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

[KoopOnTruckin]

This is the first full on hatch of the year. I just air lifted 20 fluffy new chicks to the brooder. There are 2-3 more pipped and that many more that have not did anything left in the hatcher.... I have 14 already in the shop brooder from the test hatchs. Still quiet a few simmering in the bator too.
Iv been selling a few eggs on eBay the last couple of weeks. I figure if I start at $20 a dozen it may help take some of the stupid out of the price. I mean really. $20 for a dozen eggs is still pretty pricey! So far it seems to be working. The last group sold for $27 I think. The smallest box Iv sent out was 19 eggs....I'm plan to set another 18 or so for me shortly too. It's either sell eggs or eat them.... As long as fertility stays high, I'll try to keep some available......

I dig new chicks as much as 7 year old girl!

I've got a hatch of 31 eggs coming out today, and yes, I'm with you. It's pretty cool to watch them come out, fluff up, get used to walking, etc. Every hatch is like the first, the experience of watching them do things for the very first time. Holding your breath, waiting for the last few to show signs that they're going to make it. I haven't been doing this as long as you have, but it's cool to know you're still excited after all these hatches!

What's the fertility rate been so far on the eggs you've shipped?

 

[holm25]

Very nice pal

You would get a bit more for your quality in the UK as utility Cornish is quite hard to come by.

I get £5 a day old chick and have orders for 3 batches of 20 chicks each.
So not complaining

You get $6.00 for mixed breeds or purebreed?

 

[holm25]

The chicks are looking good FD!

 

[Fat Daddy]

Very nice pal

You would get a bit more for your quality in the UK as utility Cornish is quite hard to come by.

I get £5 a day old chick and have orders for 3 batches of 20 chicks each.
So not complaining

Thanks Dave. I have intentionally priced mine at what many would consider too cheap.... I dont know the conversion to Dollars, but I get $10 per day old chick and $25 for 16 week old, evaluated birds. I sell as many as I have real quick. That's still a lot of money for a chicken! Im actually try'n to get these spread out some, so they are not so hard to find. And the prices being charged by most is almost a crime in its self! A "point of lay" trio is really hard to find and averages $300 to $350.... The bad thing about it is you have to "Know somebody" to get them for that! Egg prices are stupid high and are simply not available from good stock. The Old School breeders usually will not sell eggs or chicks at all. They say the birds should be judged and evaluated by the "Breeders Eye" before being sold.... Many times I have heard breeders chastised for selling "culls" at all... Even when folks are willing to pay extreme amounts, knowing they are buying birds that are not show quality. Just to get a start. They claim it hurts the breed....
I feel this is straight out Horse Hocky! Half the fun is improving a line and making it your own! I think its silly to have to pay those kind of prices. It also takes a different mind set than I can muster to ask such prices. My best original stock I bought as 20 week old birds. I paid $150 a pair for two pairs of unrelated birds, and nearly that much again to have them shipped... I already had some birds about the same age, but not near the quality, I hatched from eggs that came from ebay. $212 a dozen. But to be honest, he shipped almost 2 dozen. Three of those eggs hatched..... It shouldnt be that expensive to get into any breed!
On a differnt note.... You may have heard of recessive white gene cornish hatching with silver down.... I have been breeding toward this for a few years now. Last year I gained some ground. Starting to see about half the chicks show traits of it. A silver belly in most. But I had one hatch today out of pen "C" that is real close to what Im shooting for. These get a extra hole in their toe!..... (I know it looks like Im training them to "turtle" in the pic!

)

 

[Dave C]

Wow those are some steep prices you guys have to pay.

Good for you pal making it easier for folk to gain access to quality stock.

 

[TabITSWD]

Yup, those are definitely the price ranges. I was told just a few days ago an adult breeding pair would be $450 shipped but at the same time, I couldn't get any info from the breeder about flock history, health or even any pictures of the ones I would be buying.

The breed is so rare that it really IS a small fortune to get into them. The weird part is that its stayed that way. Usually, a breed is rare, its price is crazy high, and then because of the price and rarity people buy them up and the next year the price comes down, this happens for a couple years until a "price floor" is established. Ayam Cemani are a perfect example of this, rare 4 years ago, now eBay is flooded with them and they are not expensive.This just didn't happen with white cornish though. They are STILL rare. And ridiculously expensive if you can even find them. At least a dozen times someone has told me they would sell them, and then for some reason or another does not. Many times, many different people who have them.

So Fat Daddy, I think its GREAT you're putting them out there. More people with them means more people improving the lines. Selecting well, hatching, improving the breed over time - the breed would come a long way if there were even 1,000 people doing this instead of a few dozen.

 

[wtfreilly]

Hey Fat Daddy. I recently lost a bidding war on ebay for some LF White Cornish hatching eggs. I mentioned to you in a message that we are trying to build a sustainable flock for ourselves and we would really love to use these genetics. How can we get a hold of some eggs without having to bid on them?

 

[Fat Daddy]

Hey Fat Daddy. I recently lost a bidding war on ebay for some LF White Cornish hatching eggs. I mentioned to you in a message that we are trying to build a sustainable flock for ourselves and we would really love to use these genetics. How can we get a hold of some eggs without having to bid on them?

Yeah I even put up a second auction to when that one hit $40 to shut it down some..... Figured folks would bid on the $20 auction for the same eggs. Didnt work..... We'll work something out.....

 

[Fat Daddy]

It's been a while since I properly up dated this thread. I took a few pix, one of each age group. I selected a chick from each hatch that was from pen "A"... this has been the most prolific pen to date. I also picked chicks I felt was from the same hen or at least one of two sisters. The chicks are the ones showing the silver bellies. All chicks were weighed today, 4-30-17.... The first test hatch was on 4-3-17. This is the oldest of this years chicks... 263 grams. EDIT TO ADD: I didnt realize the first pic was so bad until I had already put the chicks back in their brooder..... Sorry about the quality of that first one.....

The next was hatched on 4-10.... it weighs 181 today

The third hatch was 4-17. It weighs 88 grams today

The last hatch to date was 4-24.... it weighs 60 grams today....

H

To date, I have yet to weigh a chick at hatch.... I have more due tomorrow and will do my best to get that done! Bill

 

[Fat Daddy]

Freshly hatched chick from pen "A".... Same gray/silver down as the others weighed. This one is not fully fluffed out yet.... 40grams even...