Standard Cornish vs. Cornish-X

[Buster52]

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I have found mine to be satisfactory in that regard. Depends on what your expectations and goals are, I guess.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Depends too on where your stock comes from. The Dark Cornish I had looked nothing like the picture in this thread about three post back. The body frame on that bird is great... Mine were nothing more than any other DP breed. I guess to have good DP breeds you have to get good stock that fit the original intentions of the breeder that bred them.

 

[spangledcornish]

I would agree on the breeding stock thing. When looking at a birds, where ever you get them form, you always have to ask what is the purpose of the stock?. let me demonstrate since standard cornish are a very good example of this. if you buy from a hatchery stock they are very concerned about egg production and selling chicks, a breeder will be concerned about producing a bird that will win in the show ring. In cornish these two ideals can be at time antagonistic. We as a breeder give up some reproductive qualites to keep with a nice heart shaped body almost flat back and good size, muscle and bone. The hatcheries tends to give on type and shape to increase egg production and hatchability. Granted there is a happy medium to the extrams but there is a very consideralbe differnce in hatchery and show type bird for this very reason. Some hatcheries are better at kepping teh caracterics just as some breeders are, so you do end up with lots of breed variability among both.


here is a picture of one of our breeding trios to highlight some of the differnce

 

[Bossroo]

I had a line of RIRs from my parents' flock going back 70+ years. Every 2-3 years I would buy a couple dozen RIR chicks, grew them out, and kept the best rooster to cross on the old hen flock for new blood. They were what I thaught were great untill I got a couple dozen Cornish X chicks from my feed store about 3 years ago. Then I found out how wrong I was... about twice the meat yield for half my labor and no carryover of any breeding stock saving me huge feed bills, freed up my facilities and gave me free time to spend with my family. Who was I kidding? So off 'mit the RIR heads.

 

[Buster52]

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Well, as I said, it depends on your goals. Some folks on this board actually like chickens and don't see raising them as tedious and boring.

 

[Bossroo]

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Well, as I said, it depends on your goals. Some folks on this board actually like chickens and don't see raising them as tedious and boring.

I was involved with and raised chickens all of my life and had great enjoyable times doing so with my parents as well as my own family. Never boring. With passage of time, life goes on. One either evolves or withers by the way side. I choose to evolve . With much better genetics of the Cornish X for rate of gain and the resulting feed eficiency allows me to produce much better meat yields in half the time saving me $$$ and huge amounts of TIME to spend with my wife, 3 kids and their spouses, 3 grandkids and within 6 weeks 2 more in 2 different States. Last Saturday in another State, my son, and 3 year old grandson spent the afternoon pruning "his" trees and roses. The laughter and joy seen in the 3 year old's eyes while doing everything he could to help grandpa and dad ... PRICELESS !!! Having the time to be able to pass on knowledge, respect for life, and morals to the next generation... also PROCELESS !!!

 

[Buster52]

All fine and dandy, Bossroo, but every time the subject comes up you talk about how much you love only raising chickens a few weeks out of the year and then you're done. That's okay if that is what you want, but others don't have the same attitude about having various breeds of chickens for whatever purpose. I don't mind keeping breeding stock year round, hatching their eggs, and raising the chicks for the table. I don't consider it a burden in the least. It's part of the fun.

It all comes down to what we want out of the deal.

 

[Bossroo]

What is so wrong with me enjoying my grandkids with the free time that I get by not having to muck out poop or tend after chickens daily year round after a lifetime of doing so ? Bene there done that ! I don't consider raising chickens a burdon , only a job well done when I only need to buy some chicks, care for, slaughter, then send my chickens to freezer camp, and all done in 6-8 weeks at a time 3 times a year. Then my family and I can enjoy the fruits of my labors. With time comes change and that is inevitable, a very simple fact of life. So I changed as I discovered a better way for me. I share my discoveries with others if they will listen to my life's experiences in the sckool of hard knocks. It may or may not work for some, so be it. However this simple and easy system works great for me as well as quite a few others who whant measureable results. That is what I want, and I will stick to it.

 

[Firemenlovechicks]

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Good for you, Boss! People tend to forget that we are all individuals, each with our own INDIVIDUAL preferences! I don't see anything wrong with your system...... it works for YOU!



Buster, same goes for you..... You have a system that work for YOUR time and YOUR schedule. GOOD FOR YOU!


No need for anyone to criticize....... mama always taught me if you can't say something nice, bite your toungue.

 

[Buster52]

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Absolutely nothing, Boss. Absolutely nothing.

I'm just suggesting that breeding and raising meat chickens from eggs is a fine choice and not the tedious chore you generally make it out to be. You often talk about it like it is some sort of disadvantage of a heritage breed versus the Cornish X. It isn't unless you don't really like working with chickens. Lots of folks on here keep their chickens year round. For us, a bird like the standard Cornish or Buckeye or Delaware is an excellent choice.