Hello,
I've had chickens for a couple years now, and finally want to start on a project I've been thinking about for a while now. My flock consists mainly of black Australorps, with a couple of black Jersey Giants. Last year I accidently ended up with a blue splash Cochin rooster, and despite not really wanting one, we ended up keeping him. He's been super friendly and good with the hens.
I've tried some other breeds, but Australorps are my favorite as they are very hardy and lay good size eggs like mad. I'd like to hatch out some of my eggs, which would result in an australorp/cochin cross. However, due to the genetics involved, all the chicks should be 'blue'.
Since my flock is supposed to be a small backyard flock...I'm only planning on hatching out 6-7 eggs at a time (using a small brinsea incubator). We'll eat or give away any boys we get, and only keep the girls for long term.
My plan is to eventually replace my entire flock with my own hatched eggs, so that eventually I'll have mostly blue hens running around. Eventually, when our rooster goes to the big chicken coop in the sky, or when he's not able to perform his roosterly duties adequately (or when I get too excited / impatient, and potentially just build a second coop ), I'd like to invest in a good quality Australorp rooster from a breeder , as my hens are all hatchery grade. I'm thinking this would increase the size of my birds, as well as keeping the blue/splash genes going. I realize that breeding blue hens to a black rooster would give me chicks that could be blue, black, or splash. I'm also open to adding a rooster of a different breed, as long as I could continue the blue color theme, and still maintain good production of nice sized eggs
Ultimately, my goal is to see if I could produce nice sized blue colored birds that produce a good amount of good sized brown eggs. Since they will be mixes, I'm not too concerned about breeding birds that would exactly fit into a particular breed standard. I'd like to use this thread as a diary of sorts, and a place to ask questions and gain insights from others who have started their own breeding adventures.
So my first question set of questions....have you ever had an australorp/cochin cross? Are they good sized birds? If I went with a rooster of a breed other than Australorp...what would you suggest?
Thanks!
Justine
I've had chickens for a couple years now, and finally want to start on a project I've been thinking about for a while now. My flock consists mainly of black Australorps, with a couple of black Jersey Giants. Last year I accidently ended up with a blue splash Cochin rooster, and despite not really wanting one, we ended up keeping him. He's been super friendly and good with the hens.
I've tried some other breeds, but Australorps are my favorite as they are very hardy and lay good size eggs like mad. I'd like to hatch out some of my eggs, which would result in an australorp/cochin cross. However, due to the genetics involved, all the chicks should be 'blue'.
Since my flock is supposed to be a small backyard flock...I'm only planning on hatching out 6-7 eggs at a time (using a small brinsea incubator). We'll eat or give away any boys we get, and only keep the girls for long term.
My plan is to eventually replace my entire flock with my own hatched eggs, so that eventually I'll have mostly blue hens running around. Eventually, when our rooster goes to the big chicken coop in the sky, or when he's not able to perform his roosterly duties adequately (or when I get too excited / impatient, and potentially just build a second coop ), I'd like to invest in a good quality Australorp rooster from a breeder , as my hens are all hatchery grade. I'm thinking this would increase the size of my birds, as well as keeping the blue/splash genes going. I realize that breeding blue hens to a black rooster would give me chicks that could be blue, black, or splash. I'm also open to adding a rooster of a different breed, as long as I could continue the blue color theme, and still maintain good production of nice sized eggs
Ultimately, my goal is to see if I could produce nice sized blue colored birds that produce a good amount of good sized brown eggs. Since they will be mixes, I'm not too concerned about breeding birds that would exactly fit into a particular breed standard. I'd like to use this thread as a diary of sorts, and a place to ask questions and gain insights from others who have started their own breeding adventures.
So my first question set of questions....have you ever had an australorp/cochin cross? Are they good sized birds? If I went with a rooster of a breed other than Australorp...what would you suggest?
Thanks!
Justine