What makes a Cornish???

[SilverStar]

I was just wondering what 2 breed Crossed makes a Cornish?? Thanks!

 

[Katy]

Cornish is a breed itself.....do you mean a cornish cross meat bird?

 

[SilverStar]

Yes lol sorry

 

[GraceAK]

That's a White Plymouth Rock Hen, crossed with a White Cornish Rooster. It's a pretty clever arrangement, because Cornish are meaty as are Rocks, but Rocks lay way more eggs than Cornish. Yah.

 

[SilverStar]

Ok Thanks!

 

[SteveH]

The original Cornish Rocks were the direct cross from specific strains of Cornish and Plymouth Rocks . The modern meat bird loosly called Cornish X are bred from male and female lines that are already crossed themselves and pretty much resemble the terminal chickens used for meat production . The parent lines of these Cornish X are owned by the corporations and not available to the public ; you would have to register as a grower and make a huge investment if you wanted to obtain some .

 

[jaku]

It should be noted that if you simply cross the two breeds, you WON'T get a meat bird. The "recipe" is a closely guarded secret, and took a lot of selective breeding to perfect.

 

[Bossroo]

Good luck in crossing a Cornish and a white Plymouth Rock and hope to get a Cornish X... it took a half century , an army of scientists, and a few million $$$ to get to the uniform end point of what you see at the grocery store.

 

[redbarnmeadows]

Actually, breeding your own meat bird is doable. I breed them small-scale for local chick sales. It's simple and difficult at the same time. The simple part is that I just use Cornish/Rock roosters and White Rock hens. The tricky part is the management of the breeders. Their feed has to be carefully controlled, and the hens MUST have saddles (I use a special kind of duct tape). The resulting chicks are technically Cornish/Rock/Rock, so the Cornish is just a little more diluted. They grow just a little bit slower than typical hatchery broilers, but it's not really a big noticeable difference - maybe an extra week to butchering weight. Personally, I believe they are a bit healthier though. I don't seem to get as many leg or heart problems with them.

For my breeding stock, I use Hoffman Hatchery, but I would assume you can use any hatchery broilers that are relatively healthy, and any large White Rocks.