Chickens Cornish: description of the breed

Every farmer who breeds chickens in the household is concerned that it will bear fruit. Among the most sought after should be the Cornish breed. It has established itself as giving a fairly large amount of meat. These chickens came to us from the UK. Due to their high productivity, they made a serious competition to other breeds.

How did this breed come about?

The bird was bred in 1820. Initially, the goal of creating the breed is fighting. Englishman W. Gilbert began to interbreed between the breeds of chickens to improve their fighting qualities. But the result was unsatisfactory. The bird did not have the shadow of the character that was supposed. The new breed was called the Cornish Chicken, in honor of the place of breeding - Cornwall.

At first these chickens did not enjoy the confidence of farmers. They considered them too capricious. But after the breeders have worked a little on their qualities, the productivity of these chickens has reached a very high level. That's when they began to breed them massively. Today, the Cornish chickens are among the most productive birds, bearing a large number of eggs and giving a lot of meat.

While the breed was not recognized by the association of poultry farms in America in 1895, it was called Indian fighting. But since the fighting qualities of her were only in external signs, unlike the character, and meat, on the contrary, a lot, the chicken was renamed in honor of the county of Cornwall. Then the signs of this species of birds were confirmed as a true quality standard.

Appearance

The body of the chicken corn is sufficiently strong and muscular. The chicken looks easy, but in reality very heavy. This it owes its plumage, which tightly and smoothly adheres to the trunk. The average weight of chickens is about 3.5 kilograms. The rooster reaches 5 kilograms. The surprising quality of the Cornish chickens is the appearance. The fact is that it is quite difficult to distinguish them according to their belonging to different sexes.

Representatives of the breed have a fairly wide skull and a very powerful chest. The neck of the chicken is not very long and not too short. The shins are thick, far apart and small in size. Legs completely bare, without plumage. The skin is satisfied with a strong, yellow color. The comb on the head resembles a pod. The beak is very short with a yellow tinge. From the fighting past, the Cornish, the breed of chickens, inherited only the superciliary arches, which protrude quite strongly. Their tail hangs a little, but very small. The body of the bird is small and streamlined.

In the majority it has chickens of Cornish breed of white color. But there are options for breeding dark, red and pale colors of birds. The character of the representatives is quite calm, although the blood of the fighters flows in their genes.

Advantages and productivity of the breed

The main advantage of this variety of chickens is very rapid growth. This is the quality that farmers appreciate. Literally six weeks later the chicken can give up to 2 kg of meat. If the bird continues to grow, then it only gains weight in fat. Very appreciated by farmers for a large amount of white dietary chicken meat Cornish. The characteristics of appearance, given above, indicate that the chicken has a wide and developed chest. This is the quality that enables farmers to receive a dietary product. Roosters of this breed often serve to produce hybrids (four-line).

It is known that Cornish is an indispensable source of protein. Egg productivity of one individual on average for a year is 140 eggs weighing up to 60 grams. Their color is light brown. The number of eggs that are fertilized does not differ much from the incubation.

disadvantages

Despite its high productivity, the chickens of this breed have disadvantages:

• Low hatchability, therefore, problems may occur in industrial breeding;
• Puberty comes to 6 months, which affects the possibilities of rapid breeding;
• The need for a careful balanced diet is important to ensure that chickens are not fattened, since the quality of the meat will then suffer;
• The characteristics of the build that the breed of chickens have a Cornish (photo shows it well enough) - a small head and a short neck - do not allow birds to fully breed the parasites;
• If the chickens are kept for more than 5 months, the meat will become harsh and lose its unique flavor properties, due to which this breed favorably differs from others.

Conditions of detention

For the breeding of birds you need to know the characteristics of the contents that require white chickens Cornish, another color, as well as representatives of other breeds. First of all, they pay attention to the fact that this bird can be grown both in cages and on a floor method. However, the cell significantly improves hygiene, due to the lack of regular contact with the litter. In this case, the need for systematic costs for veterinary drugs is eliminated. Chickens will not suffer from obsessive parasites.

Food

Feeding this breed is not a costly affair, but it must be under special control, as was said above. Young individuals are unpretentious in nutrition. An important factor is that the chicken eats little, and weight (muscle mass) is gaining rapidly. That's why the daily diet is somewhat limited and added as much as possible corn. To avoid digestive problems, sometimes a bit of normal sand is added to the chicken meal. In addition, the bird needs easily digestible protein and vitamins.

Excellent broilers are crossed chickens Cornish / Plymouth. The origin and standards of the latter breed are described below.

Breed Plymouth

There was this kind of poultry in America. It was first introduced in 1869. This event took place at a chickens show in Worcester (Worcester), Massachusetts. The breed was excavated by crossing Cochin, Dominicans, Brahma, fighting hens and any bird with a striped tail color. As a result, there were two types: exhibition and production. Exterior standards were established by the American Poultry Association in 1910.

Deviation from the norm is a marriage. The main difference is color. Plumage should be striped across the pen, alternating across the body, with the same width of the bands. The lines are white and black with a shade of lilac. Plymouthrock and Cornish - chickens (photos of both breeds are presented in the article), which have their own individual characteristics. For plymutrock, the dark color of the tips of feathers is a prerequisite.

In the cock, the waist and neck region has narrower white-black stripes. Therefore, the picture seems lighter than in chickens. The flight feathers of the cock have a larger pattern. The chicken has the same width throughout the body, it differs markedly from the cock with a more intense color of the black bands. The head of the chicken is small or medium in size.

Crossing Plymouth + Cornish

The breed of chickens, the description of which should start from the ridge, is the Plymouth. Why from him? Because this is a characteristic feature of the breed. The crest is low and has a pronounced leaf-like shape with prongs, which he has five. The beak of the Plymouth is short, strong and yellow in color. The eyes are shiny, orange-red. The ears of the ears are small and saturated red - this is a prerequisite. Earrings are medium in size and oval. The muzzle of the hen has a red tint and is smooth in structure.

According to their qualities, the Cornish chickens, the description of which was made above, are perfectly suitable for crossing with Plymouths, also having a wide thorax, densely covered with feathers. Good characteristics of both breeds served to improve the quality of broilers, especially meat.

However, broiler chickens require a special approach to the content. They need a warm, well-ventilated room with a sustained light regime and special boxes with heaters. But all the work pays off with interest. Starting from the 9th week of broilers, you can slaughter meat (their weight reaches 1.6-1.8 kg).

Plymouth features

The meat of this breed is tender, tasty and useful. However, its yellow color discourages gourmets, who consider such meat not elite.

At plymutrokov, the chest is slightly raised and protrudes forward. Wings of birds are medium in size and fit tightly to the trunk. The back is of medium length, wide, horizontal, slightly raised to the tail of a small size with a thick feathery covering and slightly reclined. Chickens have moderate lengths of hair. They have a thick feathering on their hips, like on wings. The palate is yellow, and the claws are light yellow. There are plymutroki white, black, fawn and kuropatchatogo color.

If the chickens of this breed have an overdeveloped, dumping crest, then this is a marriage. Also atypical are birds with a dark beak. Plymutrokam is not peculiar to have white shoots on the crest and lobes - this is also a marriage. Completely white feathers and brown plaque on plumage are unacceptable by standards. In no case should there be white color and plumage on the legs.

Advantages and disadvantages of Plymouth

Chickens of this species are very easygoing and calm. They are not restless and do not feel any discomfort. Strong physique and average size of the wing do not allow the bird to rise high. This is a big plus for farmers. They do not need a high fence. The bird quickly ripens. By the 6th month is ready for slaughter. At the same age, chickens are able to carry eggs. This breed belongs to the egg-meat type. Of the shortcomings: a poorly developed survival instinct.

Plymouth Productivity Characteristics

1. Live weight:

• Chicken - 2.7-3.5 kilograms;
• Rooster - 4-5 kilograms.

2. Eggplant is up to 190 eggs per year.

3. Weight of eggs (medium) - 60 grams.

4. Egg is cream colored.

5. Preservation of the breed - 96%.

Chickens breed Plymouth - one of the most beneficial options for farmers.

Other derived rocks

There are also miniature bentamki - chickens Cornish dwarf. They have excellent productive qualities, adaptability to conditions and viability.

Cours of the Cornish are still used for crossing with Sussex, Dorkeng and other meat-and-egg species. In the pure form of breeding Cornish does not always work. The fact is that a heavy weight with short legs prevents their natural reproduction.

Today, broilers are very popular, obtained from crossing Cornish and Plymouth, which are called Broiler-6. In addition, using the Cornish, the Neva-2 and Baltika-4 breeds were created, which are also in great demand. Meat broilers from the crossing of Plymouth and Cornish have 20% more useful proteins and up to 7% fat.

Broilers and white corn are different kinds, which are sometimes confused by ignorance. They are different even on the crests: peas and leaf. Broilers are obtained by crossing. These are four-linear hybrids of white Cornish and white Plymouth. If there is no parent herd of broilers, then artificial insemination is used. Where parental stocks are kept, artificial insemination is not used, since it is expensive and hard physical labor.

In such broods of chickens, the color of fluff is white. At the age of twenty-eight, they are not distinguished by sex. However, poultry Cornish are, as mentioned above, not only white, but also black, yellow, brown and dvuhkamuchatogo color, which is the most common among the colors. In the chickens of the breed the Cornish chicks, like other meat species, have problems with plumage. This is a little lengthy process. Therefore, if there is a shortage of substances necessary to the body, they may even die from hypothermia.

The excretion of Cornish hens is approximately 70% of the incubation eggs. Not all laid eggs, unfortunately, give offspring. But this did not affect the popularity of the breed among farmers. Due to other advantages, it remains in the rating of the most popular kinds of poultry, of course, mainly because of meat.