Thinking about keeping a female Cornish X for breeding... Opinions?

[Cowgirl71]

I just looked in the pen of our forty-one 52-day-old Cornish X males from Welp Hatchery. They're all supposed to be males, but one of them I'm sure is a female (her comb is very small and pink). I'm thinking about keeping her, and breeding her to my large NHR rooster to create a "slow broiler." Or is it wishful thinking to expect her to live that long and to do well in a mixed flock? Or is it not worth all that feed she's gonna eat between now and then... Opinions please!

 

[SteveH]

Several of us have used or are useing them to breed . I fed my full feed for the first 4 weeks , then limited feed thereafter . They're currently approaching 6 months and have been laying for a few weeks , in fact are laying at an earlier age than any of my other breeds . I also have 3 CX cockerals that are breeding but not sure yet on fertility percentages .
Is it worth it ? To me it is because there is no other chicken in existance with comparable genetics for size , early meat development , and huge breasts available to add to my project . Personally if I were only wanting to produce some for the freezer I would not even consider messing with useing CX to make my own crosses ; but to add their genetic traits to create my own dual purpose line I consider them well worth it . However , I still don't know if this will be a successful endeaver .

 

[PineappleMama]

One catalog I've got says that they use White Rocks for the female line of their Broilers... of course, doesn't say exactly what roos are... that'd be too easy... but something I'm keeping in mind.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

like steve says,it depends on what you call worth it. Many of us have found it so. IF you into genetics, creating your own breeds and experimenting go for it! You will find a lot of previous expereince, trials and errors doing just the same thing on back posts in this thread so be sure to spend some serious reading time!

 

[PineappleMama]

Found the catalog, it was Strombergs. Don't know if their meaties are awesome or not, maybe hunt around BYC and someone's tried them before... but at least you know one side of the equation.

 

[Cowgirl71]

Thanks for all the replies!