White Rock Hen cross

[gojira]

That calculator is limited, and you need to know what genes you are working with. The birds look like a female broiler breeder line, which could be meat type White Plymouth Rocks. One could try the cross and see what happens.

 

[Better Than Rubies]

Yeah, their bodies make them look like Cornish Crosses, but their combs make me think of a White Leghorn (and if so, then a fat one). =) I couldn't answer your question, though, because I don't know much about the genes or whatever to make a Sex Link. Is that your goal?
But I do know that some hatcheries use a Rhode Island Red rooster and a Delaware hen to get a Red Sex Link, so....

 

[gojira]

Most likely they are the female White Plymouth Rocks used to mate with a male Cornish line to make Cornish Rocks. Not sure which line they are.

 

[allisonb20]

No I don't care about sexlink. Just curious. I will raise them all out to 4 or 5 months old. Just don't want pure white chickens. Looks like from the calculator I'll get all white, all black, or incomplete lace.

I picked them out of the chicken house myself. I'm sure they were breeding stock so hard to think they wouldn't make good babies. My thinking was they will grow quicker than the standard heritage breed? ...and they were free.

 

[allisonb20]

I asked if they were white rocks and found out they are actually Cobb chickens. Does this help with the genetics?

 

[Fairview01]

They look like worn out white Plymouth rocks but if they are Cobb chickens they are only the maternal side of a very specific Cornish Rockx which is why I think they are worn out white Plymouth rocks that have been selectively breed for higher breast meat. Actual Cobb chickens are meat birds that are market ready in 8 weeks. Cobb chickens are just a specific variation of the Cornish Rock cross that Tyson has proprietary rights too. They do everything they can to go into the self destruct mode just like a regular Cornish Rock cross at around 8 weeks.

If these birds were as you say chick producers at 18 months old they've laid a lot of eggs already. They have been subject to AI, extended lighting, forced molting. They have a few left in them but I wouldn't have high expectations.

I'm curious, why don't you think white meat birds aren't the preferred meat birds in the market. Those dark pin feathers are not very appetizing.

 

[allisonb20]

The people who buy them to eat do not like pure white birds because they assume they come from a chicken house and are not backyard raised. They would rather eat a smaller colored bird than a Cornish X.
Im not trying to trick people bc I don't plan on selling these hens but thought they would do well making a crossbreed with a hertiage.
I now have a new topic to read up on.

I agree when I first picked them up I honestly thought it might be better for them to die out of mercy. They were filthy and stinky; most of the 7 have a large amount of missing feathers. But in a week with my other birds they have cleaned up well. They can be lazy, food monsters, but have free ranged with my hertiage breeds. They are certainly apathetic to everything. Also they live under the nipple waterer I have.

I figured they are adjusting to life not in the climate controlled factory and would live at least a couple more years outside factory life. I knew they had a shorter lifespan than the average chicken.

 

[junebuggena]

White Rocks are supposed to be Silver base color, recessive white, with the barring gene, but hatchery sourced birds are sometimes dominant white. When crossed with the Silver Laced Wyandotte, offspring should be similar to a Delaware, but with rose combs.

 

[Fairview01]

The people who buy them to eat do not like pure white birds because they assume they come from a chicken house and are not backyard raised. They would rather eat a smaller free range bird than a Cornish X.
Im not trying to trick people bc I don't plan on selling these hens but thought they would do well making a crossbreed with a hertiage.
I now have a new topic to read up on.

I agree when I first picked them up I honestly thought it might be better for them to die out of mercy. They were filthy and stinky; most of the 7 have a large amount of missing feathers. But in a week with my other birds they have cleaned up well. They can be lazy, food monsters, but have free ranged with my hertiage breeds. They are certainly apathetic to everything. Also they live under the nipple waterer I have.

I figured they are adjusting to life not in the climate controlled factory and would live at least a couple more years outside factory life. I knew they had a shorter lifespan than the average chicken.

I have no clue what you are trying to do but I can offer you this. If what you have are the maternal half of the Cobb chicken they themselves are a specific hybrid custom designed to match up with a custom designed rooster to produce a heavy breasted bird for the market as quickly as possible. Imagine if Tyson could bring a bird to market a week sooner than the competition. I would definitely experiment with them but I would have low expectations of their progeny to reach market size an quicker than a heritage bird.

I would offer this for you to consider. I love heritage meat birds and raise white Cornish and there are all sorts of color varieties available if you go to private breeders to get your stock. At around eight weeks they could be used as single serving Cornish game hens. Between 12-16 weeks full size birds. They're hardy, durable will free range but also need to be fed a good ration to put weight on reasonably fast and are pretty low key. I like low key part. They do lose interest in laying eggs when it gets hot, hot. I live in TX and mine stopped laying at beginning of August and haven't given me an other yet. Will probably start seeing eggs in January sometime.

The fellow in the pic is roosting on a 2x4 and is right at 6 weeks. He and his roost mates could have easily been butchered for small Cornish game hens. Keep in mind though that I got my original stock from a breeder focusing on the SOP and showing. The adults I purchased he considered his cull stock. His show birds are fantastic.

 

[allisonb20]

Thanks for the response. That is a big leg on a 6wk chicken. .

My goal is to hatch eggs late winter to practice with my incubator/ have chickens to sell at the flea market. My flock is a barred rock, 2 production reds, and some SLW hens with a roo, plus the now 7 white hens. They were all acquired different ways and are currently just egg layers for me. When it comes time to incubate I don't want to have to separate my flock. I wanted to just gather a few days of eggs and pop them in the incubator and go. But starting wondering what the white hens would make if their eggs were hatched. Better bc they are genetically meant to be mothers of broilers. Worst bc they might make pure white, less diserable birds at the flea market.

Long term goal is to feel comfortable with the incubator to buy shipped eggs or hatching eggs from a local breeder and feel confident that I will have a decent yeild. About 2 months ago, I bought a incubator and 50$ blrw eggs and got 1 of 17 to hatch. I didn't have high expectations to start but they were higher than 1 chick. I believe the flaw was temperature and final humidity and dieing to practice somemore. But want to use my free eggs to practice.

Not sure long term what breed I will land on; I seem to fancy the Wyandotte's lace a lot. My chickens are pets more than farm animals even though I seem to talk about them harsher than that. I just want pretty egg laying birds. That I can keep hatching new chicks from instead of buying In the ways I've raised chicks, I like the idea of the incubator the best. I was shafted with 5 roos and 1 hen from a straight run at the feed store and had 10 hens of 21 die on me from a shipped day old chick order. Mastering the incubator removed the thought of pre sexed straight runs and stress of shipped chicks.