Creating a new breed

[risingstarpoultry]

Quote:
there are crested call ducks(Darrel Sheraw in sligo PA.had them)

 

[pgpoultry]

What you really all need is a flock of Gordons.

And, yes, the ladies exist, too.

Jezebel

 

[tinychicky]

This is my favorite mix- Rosies! silkie/rosecomb crosses! they're petite, elegant little beauties i would love to see someone start working on

 

[HomestedHomeboy]

I haven't read all the posts on this thread yet, but it seems most of you are just making F1 crosses rather than creating breeds. To create a breed, you would need to inbreed for many generations before any real amount of uniformity is achieved. Those of you who are working on creating a breed, it seems you are focusing more on creating a strain. A strain is a sub-classification of a breed (barred rocks, brown leghorns, buff orpingtons...). I would encourage people to develop their own new breeds. Currently, I am working on a breed which lays eggs as regularly as possible, but still goes broody often. I intend to let my flock reproduce freely until I see a somewhat uniform pattern, then I should selectively breed only those specimens which display favorable traits. I will probably end up getting bored with it, though, and let them just be mutts. At least then I could effectively utilize heterosis!

Neil Wigley

 

[NYREDS]

I haven't read all the posts on this thread yet, but it seems most of you are just making F1 crosses rather than creating breeds. To create a breed, you would need to inbreed for many generations before any real amount of uniformity is achieved. Those of you who are working on creating a breed, it seems you are focusing more on creating a strain. A strain is a sub-classification of a breed (barred rocks, brown leghorns, buff orpingtons...). I would encourage people to develop their own new breeds. Currently, I am working on a breed which lays eggs as regularly as possible, but still goes broody often. I intend to let my flock reproduce freely until I see a somewhat uniform pattern, then I should selectively breed only those specimens which display favorable traits. I will probably end up getting bored with it, though, and let them just be mutts. At least then I could effectively utilize heterosis!

Neil Wigley

On BYC there are no mutts, just new breeds,

 

[HomestedHomeboy]

On BYC there are no mutts, just new breeds,

That is incorrect. According to Webster's Dictionary, a breed is, "a group, or stock, of animals or plants descended from common ancestors and having similar characteristics, esp. such a group cultivated by man." If a cross between two established breeds is deliberate, it is an F1 Hybrid. Otherwise, it is classified as a mutt. This isn't necessarily bad, though, because hybrids often produce significantly more eggs and are generally more robust.

Neil Wigley

 

[NYREDS]

That is incorrect. According to Webster's Dictionary, a breed is, "a group, or stock, of animals or plants descended from common ancestors and having similar characteristics, esp. such a group cultivated by man." If a cross between two established breeds is deliberate, it is an F1 Hybrid. Otherwise, it is classified as a mutt. This isn't necessarily bad, though, because hybrids often produce significantly more eggs and are generally more robust.

Neil Wigley

I guess I should have held up my "this comment is mildly sarcastic" sign.

 

[areyachiken]

I have two that I am starting to work on this year, not sure where it will go. Goal one is to have a larger dual purpose bird that lays a large very dark egg in the rate of one a day, and has a partridge color. the breeds I will be using for this will be the bn leghorn, partridge rock, and a welsummer. (let me know what you think) and what order you would do this isn, which roo over which hen..etc...new to trying the breeding thing...like genetics and the challenge of coming up with my own breed/strain..

the second i am looking to have a large fast growing alternative to the jumbo corn rock that can forage and will reach market in 12-14 weeks. not sure what breeds i will use for this was thinking lt brahma, and something else maybe a delaware. (any ideas, are appreciated)

 

[HomestedHomeboy]

If you're planning to use brown leghorns, the egg color is going to be lighter than it sounds like you're looking for. Why do you want especially dark eggs anyway? Also, if you have a large bird that lays really often, it probably isn't going to be very feed-efficient. It might be better to focus on either egg production OR bird size. On your second breed idea, the only reason the commercial cornish crosses are so efficient at putting weight on is a factor called heterosis, or hybrid vigor. It will take decades to get even close to your goal if you try to develop a pure strain which is as vigorous as the commercial hybrids. You might find it easier to develop TWO strains you can cross to get F1 hybrids. You can do a butt-load of reading on hybrids and then decide. One book I've found to be invaluable is Hybrid: the history and science of plant hybridization. by Noel Kingsbury. Although it is written about plants, the genetics work very similar in animals. One thing you might be interested in is a project my chemistry teacher told me about; his wife worked for several decades at Oregon State University to develop a strain of white leghorns which could hatch in a few days less than usual. I understand she increased the incubation temperature by a little bit over several generations until they were able to withstand significantly hotter temperatures, by default, they developed slightly quicker. In a backyard setting, this isn't a big deal, but in production, this could be worth $thousands. Let me know what you think, I love talking about this sort of stuff.

Neil Wigley

 

[annabell254]

I just found this thread! and am intrigued!!!! I am wanting to add a crested chicken to my flock....I really like the sultan but I also want a good egg layer....I would love a cross, breed, or sub-species... what ever you want to call it

of this anyone here trying something like this??? I would think you could cross it with a good layer of similar size like a hamburg...keep only the ones that looked like sultans and only breed the ones with the most eggs/per/week back to a sultan for type then back to a hamburg to eggs....until you get what you like and then try interbreeding until you get consistency...am I even close ???