what crossbreed to hatch our own "meatbirds"?

[dfvellone]

We've been getting our cornish roasters from mcmurray for a couple years now, but want to try breeding our own meatbirds. Are there optimal crosses to get a meatier and quicker growing hybid?

 

[Sillystunt]

not sure, but i hear buff orph's are good, plymouth rocks, RIR's and wyandotte's. Just take longer and not as big but i hear they are good!

 

[cassie]

You aren't going to come close to being able to duplicate the meat birds you can purchase. But it might be fun to try.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
meatier and quicker growing hybrids? if you are talking about CornishX, then let me tell NOTHING can Beat this guys at what they do, NOTHING(including all colors rangers)...but if you want to create your OWN meat breed for your OWN family and friends...then there is alot of room and options to go about it, I will list 3 of them....

first: stay with CornishX hybrids, buy a batch of 25 or more, after 3 weeks carefully select the heaviest roosters and hens(about 4 of each) put them in a different place and start feed restricting them, feed them about 8 hours a day with layer feed or game cock feed(18% protein)...after 6 months they will start breeding.......SO EASY and to the point...but wait some people will say, hey that can´t work..! so many people say it cant but it will, WHY? go to Hubbard breeders page and you will find their parent broilers stats, there you will see that they feed restrict both the SIRE and the DAME line of parents, WHY? well because if they don´t the chicks will eat too much, grow too fast, and die to young..(just like the broilers you get..

) the fact they do that tells you and me both parents carry the genetics of fast growth and meat, its not hybrid vigor, its genetics. and the end product broilers have them too...

Second: Stay with a CornishX hybrid rooster, the same feed restriction rules apply here....and use a Fast growing good layer hen, my choise is Delawares, why? they used to the the broilers of yesterday, they grow fast and now they lay well...

third: use Dark Cornish(Indian Game) rooster(lots of breast meat) on a fast growing good layer hen..(Delawares)

will you end with Comertial performance broilers? the first option will get you close but not a whole lot? why, well this guys keep 2 lines of breeding blood, the SIRE line(and its parents) and the DAME line(and its parents) both perform almost the same, both grow fast both put alot of meat fast very fast and both can die of over feeding, but the SIRE edges the Dame on Meat and carcase weight and the DAME line edges the Sire on egg lay production and overall feeding costs, the margins are small but in such a big industry that difference can make or brake business, but for a family breeding progect its ok, its not like you will save 2 Kilograms of feed for every 1000 hens right?


http://www.hubbardbreeders.com/managementguides/index.php?id=14
here is the PDF file from hubbard; check it out, this birds are impresive, they feed restrict them and yet grow so fast and pack alot of meat..

its not like your this guy...check out the guy that created the Rainbow rangers broilers type
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5735048/Rainbow-Cornish-may-be-back.html

here a quote from him
"Because the parent stock was twice as expensive as conventional Cornish cross parent, laid far fewer eggs and had some significant mortality problems, the chicks were more expensive to produce and I charged slightly more than for Cornish cross"

as long as you stay a small business you will be ok, if you want to go big, just buy from the big guys, you´ll save alot more...good luck my friend..