White Cornish: Building a Quality, Sustainable Flock for Meat and More.....

[Fat Daddy]

Some hatchery Cornish even have pearl eyes... go figure. Also pearl eyes can take a bit to develop, many folks have culled to soon for that sold stock off only to discover the birds latter matured into the SoP eye color for their breed (happens in the other pearl eye breeds).

THANK YOU! Im so glad you posted this..... I have no experience with hatchery birds, so that part I cant speak to. But the pearl eyes have made me question myself for years. I know what Iv been seeing, but not one soul I have asked has ever confirmed seeing it themselves. I say pearl eyes can change colors.... Not only can they develop pearl eyes from yellow or orange about their last molt. But they can also change from pearl to yellow or even orange and then back again.... My pen "A" rooster has changed from pearl to orange and back again....... Last year when I chose him for the breeding pens he was 6 months old and had perfect pearl eyes.... By early winter his eyes had changed to orange. By spring he was back to pearl eyes..... This is the second time its happened as well. The pen "C" rooster that turtled and died just before breeding season did it too.... Im wondering if its related to breeding season. I think hens do it too but I always have a few that dont have correct eyes so its harder to track in them. But the roosters im 100% sure have changed eye color several times.....

 

[GreatBreeder]

Where did you acquire your original breeding stock Fat Daddy?

 

[GreatBreeder]

I'm hoping to get some cornish sometime, maybe next year, but anyone know a sure place to get some good quality cornish? Yes I would love to breed them, no specifics cause I'm not that good yet, but just for the fun and then I don't have to ask my parents for some each year.

Some people here on BYC keep them and sell them, and poultryshowcentral.com is a reliable source for show quality birds of many breeds. (Sold from individual breeders, not a hatchery like cackle or Mcmurray)

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Yes there seems to be something not well understood in the West about Pearl Eyes... I learned about the eye shift from the Shamo folks. I am not sure why but they do this too. I am thinking about asking a guy in the UK who specializes in Indian birds about it too... he specializes in Asils and traditional Indian/Pakistani practices and I am wondering if diet and hormones of the birds influences the eyes... when they are pearl eyed. This video shows a quality Asil... what I have been able to sus out of poultry related videos from other countries is some breeds appear to be on special diets as best I can tell watching their how toos and not understanding the language. I am also wondering if the gene is one that works sort of like the gene for hip displacia in dogs, in that with breeding it can get gradually stronger or weaker not really recessive or dominant or if multiple genes create the eye color, sort of like the brown egg genes being so many and complicated too. Anyhow this bird has a beautiful eye.

 

[GreatBreeder]

Fat Daddy you should get a batch of Cornish Rocks and raise them with White Cornish hatchmates and compare the carcass size once they both reach the slaughter age of White Cornish.

 

[Fat Daddy]

I have had cornish, Dark, White and WLR, from several breeders. My first were originally from eggs breed by Al Semineraio, a friend from Oklahoma. He bred all three. At one time he had awesome stock but no longer raises birds. Dogs followed by a tornado a few weeks later wiped his birds out. My present whites are mostly from Paul Albertson in Oregon. Pens "A" and "B" are his hens. I hear he no longer raises white cornish either. These were adult birds and the best I ever found for sale. The remainder, Pen "C" hens came from eggs I bought on Ebay from Edwin Smith, also from Oregon. I have also bought outrageously priced eggs from PA off Ebay too.... I resist the urge to do the math and calculate the total original cost of my present flock. It would be a truly obscene number. If I dont actually do the math, when I tell my lovely bride, "I dont really know", Im not lie'n!! I love the breed so its been worth every penny.....

 

[GreatBreeder]

Cool! I was thinking I might buy Cornish from your source, but I can get them from poultry show central.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Yes there seems to be something not well understood in the West about Pearl Eyes... I learned about the eye shift from the Shamo folks. I am not sure why but they do this too. I am thinking about asking a guy in the UK who specializes in Indian birds about it too... he specializes in Asils and traditional Indian/Pakistani practices and I am wondering if diet and hormones of the birds influences the eyes... when they are pearl eyed. This video shows a quality Asil... what I have been able to sus out of poultry related videos from other countries is some breeds appear to be on special diets as best I can tell watching their how toos and not understanding the language. I am also wondering if the gene is one that works sort of like the gene for hip displacia in dogs, in that with breeding it can get gradually stronger or weaker not really recessive or dominant or if multiple genes create the eye color, sort of like the brown egg genes being so many and complicated too. Anyhow this bird has a beautiful eye.

That is a awesome rooster in the video. Id be afraid to guess his age by those spurs, but id start at 5 years minimum. You are also right about this not being understood. This is something that is not the topic of conversations among breeders. I have asked several very experienced folks and to date, you are the only one that has confirmed observations similar to mine. But To tell you true, I have never researched or discussed shamo or asil to any extent.... I feel my pearl eyes are slowly waning. Its among my goals this year as I select for the next breeding stock. I thank you for your input.... Bill

 

[Fat Daddy]

Cool! I was thinking I might buy Cornish from your source, but I can get them from poultry show central.

I truly hope you can!

 

[GreatBreeder]

http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/Cornish.html