What other hens could go with my Wyandotte

[Hambug]

Hi all! Im currently sorting out my chick orders for this year, I'm planning to have two separate coops. My larger coop and run will consist of a mix of colored layers and a blue Plymouth rooster. My smaller coop and run will hopefully become the first of a few breeding projects. I decided I want to start with Wyandottes so I got a few silver hens and a silver rooster, I don't want to run into the issue of overbreeding though since I only have 3 hens ordered. Are there any other breeds I could put with my silver rooster that would be worthwhile when it comes to mixing breeds?
I am struggling to find information on different hybrids that are half Silver Laced Wyandotte

Here is my current list of breeds I have ordered
Salmon faverolle pullet 1
Dark brahma pullet 1
Light brahma pullet 1
Black Copper marans pullet 1
Easter egger pullet 1
Olive egger pullet 1
Partridge cochin pullet 1
Blue cochin pullet 1
Assorted cochin pullet 1
Silver laced wyandotte roo 1
Silver lace wyandotte pullet 3
Golden laced pullet 2

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

I can’t wait to see the chicks! They sound really pretty !
If you want to have some more patterns, you could add in a Rainbow Dixie, Sapphire Gem, or Barred Rock. Those have really pretty colors/patterns

 

[NatJ]

I decided I want to start with Wyandottes so I got a few silver hens and a silver rooster, I don't want to run into the issue of overbreeding though since I only have 3 hens ordered. Are there any other breeds I could put with my silver rooster that would be worthwhile when it comes to mixing breeds?

What mixes are worthwhile depends on what qualities you want in the chicks. If you just want cute chicks, any hen breed will work fine with that rooster.

If you want more hens in the pen to spread the rooster's attention, you could add hens who lay a different color of eggs. Then only hatch the Wyandotte eggs, and you won't have any mixed chicks.

If you want to hatch some mixes, but you want to know which chicks are pure Wyandottes and which are not, you could put in some hens who will produce chicks with recognizable traits. For example, the Blue Cochin pullet will produce chicks with feathered feet, and her chicks will include some black ones and some blue ones but no laced ones.

I am struggling to find information on different hybrids that are half Silver Laced Wyandotte

The most common hybrids are ones where male and female chicks hatch with different colors of down, or ones where the offspring will produce interesting egg colors (like Olive Eggers), or ones where the offspring grow very fast to be butchered for meat. A Silver Laced Wyandotte rooster is not typically used for any of those kinds of hybrids, so it is not particularly easy to find examples of hybrid chickens with a Silver Laced Wyandotte father.

Based on what genes a Silver Laced Wyandotte has, I can make some predictions:

In general, Wyandotte hybrids tend to inherit the rose comb of the Wyandotte (exception: some Wyandottes have the recessive gene that allows single comb, so they may produce single comb chicks in some crosses.)

Wyandottes have yellow feet, clean shanks (no feathers on the lower legs), no crest, no muff/beard. If you breed a Wyandotte rooster to any hen who matches him in those traits, all the chicks will also match both parents. A hen with white feet, feathered shanks, crest, or muff/beard may pass those traits to her chicks. Depending on what genes she carries, she might pass those traits to all of her chicks, or maybe to just some of them.

For color, Silver (white) is dominant over gold (red/brown/yellow), so chicks are likely to show silver even if their mother has gold (example: Partridge Cochin is genetically gold, but chicks will be silver if she is crossed with your silver rooster.)

For patterning, lacing requires a specific combination of several genes. Mixed chicks will probably not show nice lacing, and may not seem to have any lacing at all.