Pg (pattern gene) can also create patterns on the e^Wh (wheaten) base, and while these patterns aren't widespread, they are common in Cornish.
It is interesting to me that while it is the lightest e base wheaten produces some of the darkest patterns, while E^R creates patterns with the least amount of black. This is only possible due to the melanizing affect of charcoal (cha).
The Cornish version of double laced is known as "dark." Bantam dark Cornish are usually Wheaten based. Large fowl dark Cornish are Partridge based. The way you can tell what E-base your birds have is to look at the chick down.
The dark genotype is e^Wh/e^WhMl/Mlcha/chaMl/MlMh/Mh. They may have some additional genes that make them darker.
The source for this photo was sus but I really struggled to find a dark Cornish bantam male so if you have a better one that you'd like me to feature, let me know!
Laced Cornish
Laced in Cornish has black or diluted tails. I have recently discovered their necks can and should be laced as well but those are the Patridge-based white-laced reds. Thanks to the Charcoal gene, the Wheaten-based bantams will have mostly solid-colored necks.
I haven't seen any black laced red Cornish, only blue laced red, or like in this picture, white laced red. The existance of blue laced red implies black laced red and splash laced red exist (and some splash laced red are probably exhibited as white laced red) but I digress.
All I have a picture of is the white laced red so I will stick to that. ("I" represents dominant white)
Axel: In Loving Memory of a Guy Who Was One in a Billion — or 50 Billion
Each year, more than 50 billion chickens are slaughtered for food worldwide — a number that, if you attempt to break it down, seems impossible. Hundreds of millions of chickens in the meat industry perish even before they are sent out to slaughter — and they are still just babies.
Many of the birds above will have died before they even reached 2 months of age. An industry that bases its profits on fast growth and no individualized care is no place for any living being.
And like every cow, sheep, pig, dog, cat, or human, each of those billions of birds, when pulled out and met on their own terms, is an individual with their own personality, their own quirks, and their own needs.
Sweet baby Axel arrived sick, frightened, and injured — thankfully, fate brought him to Farm Sanctuary.
Chickens referred to as “broilers” by the meat industry are actually a breed called Cornish, which, over decades, has been changed genetically and selectively so that the birds have become giants — a far cry from the birds they came from originally (jungle fowl).
Jungle fowl are the original chickens and a far cry from the new, very genetically changed chicken used in the meat industry. Jungle fowl (shown on the left) weigh 3-4 pounds when fully grown. The white “broiler” breed, shown next to the jungle fowl, weighs around 5 pounds when sold at just 32-42 days of age. Full-grown broiler chickens weigh between 8-18 pounds on a restricted diet.
As a young bird headed for slaughter, Axel was in a transport accident on the Staten Island Expressway. Transport trailers are crammed full of birds in crates, and not carefully, because there is little value placed on the birds.
Many of the chickens died on impact; others were so severely injured that they had to be humanely euthanized. Axel was understandably frightened and tired when he arrived at our New York Shelter.
This haunting photo by Jo-Anne McArthur shows how broilers are shoved and stuffed into open-air crates for transport. These crates can come loose, propelling already very fragile birds onto the highway. Sadly, this is not uncommon.
Many of the birds we rescued that day had compound fractures from the accident. Axel had broken and torn-up toes, but thankfully, he had survived this terrible crash that took the lives of so many of his friends.
With birds who grow as large as these Cornish crosses, the loss of a toe, or the tip of a toe, can make arthritis set in quickly.
Axel was one of the heaviest members of this group of newly arrived babies, and a sweet boy who had a splayed-out leg and broken toes. Even so, he was feisty and bossy with the other chickens, despite having health issues that, had he remained in a factory farm full of other birds, would have cost him his life right away. In the crowded barns of the “broiler” industry, a downed bird is a dead bird.
With terribly overcrowded conditions, which get worse as the birds grow, being unable to walk can quickly become fatal. Thankfully, Axel had his health issues here and was able to live for years at Farm Sanctuary.
He was also one of the bowling-ball-shaped birds that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. Some of the Cornish birds are tall and large, but others look perfectly round. Axel was a prime example — in his case, not just round, but round with huge feet, short legs, and a waddley run. He looked like a Weepul (if you cannot remember or you are super young, see below).
I had a whole lot of these Weepuls around my room as a kid, and Axel looked like a Weepul — without the antenna, of course.
Thankfully, he grew out of most of his bossiness and became a very sweet, goofy rooster. He and guy friends Jack Sprat, Brownyn, Puck, and Robot made a great crew of funny men — real comedians who, although they were all male, never fought. Instead, they enjoyed their outside time, eating apples (Axel’s favorite activity), hanging out together, and even visiting with their human friends — the caregivers who ensured that all of these birds who’d arrived downed, injured, and sick got back up on their feet and became active and happy.
The boys enjoying a nice summer day. Chickens, like all animals and human animals, love to play. This is chicken play!
Unfortunately, Axel had some major health issues. With his strange build, his legs were always a problem — both because of genetics and likely from being injured in the accident. And although the majority of the family of birds he arrived with live on, we lost this amazing bird this year to sciatic nerve degeneration and, like so many birds of this breed, to heart disease.
Unlike the other boys from the rescue, Axel never got the giant comb or wattles and always had some health problems. Here he is covered in dirt with a touch of grass — likely from pecking at apples in the yard all day.
Axel did his best to stay as dignified as possible at the end of his life, but soon he was unable to walk and we had to make the sad decision to let him go. Before that, he stayed with us at our onsite Melrose Small Animal Hospital — still greeting incoming animals, still enjoying the company of the humans who loved him, and still loving those apples. This boy was one in 50 billion!
Axel’s last few days were spent with his beloved human caregivers, and even little lamb Lucus came to say hello. We miss you buddy!
i raised two cornish rock chickens alongside my egg-layers and we had them processed at 10 weeks. by that age, all they did was lay down (always), eat (excessively), pant (constantly), poop (a LOT)... they waddled when they walked and it was really hard to watch them try. they were really struggling- shaky swollen legs... etc. we couldn't really get them to "exercise" either. we probably should have had them processed earlier (we could not do it ourselves, they were my babies) at like 8 weeks.
What I’m taking away from this conversation is that monitoring food intake with this breed is pretty damn essential. I mean, yes, you should technically do it with all breeds, but... whoa.
Do you or any of your followers raise cornish cross breed chickens and if so have you struggled with their weight gain/leg problems and IF SO do you have photos of these problems? Thanks so much.
Not I.
Anyone?
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mysunwolf said: Hm, no photos, didn’t even think to take one. We had one with kinky back, where they sit on their hocks and have trouble walking. He survived to slaughter (6 weeks)! Leg weakness is common, they just sit close to the feed trough, eat, don’t move much.
murdorito said: I have not raised them but I’m told taking away the food at night will prevent them from gaining too fast.
eledong said: Cornish cross breeds also seem to be a very sickly breed. I’ve lost several due to illnesses whereas my other chickens are completely fine. Leg problems have only happened with me when I did not adequately control their food intake.
nambroth said: Simply: Do not raise cornish cross if you might get attached to them. The problems seem pretty much par for the course for these poor birds. With few exceptions (there are always exceptions).
