Merging Blue OEG chicks with another group of chicks, which breed will be more compatible?

[ShantyBuilder]

I have 4 Blue old English Game chicks (10 days old) and I want to merge them with the most compatible of the following (all 4 days old):

A) 10 Blue Laced Red Wyandotte (sexed) pullets
B) 15 Mille defleur barbu d'uccles
C) 10 golden Sebrights
D) 15 Blue Silkie Bantams (lol)

I prefer to free range multiple flocks.
I greatly enjoy allowing broody hens to follow their natural course of hatching, mothering etc (i.e. I'd like it to result in cross breeding as well as a cohesive flock for free ranging, ideally persisting across multiple generations)

Q1:
Which combo makes for the most cohesive flock?
Q2:
which hybrid crosses might produce the most *interesting* Additions to the flock?

Also: this is my first BYC post, prompt and thoughtful responses very much appreciated
Thank You!

 

[NatJ]

I have 4 Blue old English Game chicks (10 days old) and I want to merge them with the most compatible of the following (all 4 days old):

A) 10 Blue Laced Red Wyandotte (sexed) pullets
B) 15 Mille defleur barbu d'uccles
C) 10 golden Sebrights
D) 15 Blue Silkie Bantams (lol)

I prefer to free range multiple flocks.
I greatly enjoy allowing broody hens to follow their natural course of hatching, mothering etc (i.e. I'd like it to result in cross breeding as well as a cohesive flock for free ranging, ideally persisting across multiple generations)

Q1:
Which combo makes for the most cohesive flock?
Q2:
which hybrid crosses might produce the most *interesting* Additions to the flock?

Also: this is my first BYC post, prompt and thoughtful responses very much appreciated
Thank You!

Since some of the points are the same as your other question, some of the answers are going to sound the same too

Most cohesive flock:

Probably not Silkies, because the OEGB (Old English Game Bantams) will be able to fly well and the Silkies will not. I would expect the OEGB to want to roost high at night, and the Silkies to sleep on the ground. Sleeping apart probably does not help them feel like a single flock.

Sebrights have the most similar body type, but I do not know if that affects behavior or anything else that would matter to a chicken.

Wyandotte and Sebright have the smallest numbers right now, so if you are trying for flocks of equal size, it might make sense to add the OEGB to one of them.

Genetics:
Blue chickens are genetically a black chicken, with one copy of the blue gene changing the black to blue. Two copies of the blue gene turns it into splash, and of course no copies of the blue gene leaves the chicken black. Breeding blue to blue gives about 50% blue chicks, 25% black, 25% splash.


Cross Breeding:
Crossing the blue Old English Game Bantams with any of those other breeds should give you black chicks and blue chicks, some splash chicks if the other parent is blue or splash.

Chicks from the Silkie parents should be a nice black, blue, or splash; chicks from any of the other parents may show some red or white leakage in their feathers as they grow up.

Chicks should not show mottling (like Mille Fleur) or lacing.

If you later breed the crossed chicks with each other or with the original parent breeds, you may see lacing or mottling again in the next generation, and you may see those on a silver background as well as a gold background (because black & blue chickens sometimes carry silver rather than gold, but you don't know for sure until it appears in their descendants.)

If both parents have single combs, all chicks will have single combs.
If one parent has a single comb (OEGB) and the other parent has a different comb, the chicks are likely to match the not-single comb (Wyandotte, Sebright, Silkie). Chickens with a not-single comb can sometimes produce chicks with single combs, because they can carry the recessive genes without showing them.

Any parent with muff/beard, feathered feet, crest, or 5th toe is likely to pass that trait on to their chicks. Sebrights of either gender are likely to pass hen feathering to their sons.

Silkie feathering is caused by a recessive gene, so chicks with one Silkie parent will have normal feather texture.



Since you have blue Old English Game Bantams and also Spangled Old English Game Bantams (other post), if you want to add each to a different group, and if you intend to let them breed and later let the crossed chicks breed, I would probably put the Spangled ones with the Wyandottes and the Blue ones with the d'Uccles. That is based on both the group sizes and the colors/patterns I would expect to see in the offspring. Or I would put the blues with the silkies and the spangled with the d'Uccles, so one group produces just black/blue/splash, and the other group breeds true for the mottling gene (dots/spangles.)

But any way you want to combine them will probably work well.

 

[ShantyBuilder]

Since some of the points are the same as your other question, some of the answers are going to sound the same too

Most cohesive flock:

Probably not Silkies, because the OEGB (Old English Game Bantams) will be able to fly well and the Silkies will not. I would expect the OEGB to want to roost high at night, and the Silkies to sleep on the ground. Sleeping apart probably does not help them feel like a single flock.

Sebrights have the most similar body type, but I do not know if that affects behavior or anything else that would matter to a chicken.

Wyandotte and Sebright have the smallest numbers right now, so if you are trying for flocks of equal size, it might make sense to add the OEGB to one of them.

Genetics:
Blue chickens are genetically a black chicken, with one copy of the blue gene changing the black to blue. Two copies of the blue gene turns it into splash, and of course no copies of the blue gene leaves the chicken black. Breeding blue to blue gives about 50% blue chicks, 25% black, 25% splash.


Cross Breeding:
Crossing the blue Old English Game Bantams with any of those other breeds should give you black chicks and blue chicks, some splash chicks if the other parent is blue or splash.

Chicks from the Silkie parents should be a nice black, blue, or splash; chicks from any of the other parents may show some red or white leakage in their feathers as they grow up.

Chicks should not show mottling (like Mille Fleur) or lacing.

If you later breed the crossed chicks with each other or with the original parent breeds, you may see lacing or mottling again in the next generation, and you may see those on a silver background as well as a gold background (because black & blue chickens sometimes carry silver rather than gold, but you don't know for sure until it appears in their descendants.)

If both parents have single combs, all chicks will have single combs.
If one parent has a single comb (OEGB) and the other parent has a different comb, the chicks are likely to match the not-single comb (Wyandotte, Sebright, Silkie). Chickens with a not-single comb can sometimes produce chicks with single combs, because they can carry the recessive genes without showing them.

Any parent with muff/beard, feathered feet, crest, or 5th toe is likely to pass that trait on to their chicks. Sebrights of either gender are likely to pass hen feathering to their sons.

Silkie feathering is caused by a recessive gene, so chicks with one Silkie parent will have normal feather texture.



Since you have blue Old English Game Bantams and also Spangled Old English Game Bantams (other post), if you want to add each to a different group, and if you intend to let them breed and later let the crossed chicks breed, I would probably put the Spangled ones with the Wyandotes and the Blue ones with the d'Uccles. That is based on both the group sizes and the colors/patterns I would expect to see in the offspring. Or I would put the blues with the silkies and the spangled with the d'Uccles, so one group produces just black/blue/splash, and the other group breeds true for the mottling gene (dots/spangles.)

But any way you want to combine them will probably work well.

Ok slight correction, let me know if this changes anything:
The Blue OEG's are not Bantams, only the Spangleds are Bantams.

 

[NatJ]

Ok slight correction, let me know if this changes anything:
The Blue OEG's are not Bantams, only the Spangleds are Bantams.

Oh, I was assuming they were all bantams.
Does this mean the Wyandottes are standard sized as well? They are another breed that comes in both sizes, and now I see that you did not say "bantam" when you listed them.

Bantams and large fowl can do fine together, but any chicks are likely to be an in-between size.

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

I would put the OEGs and the Wyandottes together because they are both standards. However @NatJ gave you more info then I could ever give!