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Like greyfields said, Cornish Cross are a terminal hybrid - there are separate flocks kept for each grandparent position in the cross, and for each parent position. They're not a breed. The specific genetics of these parent birds are closely guarded, and they're raised on biosecure...

It's definitely complicated - there's a lot going on. I think the big thing is that this isn't something someone is going to be able to replicate/sort out these birds in 10 years with a backyard flock. They're the product of 50 years of research and selective breedings, and billions of birds...

Ridgerunner - here's a study comparing egg laying and offspring performance between genetic dwarf dame lines and standard dame lines. The get better fertility, and better efficiency from dwarf lines, with no real decrease in offspring performance: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21597080

The broiler industry maintains Grandparent Flocks, and Parent Flocks - because there's so many traits that are only good when they're heterozygous, and so many that are only good in the parent generation. My understanding is that the dame/granddame lines are actually small thrifty birds that lay...