Eggs, Who determines the size?

[Dyran]

Hello, I have decided to try to get into breeding black sex link chickens. I already ordered my chicks a while back and decided I was going to do a Dark Cornish for my rooster and Barred Rocks for my hens. However after a little more searching i realized that the eggs of a Dark Cornish hen are somewhat smaller then desirable. So who determines the egg size of the black sex link? Rooster or Hen? I was going to do Dark Cornish for better meat bird combo.

 

[Dyran]

No one?

 

[Mrs. K]

well, I don't think it is the sex of the bird as much as it is the breed of the bird. I am thinking that over time, the rooster crossing with the hens will produce birds like neither parent, and you might get lucky with some, and not with others. You could breed for the larger eggs, by only hatching those, but with cross breeding, you loose the predictability that you have with pure breeds.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

Can be the breed of the bird......or the birds age and/or overall health.
In this case, it could depend on which parent the offspring take most after?
Guess only time will tell.
Hard to balance the meat quantity/quality to egg quantity/quality in a dual purpose bird,
they all seems to lean one way or the other.