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

[Rock Home Isle]

Thank you...."can't have the meat birds" That's rough! ;-) When most folks hear "cornish", the commercial cornish cross is what comes to mind... In reality they are miles apart... The commercial meat bird gets its build from the cornish. But it ends there.... LF cornish, dark or white, forage well, get along well, and are very mobile, friendly birds... They are a great personality on the farm... I have raised commercial cornish cross as my meat birds in years gone by.... I find no joy in them. IMHO, They are purely a economical source of meat..... I understand money is a factor for folks, understand a lot of folks are restricted to home association agreements and have to keep the people next door happy. But for me, LF cornish are my bird of choice. I have one pen that will turn 10 weeks old soon. I plan to weigh and process a dozen or so this weekend if everything works out. They should be a large "cornish game hen" size bird at this point. They have exactly the same proportions they have as older birds, just smaller. I love to fill the grill with this size bird and invite friends over. Everyone gets a whole bird, grilled golden.... When guests sit down to this, EVERYONE smiles large! Rarely does anyone eat a whole bird, But that's not the point.... Sometimes we need "really good", in excess! Makes one feel good!!!! If I can be of assistance to you, I'd be glad to.... Bill

Bill...that is very kind of you, and great information as well. Thank you again.

BPWells

 

[Dave C]

The Buckeyes are a gift from a good friend. I use them as my egg layers. These are just the lastest in the line. He does well at shows around Ok and Ks.... He figures I need good stock for my egg layers. Also likes that in a "worst case" scenario, I would be able to be a back up his line. He would only lose one year of progress in his line.... I do the same with him and my whites.... That way all our eggs are not on one farm, or same state for that matter.... There are three of us that have spread out our lines this way for several years now. I'm in Ks, one is in Mo, and one in Ok.... We get together twice a year at a poultry auction, along with many other friends. To swap stock, eggs, stories, BS, moonshine, dinner, breakfast and this gives us a good excuse.... Below is last years version the Buckeyes.... I hatched right at 40 of these and they are very good birds....

Fine looking Buckeyes

It's great to have such good quality just for laying, ha.

It's a wise move having a "just in case " backup.
I have Dark Cornish (or as we would call them Cornish Indian Game) and lost my flock in November.
Luckily I did the same and gave a small breeding flock to my pal, now I'm starting again but luckily with my own blood line

 

[Fat Daddy]

Thank you Dave. I like the Buckeyes too. At this time, with all the chicks out side, I am running 7 pens and need to separate them down into smaller groups. Only have two empty pens left, but I'll butcher the first culls soon and free up another.... With so many groups, I can't let more than one pen out at a time.... Tonight was the oldest "A" pen chicks turn and the 10 Buckeyes bunking with them for now..... Spread them out and it looks like a lot of birds....

 

[Fat Daddy]

The Buckeyes are becoming very tame..... They see me in a golf cart and are sure I have treats....

 

[Fowlfellow]

Nice set up for your birds!

 

[Fat Daddy]

Well the oldest birds in the pen I have been tracking in this thread are 11 weeks now..... The heat has been hard on them the last couple of weeks. During the heat of the day, all the birds are panting like dogs. They are looking good and I have had no losses. I did not butcher any of the meat pen birds as of yet, now they are too large for single serving birds. We'll just ride it out a few more weeks and spatchcock some and the rest fryers... I have not had a egg for more than a week now. Four of my six remaining breeders have went broody.... I decided to let them try, they wanted to do bad!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

This is such a great informative thread.

Thank you for sharing your efforts with us.

 

[Dave C]

Well the oldest birds in the pen I have been tracking in this thread are 11 weeks now..... The heat has been hard on them the last couple of weeks. During the heat of the day, all the birds are panting like dogs. They are looking good and I have had no losses. I did not butcher any of the meat pen birds as of yet, now they are too large for single serving birds. We'll just ride it out a few more weeks and spatchcock some and the rest fryers... I have not had a egg for more than a week now. Four of my six remaining breeders have went broody.... I decided to let them try, they wanted to do bad!

Nice large birds for 11 weeks

Will they be kept for breeding or are the invited to dinner ?

 

[Fat Daddy]

Thanks Dave. I will keep the best six pullets and at least 2 cockerels... I also have promised a few more to get folks started. So that leaves about 40 for the table....... The pic below is one from the meat pen of the same age. Build is the same, good type bird. But not as "hard" feathered as it should be. The scale shows it at 4lb 6oz....

 

[Dave C]

That's a good weight for a purebred at 11 weeks
Well done mate