am new to raising chicks(I am going to buy a couple of chicks from IDEAL first time!!)
i have some questions regarding meat chickens. I am interested because i know sooner or later i will get the hang of raising chickens and will want to raise some meat types to taste. ( i actuallly am thinking of buying some cornish hens but will they survive for future breeding or keeping?)

I know that everyone speaks about the cornish, and the faults it has. Is this with all cornish crosses that come from all hatcheries?
1. Has anyone had any great luck raising cornish crosses without losing them early, or having them die before butcher time. or no health complications? if so what hatcheries provide the best cornishes, in your opinion?

2. Has anyone tasted brahma chicken meat? is the taste of it when ready to butcher as good as cornish, or is it rubbery because it is too old for meat?

3. Then which brahma chicken would be great for meat? Light brahma, Buff brahma(ideal), dark brahma? (this is also thinking of skin color, and plumage, qualities needed for chicken meat.)

4. Also in your opinions, what would be the best candidate if possible to experiment in crossing cornish crosses; with brahmas(which ones for best quality), or RI, etc.


5. if able to breed to get something better how would you? would it be Cornish cross rooster, or cornish cross hen(which is better to get great results, in getting good traits of both from brahmas, and cornish(or other ones you would suggest)?

I am not trying to breed "A" cornish crosses( i know its impossible because of years of debeloping the cornish, but if anyone is a biologist, or knows what traits/ qualities is passed from chicken, or rooster.

Thank you soo much, i appreciate it!

 

[dancingbear]

Try this thread.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=81918
There's a ton of info in it, pros and cons of all sides.

Brahmas and others are all fine to eat, but many, including Brahmas take a long time to mature, and will be tough, so they must be cooked in a crock pot, pressure canned or some other method of long, slow cooking. They taste great, I've eaten plenty of crock pot birds. For fryers and broilers you need birds that grow a bit faster.

That's about all for now, this topic has been addressed a LOT recently, read the threads about C'x's and about dual purpose birds. It's all there.

Here's a handy chart.
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

 

[HidingInTheHenHouse]

I have gotten Cornish Xs from Welp and from McMurray. I am not at all pleased with the ones I got from McMurray, they had a lot of leg problems early on. The ones I've gotten from Welp have never had any leg problems, but I have had a few heart attacks, not more than 10% though. When I order them again, I will order from Welp, not McMurray.

 

[lostsoulhelpmejebus]

I can just tell you I bought 5 straight run CornishX from Farm & Fleet; they came from Cackle Hatchery.

The CornishX and my Rhode Island Red pullets were raised together in the brooder. I did NOT, as all wisdom told me to, do anything different with them than the pullets ( like take out feed, they had food whenever and however much they wanted, etc ). They overtook the pullets after 1 week...big ugly things...lol. I will say mine did not really have any leg issues but they sure have a funny gait compared to the pullets. We, I mean I, dressed out the roosters at about 9 weeks and they averaged about 7.5 lbs. The 2 hens I waited till 12 weeks and that was way too long...they both weighed over 10 lbs and were a little toothsome. I would buy them again but I would butcher earlier. I love the game hens at the store but I don't know if I can off them that little...they are "babies"to me at 4 weeks.

Oh, and no heart attacks or keel over dead stuff here...all survived to meet their maker, so to speak.