Who has the best Cornish X chicks?

[jermb11]

I am doing my research so that when i get ready to buy some meat birds this spring I will have all of this done aready. I am looking to see who has had the best results with the various hatcheries for the Cornish X. I plan on doing the pastured poultry with them.

Not nessasarly looking for the best price because, inferior birds will make up for their $0.25 less per bird with the amount of feed they will eat getting to slaughter weight.

This past year I raised a batch of Cornish X from Cackle. I had good results from them. I was lucky and had 0% mortallity with them.

The birds that my Dad gets from Ideal is hit or miss. He does not get meat birds but just various birds to raise/breed. They normally have good prices, but he also has high morallity rates with his young birds.

So.... who have you dealt with and were you impressed with the birds or not. Possitive or negative.

Thanks

 

[CrazyTalk]

Call the hatcheries and ask what they actually have (whether they're Cobb 500s, Aviagen Meat, etc etc) - you should be able to get an actual "model" - then a quick google search should get you papers on mortality rates and feed conversion


What you're actually getting, IMO, is more important than who you're getting it from here.

 

[jermb11]

I was not aware that was possible. I figured each hatchery had their own strain that they developed from their own on hand stock.

I will have to look into finding out who has what strain. Will defamatory be worth the time to call or email the major hatcheries and get a list going.

 

[rainbowrooster]

The last time I looked Murray McMurray and had two strains of Cornish X. Some of the other hatcheries most likely carry more that one type. The slower growing strains usually have fewer leg problems.

 

[woodduck farms]

Here is our experience. We have raised white broilers for 6 years now. We have only gotten from McMurray. We raise a batch in the early in the spring and then one in the late summer. we raise 75 to 100 at a time .I've noticed three times over the years the chick boxes say McMurray on them and come with Hoover hatchery refrigerator magnets tossed in the bottom of the box. Our feeding schedule is always the same. From batch to batch the level of activity in the day old chicks seems to be different. The end results are mostly the same. Our birds are roughly 6.0 to 7 lbs in 8 weeks .white broilers are made to convert food into meat, being that I believe we get different strains from the same hatchery and end up with mostly the same results, those results seem to have more to do with bird management practices than which hatchery they come from.

 

[CrazyTalk]

I was not aware that was possible. I figured each hatchery had their own strain that they developed from their own on hand stock.

Companies like Aviagen (and I can't remember who else) basically have multiple great-grandparent, grandparent and sire/dame flocks - each generation is basically a calculated cross that doesn't breed true (except the great-grandparent generation, which does). Cornish Cross are whats called a 'Terminal Cross' - they're the result of multiple planned crosses and don't breed true.

These companies sell hens from the dame flock and roosters from the sire flock to hatcheries like Meyer,etc - who keep these birds, and then hatch the eggs and sell the chicks to you. The sire/dame birds are expensive, and require some pretty extensive contracts to get ahold of. This is why who you get your birds from isn't as important as what the birds actually are - Meyer may have Ross 'Yield Plus' birds, and then 2 years later have Arbor Acres 'Plus Broiler' (Ross, Arbor Acres, Rowan, and Indian acres are all brands that Aviagen sells under)

If you want to learn more about the broiler industry, there's a ton of information on Aviagen's website (once you get past all the "Here's how awesome we are" advertising)

 

[slingshotandLAR]

I am doing my research so that when i get ready to buy some meat birds this spring I will have all of this done aready. I am looking to see who has had the best results with the various hatcheries for the Cornish X. I plan on doing the pastured poultry with them.

Not nessasarly looking for the best price because, inferior birds will make up for their $0.25 less per bird with the amount of feed they will eat getting to slaughter weight.

This past year I raised a batch of Cornish X from Cackle. I had good results from them. I was lucky and had 0% mortallity with them.

The birds that my Dad gets from Ideal is hit or miss. He does not get meat birds but just various birds to raise/breed. They normally have good prices, but he also has high morallity rates with his young birds.

So.... who have you dealt with and were you impressed with the birds or not. Possitive or negative.

Thanks

I just ordered Cornish x for wait for it.......90 cents apiece!

I will keep you posted on their progress, I had to try them for that price

 

[miken56]

May I ask what hatchery?

 

[popsicle]

$0.90/each? Can't say for sure, but could be Central Hatchery.

 

[slingshotandLAR]

I'm going to wait to get my chicks.... If all is well I will gladly share some info.

Hate to refer and have it no go well