why not breed broilers?

[rhoda_bruce]

What is the problem with breeding Cornish Rocks or Jumbo X Cornishes? Is it the huge size of the chickens and subsequent fatigue and clumsiness or is it a sterility problem? Possibly a problem relating to positioning or mounting......therefore fertility being achieved better by artificial means???
Is the problem mainly isolated with the cockerals? If so I can use from another big breed.
I am wondering because my husband wants a few, but mainly for the huge eggs. I, on the other hand, am content with my RIR eggs and would want the breed for meat. But I don't want the hatcheries to do all my incubating for me when I can do it myself and save money. Certainly there is a way to have fertile eggs with the Cornishes, otherwise how did the hatcheries get the chicks? Its just that if I can fill up an incubator with enough eggs to get about 50 chicks, the price I would have paid for that amount of chicks by mail order, could have cancelled out at least 4 sacks of starter grower. The chicks could each weigh 1 or 2 Lbs.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
A few things:

+ I'm not sure that the Cornish Crosses would produce a larger egg than your Rhode Island Reds.

+ The hatcheries get their chicks from crosses, that's why they're called Cornish Crosses. The fact that the parents (and grandparents) can produce fertile eggs, does not mean that the offspring can.

+ You would also have to consider the cost of maintaining your breeder stock when trying to produce chicks for less money than the hatcheries. It is nice to want to cut out the hatcheries, but saving money should not be the motivation because you won't be able to beat their economies of scale.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The Cornish crosses the commercial boys get are from Cornish roosters and white rock hens. The way I understand it, they keep four separate lines going, each line either producing the hens or roosters of the different breeds that they then cross to get the commercial Cornish cross chick. They get the broad breast from the Cornish father. They could develop and use different hens but they use the White rock so they will get a white chicken to give a clean looking carcass when plucked.

You have to be a little careful when buying the Cornish cross chicks from the hatcheries. I've heard (no direct experience) that the chicks they sell to the general public are not from the same lines as the commercial boys use. They still give a nice carcass and efficient growth, but not necessarily the same as the commercial boys get.

You can make your own Cornish crosses. Just get a Cornish rooster and and some dual purpose hens. Yuo don't necessarily have to use the white rock, especially if you don't mind the dark pin feathers when you pluck a bird. I'll say it again, you are not going to get the same efficient fast growing bird the commercial boys get and it may not be as efficient as the ones you get from a hatchety, but it will give you a decent meat bird. Whether that is sufficient for you is up to you.

Some problems with breeding the Cornish crosses themselves is that the crosses will eat themselves to death unless you greatly limit how much food you give them. It is possible to keep some of them alive long enough to get them to lay eggs, but they will usually have a heart attack or severe leg problems before then. And if you do get a cross rooster old enough to breed, he will be too heavy and misshapen to be able to perform the deed. With them being crosses, they are not going to breed true anyway. You don't know what kind of chicks you would get assuming you could get them to breed. In my opinion, it is just flat out not worth even trying to use the crosses themselves unless you really enjoy frustration and failure.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[bubblebean11]

I have a pen with White rocks, partridge rocks and barred rocks. They grew up together and the white rock grew 3 times faster than the other 2 breeds. That is the reason for the white rocks, the growth rates are alot faster than other egg producers, even in the same family.

 

[bubblebean11]

And one more thing. If you want the big eggs go with a goose. I took these so you can see the difference. Starting on the left. Goose,duck,chicken,bantam,bantam. The goose eggs are well worth it. They make the best baked goods ever!!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I would love to go with a goose. But my husband doesn't want to get water fowl again......at least not for the time being. He finds them messy. But I love duck eggs and goose eggs. I wouldn't put them in a cake though, because I like the taste too much. Also, a goose would be faster growing than any chicken... And taste better.
White Rocks are cool. I have admired them for a long time. So white rocks with cornish roosters. Okay. Might happen.....might not, but I always keep a few ideas on the back burner.
Well I only have one more rooster to slaughter and that will probably happen tomorrow. So I might be starting up the incubator.
My husband hates the incubator in the house. Its a smell thing. But I have bad luck incubating if I keep it in an area that has varying temps.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Occasionally my Cornish Rock hen lays a really big egg, but most of the time her eggs are no bigger than my regular layers' eggs. Tell him to get an Ostrich if he want really big eggs.

 

[bubblebean11]

I have a cornish bantam roo and he is the coolest thing ever, sweet and doesnt crow too much good to the girls. Im thinking of getting some lf cornish, they are fun and good birds.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Oh I know. I had some that I had sorta inherited. I lost them in the hurricanes that hit us in the very late 90's. They had awesome shapes. You look at them and can just imagine what they would look like dressed on the table. I would want some, but if I had everything I wanted I would have coops surrounding the perimeter of my whole yard and I might as well have my own hatchery.

 

[oldbat]

Moyers Hatchery in PA offers Cornish/Broiler hatching eggs for sale; I ordered 4 dozen, and the cost went down to $18.75/dozen, which includes the shipping charges. Here's their price list:

http://www.moyerschicks.com/MC-Web/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=43

Good luck. old bat