Obtaining breeder stock for Cornish Crosses

[Winsor Woods]

So from what I've read, a Cornish Cross is a hybrid of a Cornish and a White Rock. Is that correct?

I've also read that you can't just get Cornish chicks and White Rock Chicks and breed them together to get the uber-bird. So where does one get the special "mutant" gene carrying Cornish and White Rock Birds?

Dan

 

[Brunty_Farms]

There is a place in Arkansas that sells the breeder chicks... I can't think of the name off hand but I will look it up for you if you want.

However they do have a minum requirement of 10,000 I think?

Let me know if your still interested.

 

[Winsor Woods]

10000 chicks! Wow that is overrun with chickens! I was just thinking of getting about 10 cornish and 10 white rocks and then going from there. Just a small scale personal thing for us and the extended family. No sense in looking anything up unless I can do it on that small scale. Thanks though. Anyone know of a place that would cater to this?

Dan

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

The commercial broiler business that supplies the genetics for broiler production has invested billions of dollars of the past 50 years to produce a bird that is efficient, has a high meat yield, and is healthy. The contracts for accessing these genetics are extensive and have may restrictions, one of which is disposal of the breeding stock after they are done. They are not allowed to resell the breeding stock, the genetics in those birds are just too valuable.

Jim

 

[Winsor Woods]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

The commercial broiler business that supplies the genetics for broiler production has invested billions of dollars of the past 50 years to produce a bird that is efficient, has a high meat yield, and is healthy. The contracts for accessing these genetics are extensive and have may restrictions, one of which is disposal of the breeding stock after they are done. They are not allowed to resell the breeding stock, the genetics in those birds are just too valuable.

Jim

Sounds like Monsanto is in the poultry industry. It fires me up when restrictive decisions are made based on monetary faactors, especially when it comes to food. People shouldn't have to be handcuffed to corporations for the food they eat.

When you say "supplies the genetics," are these birds genetically modified in an artificial sense? Or is this just selective breeding of generations of birds to naturally enhance certain traits?

Dan​

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Parent Stock isn't regulated by contracts as strict though. Now the grandparent stock is much more regulated as that is where the value and all of the genetics come from.

But more than likely if you obtain 10,000 chicks your going to have them already contracted for with other obligations such as soup chickens / pet food for when their cycle is up in 60 weeks.

Sorry to say, it's tough to get your hands on parent breeder stock, almost impossible to get the GP stock.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
They are NOT genetically modified in the test tube sense, but the are genetically modified through intense selection pressure for many generations of Grandparent and Parent stcok to provide mixtures of crosses that produce broilers to meet the needs of the industry.


Jim

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Yeah it's sad isn't it.... the poultry industry is controlled by a handfull of corporations. It's a buisness, it's just like Monsanto... instead of a Round Up ready soy bean... you have a breed of chickens that is pretty much pattented.

However you can also do the same thing... but these corporations have millions of government money to fund them. We have styrofoam incubators and run of the mill chicks to work with.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
To some extent, I agree with you, but only in regard to plant patents, because the pollen can (and has) escaped to contaminate other people's crops.

With regard to the chickens, (and it pains me to say this, because I'm not a big fan of CAFO's, but they do have their place, as long as we have so darn many people on the planet) you aren't handcuffed to the corporations by anyone but yourself. Nobody forces you to buy from them.

You can stop eating commercially raised chickens. You can buy from local farmers. You can raise whatever breed you can find.

You have the option to raise any other breed you want, the intensely bred broiler chicks are not the only edible chickens. You're free to breed your own broilers from scratch. It can be expensive, and definitely time consuming, to track down and acquire good breeding stock to start with.

You just can't have the genes of the ones that other people did all the work to develop, (and spent tons of money to develop) unless you buy a huge number and agree to contract terms. You might do the same, if you'd devoted the better part of your life, and your resources, into a project. Once it began to pay off, you might not want to give it away to all comers.

That's what many of us are in the process of doing, breeding our own. I'm doing that myself. Meanwhile, I'm eating some of my mixed breed birds, and still buying some (not as many as before) at the grocery, when I want fryers. I could skip the fryers, but my DH would be sad. I hope that by this time next year, I'll be hatching and raising my own fryers.

There are farmer's markets, and other local food sources, if you want to buy from them instead of the supermarket. It takes some homework, but it's worth it. Check out Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle if you haven't already read it. There's helpful info in that book to help, if you want to separate yourself from the mainstream commercial food sources.

We've really set ourselves up for low-quality cheap food in this country, because we've demanded the cheapest food possible, instead of the healthiest food possible. As more people become aware of the huge cost in poor health and environmental damage this has created, this is starting to change. It's up to us as individuals, to do what we can, if we want something different. Buy what you approve of. Vote with your wallet.

Good luck, and I hope you are able to find/develop more acceptable sources of meat birds for yourself.

 

[cassie]

I don't understand why you would want to. Buying the chicks is a lot easier and cheaper than trying to breed them. And as for trying to develop a superior meat chicken, it's been done, and it is an ongoing project. The work to get them more efficient continues.