Heritage breed Cornish Chickens: why are they ignored and not widely bred

[JacinLarkwell]

If it helps, mine are always going broody, so even if you don't like them, one or two hens might be nice to hatch replacement birds

 

[NewJourney]

Might anyone know where I can look at photos of varying ages (like week progressions) for Cornish (of any color/pattern)? I haven't been able to find such a video or site/page specific to Cornish.

 

[Konradrueb]

You can feather sex LF white or dark cornish .Between 6-10 days of age .Just by length of wing and tail feathers .Once you see it you can't unsee it.Ive never miss read it. It all so works on cornish X chicks .won't work on all breds or bantams. The hens express long wing and tail growth early on.The cockerels are shorter both wing and tail feathers.

 

[NewJourney]

You can feather sex LF white or dark cornish .Between 6-10 days of age .Just by length of wing and tail feathers .Once you see it you can't unsee it.Ive never miss read it. It all so works on cornish X chicks .won't work on all breds or bantams. The hens express long wing and tail growth early on.The cockerels are shorter both wing and tail feathers.

At six months old none of their faces are red yet. I haven't heard any crowing. It appears as though I have all females including the one badly colored pullet I now call "Rosie". I plan to keep these Cornish at least through springtime. We've been struggling financially and had to sell off a good portion of our flock of chickens and ducks.

I still need to weigh them. I really believe they are bantam, not LF. They're adorable.

 

[NewJourney]

I caught one of the Cornish because one of my dogs was trying to attack it. It has an injured leg but no puncture wounds. I weighed her. 1,436 grams/3.17 lbs at 6 months old. They are large fowl. I checked her vent. She’s not laying yet. Her face isn’t red yet. It’s starting to pink up though.

 

[NatJ]

I caught one of the Cornish because one of my dogs was trying to attack it. It has an injured leg but no puncture wounds. I weighed her. 1,436 grams/3.17 lbs at 6 months old. They are large fowl. I checked her vent. She’s not laying yet. Her face isn’t red yet. It’s starting to pink up though.

That sounds like an oversized bantam or an undersized large fowl, so maybe the hatchery has some kind of mixup in their breeder flock?

Cornish bantams "should" weigh 32 ounces for a pullet (2 pounds), 36 ounces for a mature hen (2.25 pounds) and up to 44 ounces for a mature rooster (2.75 pounds). I got the pullet number from one hatchery, and the mature hen/rooster weights from two different hatcheries. I'm fairly sure they are listing the standard weights for the breed, not the actual weights of their own stock:
https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/cornish-bantam/
https://www.idealpoultry.com/product/1268/106

Large fowl Cornish weights from several different hatcheries don't match so neatly. I'm finding 6.5 pounds for pullets, 7.5 or 8 pounds for mature hens, and 10 or 10.5 pounds for mature roosters.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/white_laced_red_cornish.html
https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/dark-cornish/
https://www.idealpoultry.com/product/1672/2

Your pullet at 3.17 pounds is definitely too big for a bantam but way too small for the large fowl.

 

[Konradrueb]

I first started with white and dark cornish bantams but wanted birds that could mate on there own .I know how to A.I them but didnt want to add that to my to do list so switched to LF cornish .All my cornish come from multiple states .I ordered and hatched all of them.Then crossed my best hen to rooster from the different groups i hatched to get my adam and eve to start the breeding process.To tighten up there genes so to speak.Any first crossing will have hybred vigor the F1,s but the next group the F2,s show the defects that you need to clean up.Biggest mistake after starting a new family is adding outside blood .That opens a new can of worms .You just went back to the drawing board you ruined your blood line that your trying to clean up.breeding doesnt happen over night .one of your best tools is learning what the standard says about your breed so you have guidelines of that breed.Getting a good eye on defects is learned as you progress in breding .Culling is a must. To establish a good bloodline takes years.Keeping records a must.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

cornish bantams but wanted birds that could mate on there own

Cornish bantams can breed on their own just fine

 

[Konradrueb]

Cornish bantams can breed on their own just fine

 

[Konradrueb]

Not all the shorter they are there comprised. At least the ones i had .But ive noticed there are over sized bantams that don't fit the standard.