What does Dark Cornish mean?

[DTchickens]

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cornish X are.. cornish crosses, usually cornish - plymouth rock, which is where the resemblance comes from

 

[MissPrissy]

The meat industry uses white cornish.

You won't find a white cornish if you look high or low. It is like they are under lock and key and all but disappeared from the general chicken population.

 

[sandspoultry]

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The Cornish cross was developed from the Cornish chicken

Steve in NC

 

[sandspoultry]

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They are rare, every once in a great while we get a white "sport" but the seem to have a death wish, they never make it.

Steve in NC

 

[greyfields]

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"Dark" is the variety. Cornish is the breed.

Just like a Barred Rock is the barred variety of the Plymouth Rock breed.

The Dark Cornish do not resemble the Cornish X that much, except in the fact many broilers have the peacombs. Originally, way back in the day, they used the Cornish sire as it's very erect posture lengthened and widened the breast on the offspring. If you look at really good Cornish, their legs appear to be miles apart compared with other breeds. They then put these on Rocks who put on thick breasts and you had a best of both worlds solution.

Now, fast forward 50 years and we can do this cross ourselves. However, the industry has far eclipsed our ability to do hybrids in our backyard. The "Cornish" and "Rock" in a "Cornish Cross" resemble neither breed in the pure form.

 

[greyfields]

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I have looked my whole life for a White Cornish for this reason. But, the funny thing is, I have all kinds of customers who buy from me because I raise the Colored Range Broilers (Freedom Rangers) simply because they are colored (we've done golden, bronze, yellow, gray and black). It's usually older people who tell me their mothers always said birds with dark plumage tasted better. Who knew? And who cares! They're good customers.

Here is a nice example:

http://www.hubbardbreeders.com/products.php?id=5

Click on the Redbro section at the bottom, then look at the different sires used to create each color. Tell me which is the "Cornish" and which is the "Rock"?

 

[greyfields]

If I haven't mentioned it, when we downsized our flock I kept all my Cornish. They are my favorite breed simply based on looks. I really want to work on them to upsize my roosters and get a larger terminal sire. My current one simply isn't a massive bird and he has a tail like a Leghorn. Over a few generations I can hopefully improve on him.

Mine hens are also the only birds I have which consistently go broody. I probably had 5 or 6 clutches of eggs randomly hatched by them in my barn. Looking at the offspring, I don't think any of them were actually Dark Cornish crosses either. They are fiercely protective of the babies and are great parents, showing the offspring where the food is and never letting them out of "cluck" range.

With that said, they don't lay very large eggs. But, the breed has a lot of potential. They look like falcons crossed with dinosaurs.

 

[redhen]

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[redhen]

Thanks for all the answers guys!...i guess it WAS a pretty dumb question..

...i just couldnt figure out why everyone was calling them Dark...LOL..

...so, thanks for helping out someone slooooow like me!..

...Peace, Wendy

 

[sandspoultry]

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Do you have any pics of yours?


Steve in NC