My Experience with Cornish X Hybrid Chicks

I've raised chickens for several years and have heard horror stories about the Cornish X (pronounced Cornish Cross) hybrid which is generally used as a meat-producing chicken. These chickens are said to be ready to harvest in as little as eight weeks by which time they can weigh as much as most other breeds weigh at five months or more. The downside, according to the stories is that Cornish X chickens are simply eating machines.

The stories would have us believe that they do little more than plop themselves down in the dirt beside the feeder and eat all day long. The only time they get up to walk is when they need a drink and then only if the water is too far away to reach from where they are sitting. They are dirty and lazy beyond belief goes the tale.

Cornish X chickens are a hybrid derived from crossing four separate "grandparent" breeds to produce hybrid parents which, in turn, produce Cornish X chicks, even though the parents themselves are not classified as Cornish X. The exact mix is a trade secret by commercial hatcheries although others have produced fast-growing hybrids nearly as productive as the Cornish X. Breeding two Cornish X chickens, if you could, would not result in a new generation of Cornish X chicks, but chickens with a hodge-podge of traits from the grandparent strains.

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Stories like these keep many from trying the Cornish X hybrid for themselves. Even I was a little loathe to try them and hatched my own dual purpose chickens for both meat and eggs. This spring, however, I attended a 4H Club charity auction in which 50 day-old Cornish X chicks were being auctioned as a lot. We bought them for about 45 cents each. That's pretty cheap, so we thought we'd give them a try.

I already had two little hatchlings from my own flock that were four days old when we received the Cornish X chicks. The Cornish X behavior is not, in my experience at all like what I expected. They are more preoccupied with eating than other breeds which I own. When they see me coming with food they swarm around my feet so thickly that it's hard to walk.

Some give their Cornish X 24 hour access to food to maximize their growth. I do not put food in the coop at night and they do empty their feeders completely between feedings during the day, so there is about an hour or two each day when they are without food. I also allow them to free range around the yard. They wander over about an acre of open yard and even forage a bit along the edge of the forests that surround the property.

They are energetic, mobile and very fast growing. They outmass the chicks I hatched on my own by a significant margin even though they are a bit younger. The attached picture shows the size difference at about six weeks. From an economic perspective, they are definitely the way to go for meat chickens.

I have to say though, that they do seem somewhat less smart than my other chickens. Typically, when assigning a set of chicks to a new coop, all it takes is physically placing them in the coop at nightfall for two or a maximum of three days for slow learners before the chicks learn that they sleep inside the coop and go there of their own volition at dusk. After more than 20 days of picking them up at night and putting them inside the coop, the Cornish X seem no closer to learning to go inside on their own. That's a bit disappointing because it is a significant effort to pick up fifty small chickens and place them inside the coop each night by flashlight.

The other downside to Cornish X is that if you do not butcher them young, their continued rapid weight gain can lead to significant health problems. At around 12 weeks old, they start to get heavy enough to develop leg problems. This can be severe and include legs that twist and break under the birds' own weight. This is something I have seen first hand at other people's farms, so it isn't just a story. They can also develop cardiovascular issues leading to sudden death. Cornish X chickens are bred for one purpose and one purpose only: to provide meat for the kitchen table at a young age. Sparing them from this fate does not do them any favors.

If you have any question about your ability to butcher this breed of chicken when the time comes, then Cornish X is not the right breed for you. Some even butcher them early, at five or six weeks old. At this time, they'll be what you see in the supermarket labeled as Cornish Game Hens, smaller than a regular chicken, but big enough to make a good individual meal.

Based on my experience, I would definitely raise Cornish X chicks again. While not suitable as egg-layers, they are without question, the superior choice for meat production.

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