# Cornish Cross Broilers



## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

I considered getting some cornish cross broilers, but at $29 per hundred the feed runs up fast. In addition to that, unless you manage them very tightly you wind up with some dead losses and some others that are sickly even if edible. One hatchery says that after the first week you MUST take feed away from each evening, allowing them to eat only about twelve hours daily.

Then I went to a local farm supply and saw that they were selling out their Cornish cross chicks for $1 each. Some of these had to be three or four weeks old, and of course they'd been just stuck in a water tank with shavings, feed and water.

Got me to wondering:
If you bought a set of these chicks and purposely underfed them; say only enough for one feeding per day--all they can eat in an hour, would they grow slowly and be stunted at maturity? Would they grow slowly enough that their bones and bodies matured without the leg and heart problems?

Could you grow a breeding flock of Cornish Cross hens and roosters that way?


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

They would be stunted if they survived, fed only enough for one hour a day.
No. Highly doubtful if they would be able to breed since you would really stunt them.

The genetics are a four way cross. They will not breed true.

The company that owns the breeding stock has 4 lines. 2 grandparent lines crossed for one parent line and the other 2 grandparent lines for the 2nd parent line. They sell the 2 parent lines to the breeders, not the grandparent lines. The breeders only sell the offspring, not the parents.

The offspring, if you manage to get them to breeding size, will produce their own offspring with all sorts of characteristics, not necessarily good growers.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Cyngbaeld, this is all new information to me. I know little about the genetics of commercial broilers other than that the poultry companies have one big granddaddy rooster living in a sling in his own air conditioned room. 

By stunting the chickens I did not mean starving them. Enough to grow and live but not enough to grow quickly and get large. It can be done with humans, cattle, dogs---give them enough to get by on but not enough to get large. 

Now, what one might have when done is another matter. You are certainly right that they'd not breed true, coming from the crosses as you described. 

However, all four parents are good stock, so there would be some good birds in the bunch and one might over several years develop a strong chicken that grew quickly. 

But why reinvent the wheel? Still, I am going into town tomorrow. If those birds are still for sale I might just buy a few and put them on limited feed, perhaps make yard birds of them without feed. It is summer here and they can have all the bugs, worms, little snakes and mice they can find. I'd have to feed them for a while, but I can turn them out as soon as they are as big as bantams.


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## HTG_zoo (Apr 18, 2011)

I think you'll be very disappointed if you put cornish cross broilers out as yard birds. They are an unmotivated lot in my experience.


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## whiskeylivewire (May 27, 2009)

We raised 10 Cornish X successfully on feed only at night and free ranging them during the day. We now have 24 that we are doing the same with. They run(which is a sight to see!) they forage, we had only one die of the first bunch from a heart attack-and that was totally our fault for not butchering them sooner. We started with 25 of this bunch and it rained one night and I got them all in their shelter-but missed the one 

Otherwise we have had no trouble with them, this batch is around 4 weeks old, we'll start butchering in the next couple of weeks. And they taste really good too

We got ours from Orscheln's who got them from Estes Hatchery in Springfield, MO.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

I have a group and we tried some experimental non-soy feed recommended by the nutritionist at the mill. They ate it, but I don't think they got enough. They didn't grow. so now we have chicks the size of softballs with hugely fat legs and they still don't stand or walk right, as if they were 8 pounds like they should be.
And we still have lost some to heart attack. I think you won't be happy with your plan. Yes, feed is costly, but since they are due to be butchered at 8-10 weeks, I think you will find the cost of feed averages out the same as a slow grow chicken you raised for meat for 6 months instead of 2.


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## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

We got some last August. All females. We put them outside as soon as possible, but note that it was cooling down. They do better cool then warm. They keel in the heat. They had food during the day, none at night and they were encouraged to move around with the rest of the flock.

And they did. LOL, you couldn't tell them they weren't real chickens. They hunted bugs and dust-bathed, I decided to try and keep 2 to see if I could get some eggs off them. I know they don't breed true but I wanted to experiment. They don't lay well, they lay on the ground, they step on the eggs and crush them. But I still got a couple. I think I sold some chicks by accident but I have one pullet that I know is from a CX egg.

The biggest one started laying around a few days ago - it was time. The breast meat was HUGE. Like a small turkey. The other hen is still walking ponderously around my yard, enjoying life.


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## whiskeylivewire (May 27, 2009)

We do the opposite, Otter. We feed them at night. Let them out in the morning and sometimes give them scraps during the day but they free range all day and then feed em at night. It's quite funny to watch them run when they've got the huge breast going on.


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## dogrunner (Mar 2, 2009)

Quick question I have 24 CC right now that are really fattening up nicely. The only non-medicated grower ration that my local mill carries is 27% protein. Everything I read says grower should be at about 18%. What should I do about this higher ration??


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

If you want to feed less and have a slower growing bird, simply purchase dual purpose chicks. If you order roosters, you can have them for very cheap.

The entire point of Cornish X is to have them grow fast so you don't have to mess with them for long, and because they have the very best feed conversion, so they give you lots of pounds of meat for the feed that they eat. You lose both those benefits by severely limiting their feed.


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## trbizwiz (Mar 26, 2010)

I think that 18% is a minimum protein. If you can afford 28% protein, go for it. Your birds will likely grow a little faster though. You will probably have 6lb roos at 6 weeks.


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## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

I'm trying something much like the OP here. I feed them as much as they want but it's all cracked grain which I get cheaply. They seem to run, jump, and forage just fine so far, but are all still very young.
I too am running a breeding experiment, though it's just that. I don't expect to get what I want out of them so much as like the challenge of seeing if I can. I've thought if I can breed back the winners a few times I may be able to later cross them with a Jersey Giant and get some nice hybrid vigor from the offspring... That or I'll just raise turkeys for meat.


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## whiskeylivewire (May 27, 2009)

InvalidID-we just got 25 Dark Cornish chicks today and we also have Barred Rocks. Our experiment is going to be Dark Cornish/Barred Rock (they use White Rocks for the Cornish X). Dark Cornish are good brooders and free rangers. If we can get them to hatch out good we wouldn't need to order the Cornish X. Here's hoping it works out!


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## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

I like it. I've thought about getting some game roos and trying my hand with them, but haven't seen any in the local store. I'm not interested enough to order a large batch yet so I'm really interested in how your plan works out.


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## whiskeylivewire (May 27, 2009)

me too! lol I'll let ya know


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

where did you get your dark cornish? I have been thinking of doing the same thing


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