Are Cornish Good Pets?

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shadow rabbit10

shadow rabbit10

Crowing
7 Years
Mar 3, 2012
6,188
229
296
New Jersey
I was thinking about straying away from ordering Cornish, because I heard some things about them that I did not know were true or not. Should I have ordered a Cornish, or are they best left for the freezer?

Are they nice?

Do they live shorter? I have heard that they get so heavy that they cannot hold themselves up, and that they get heart attacks, and I did not know if this was true.

Do the bantams live longer? I heard that the standards get too big to stand, but since the bantams are smaller, would they be able to hold themselves up?

Are they cold tolerant, and good layers? I have heard that they are bad layers, but some people think otherwise.

Again, I don't think I will be getting any Cornish, but I still wonder if I should have. The main thing that concerns me is the lifespan. Maybe I am confusing these with Cornish Cross? When I searched around online, I could not find many answers to my questions, so I figure I would ask around this site.
 
You are confusing the Cornish with the Cornish cross broilers. Cornish (also known as Indian Games) are a totally different breed than the cornish-x birds that are heavily used as meat birds. They are not built even remotely the same, aside from both having larger breasts than say mediterranean breeds like leghorns or more streamlined game breeds. Cornish, both bantam and large fowl, have significantly longer lifespans than the cornish-x. They may have some health problems that other dual purpose breeds don't have (I've never done much research on them as I was not interested in them when we first got into chickens), but they don't suffer from the weight and heart issues that the super-fast growing cornish-x broilers have. Cornish-x are a hybrid bred to grow so fast that they reach butcher size around 8 weeks. Because of this rapid growth, they are prone to issues with their legs and with their hearts. Cornish/bantam cornish breed true and grow at a similar rate to other dual purpose breeds, and would be a tad on the scrawny side if you butchered them at 8 weeks.


These are Cornish (from feathersite.com) that are several months old at least (the site doesn't give an age for these two). The two pictured here are dark cornish, although the breed comes in several other colors.

This is an 8 week old Cornish-x broiler (also from www.feathersite.com). As you can see, they are clearly two completely different types of birds! Cornish-x are pretty much exclusively white, although "freedom rangers" and other colored broilers grow nearly as quickly and are supposed to have fewer problems with legs and hearts.
 
Thank you. Cornish and Cornish crosses were confusing me because people don't specify wether they are talking about Cornishes or crosses. Pretty birds, but I won't be getting them anytime soon.
 
Buy from a breeder - you will get birds truer to the standard, and in the long run will spend less money to get birds you like. Cornish actually make good pets - all the ones I've met have been very sweet, my neice used to have a bantam cornish hen that was a total sweetheart. Not the best layers, and they are very hard feathered so they might need a bit more warmth in the winter depending on your location, her bantam did just fine in the Williamette Valley of Oregon.
 
I thought so. I'd love some, but I don't have much room and I was only supposed to get four birds, but of course I ended up with ordering seven, and I am still thinking about buying two more. Ugh. Maybe I'll ask around at my 4-H meeting. The leader always seems to find somebody with birds. They are very pretty, and I would love to get my hands on one. Does Tractor Supply sell purebreeds?
 

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