thought's on dark cornish

[COUNTRYBOI]

hello everyone I just got my start on dark cornish 26 chicks 6 males 20 hens and i was wondering what everyone had to say about them my first dark cornish never seen or raised till now thought they might be my main bird for meat ,egg, yard anyone know any thing about them all info would be greatly appreciated...

 

[COUNTRYBOI]

wow these birds must not be that popular at all ????

 

[COUNTRYBOI]

2 weeks still nothing might have found a dead end lol

 

[orientphoenix]

great birds. good foragers and nice meat

 

[A.T. Hagan]

They are pretty pretty birds, especially in the sun. They do grow out to a nice size... eventually. They are a compact chunky bird so they don't look heavier than say a Rhode Island Red, but their feathering is closer and tighter so many times they may weigh more. They can't fly well so keep their roosts and nest boxes a bit lower but they can hit both if at an average height. They were not bred as layers so their eggs tend to be medium sized and not as many of them as the dual-purpose and layer breeds.

They are slow growers so it's going to take them longer to reach full size and to begin laying. In terms of feed conversion efficiency you'd be better off to stick with the dual-purpose breeds though it may mean not getting quite so chunky a carcass.

I generally like them and would not be selling the ones I have now if the wife were not pressuring me about lowering the feed bill so that I need to reduce the flocks down our core groups.

 

[COUNTRYBOI]

thanx was wondering if anyone had them for a minute.... I read mixed reveiws on them different sites say different some say theyre tough mean good layers take care of them self and fly well. others say there calm gentle not good at careing for themselves and winters hard on them ... I really don't know what to beleive murray mcmurray's read out got me all excited so i ordered some but now I'm finding lots of mixed reveiws and don't know the truth so i posted here hopeing someone had hands on experience... i don't know weather to be excited now or disappointed ... then someone said on a site that their different birds out there that people are calling dark cornish that are not the same breed as the original I really hope what i have is what murray mcmurray descibed in their read out .. too many people class birds to what they think the customers want to hear so I'm confused .. but i know this if their not what murray said i was paying for I'll never order my birds again. I tell people what their getting weather it's what they wanna hear or not .. I could have gotten rich selling quail if i lied and told them they could turn my coturnix loose on their farm and they would be ok... lol this worlds full of people taking advantage for a dollar .....

 

[COUNTRYBOI]

 

[orientphoenix]

well in my experience my cornish tend to be the healthiest but they feather out slower than other breeds. they do well in the winter at least mine does anyways. you can get other color varieties of cornish too if you want more variety of colors but the same breed.

 

[chickened]

They are great birds, not the best layers. They are very stout and heavy, my cocks get about 10 to 12 pounds in about 7 months. They do eat alot. The hatchery birds do better than the show type overall but the show type are usually massive birds they look like body builders.

They are very people orientated birds and are easy to handle and acclimate to being handled.

 

[COUNTRYBOI]

that's cool but they are self sufficient right ? everything i read sound like they take care of them selves on free range .. the reason is I'm build a fenced in pen 80'x120' in woods next to my yard and anoother on the other side of my yard one side will have all my pet/egg layers mixed breeds + ducks with small pond hen house for gathering / selling country eggs .... the other dark cornish I wanna let them roam all year long hatch eggs in my incubator when their big come fall I'll kill of all but maybe two roosters and 6 hens gather eggs through wenting set them in incubator release chicks late spring and start over ... and extra eggs I'll eat / sell with other country eggs they'll have their own hen house .. off course I'll also have turkeys and my quail n pheasants sell babies eggs and other birds I don't need buy food with profit... have it planned well and set up well not sure if it really works like that but gonna try lolm