Standard Cornish vs. Cornish-X

[SteveH]

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Thanks Katy , I started a another thread and if you can help answer any of the questions I would appreciate the help . By the way , the pic is a pretty good answer to one of my questions .

 

[Brunty_Farms]

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Nice birds! Those things are huge. Are you setting any of the eggs?

 

[paduanchook]

I'm curios. How do u raise birds on a freerange diet in a backyard setting?
Give me some pointers please, I'm doing it all wrong!

Oh yeah guys, I'm just enjoying the banter, I'm don't take myself that serious.
Although I'm not fond of Cornish x to raise, they still taste good to me too, lol

 

[Brunty_Farms]

What do you mean? Just let them do their thing.... however it may be tough if you have critters that like to eat chickens too.

Ya, they are pretty tasty!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

lol well let me qualify the pic.
and let me also say I absolutely do NOT recommend trying to keep this cross breed to this age, they look healthy in the pic, but they are about as healthy as a 400 lb person.
I did not raise them to that size, I have only had them the last three months.
One of my husbands customers asked if they could bring their birds over to me because they didn't think they would survive the winter predators at their place. I just about fell over when they brought them over! Turns out they knew nothing about chickens; bought them at the local hatchery in Feb last year, fed them regular chick starter for the first 4 weeks then turned them out to free range with no supplemental feed.
I thought the one with the big comb was a rooster at first. She crows, fights with the other roos and doesn't lay eggs . . . well I didn't think she laid eggs - turns out she does every couple of days, a huge double yolker, and then if I am not standing right there to grab it she eats every speck of it.
I didn't know if they would be able to breed naturally and I can't tell with the one; but the other is laying about 5 jumbo eggs a week and I now have 8 chicks out of her! It was a struggle finding a tall enough roo that wasn't heavy enough to cause problems with their already stressed hips.
I don't want to highjack this thread with my project story though. I just wanted to show that under the right circumstances it could be done, but also that I still question the ethics of keeping something alive past certain point of quality of life . . . but then I question humans doing that too. I don't know I guess it's everybodies personal choice they are farm animals and it can be done.
This is a pic of my yard that they free range in everyday, just basic grass and our only real predators are hawks and bald eagles and even the eagles aren't going to carry off one of these two! By the way the can not fly did you see those little stubby pretend wings?

 

[jaku]

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That's my only point as well. I don't care what anyone raises- I see it as a trade off between meat quantity and the ability to reproduce your flock easily. However, the things that are said about the Cornish X's are simply not true- and I just can't let that slide when it's said by people who've never raised them, or just raised them once then gave up. My losses were higher with these birds when I first started raising them- not by much, but anything takes practice. As I've said, it's only because other breeds basically survive on there own to Cornish X's get the reputation of being hard to raise. I've never had a fat or lazy Cornish X. They are incredibly energetic. They are far from teetering on the brink of death at any moment. I do nothing special for my birds, and my losses prior to butchering are around 5% on the high end, which includes both natural deaths and culls. I'd be shocked if anyone raising any other breed does much better- the point not being that they don't occasionally die, rather that you don't have to keep a special diet and a chicken difibrillator handy just to raise them. Again, raise what you want- there certainly are reasons to raise other breeds, but repeating rumors as if they were facts just spreads inaccuracy.

 

[Michele S]

So when are they supposed to start dying? I am a suburban housewife, living in Las Vegas. I ordered 25 of them from McMurray's 3 weeks ago and every last one them is still alive. I have absolutely NO IDEA what I'm doing and I've yet to kill one of them. I tried to let mine out of the shed because we've been in the high 60s, and they just laid against the wall and didn't do anything. I live in the middle of the most arid desert in the US, so it's not like there is anything for them to forage, but they really don't seem interested in walking around much. Coming from someone that knows absolutely nothing about chickens, I would definitely describe them as lazy. Are they hard? I haven't killed them yet, so they aren't that hard. Unless you guys tell me they will start keeling over any day now. They seem very healthy. And believe you me, I haven't the slightest clue what I am doing. If I can raise them, I'm sure anyone could.

 

[Mugen]

Couple years ago, I had two colored Cobb (commercial breed) hens and raised them for 1 another year before I killed and ate them. They gave me plenty of eggs. They walked funny like a fat lady. So, Cornish X, Ross or Cobb can live long if raised properly.

 

[paduanchook]

It depends on the very liberal use of normal. Some of the birds I have came from stock where a few of the hens are over 10 years old. Cornish x can make it for awhile, but for most the quality of life can be lacking, especially if not given the right conditions. In most cases, IMHO, it is inhumane to let these birds live so long when they are not genetically made for it. They are man manipulated to the highest extent, so if you want birds that last awhile, why buy Cornish x?
For me, they don't hold a candle to the strength, vigor, disease resistance, intelligence, self suffiiency, of my other birds. They don't have good survival instincts. But if you want meat fast, they are great for that purpose. My birds raise their own young, forage for most of their own food and avoid predators well, with minimal intervention.
So my cost is low, time investment is minimal, my losses are minimal, enjoyment for me and fam is high, and they self reproduce. The eggs and meat are delicious! For me, this works. Cornish x doesn't fit in, but for others the Cornish x fits their needs, so enjoy! There is room and need for both

 

[NYREDS]

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To tell the truth, neither do I. Guess it's like football. Question the qualities of someone's favorite team and they can get kinda excited about it.

Ummm...actually I was referring mostly to you?