My current breeding project birds

Here's my Dark Cornish roo. I know, he's not SOP, but the best I've been able to get ahold of so far. Much better body shape than the other two I had, which are now in the freezer. He was a gift fom another BYCer, and I'm very glad to have him. And he's healthy, strong, and fertile.







Those ladies around him are light Brahmas, and Brahma crosses.


This is from when he was a little younger.


My buff Brahma cross hens are descended from this handsome stud-muffin.



My one Dorking, and a mixed breed I call Ellis Grey. The Dorking 's mom was a Birchen, but the lady I got the eggs from didn't know what color Dorking roo was the papa. She has several colors. Out of 2 shipments of eggs from her, this is the only one that hatched.



Various hens, including one of the DC hens, not sure if she's the one I still have, or not. It's hard to get a picture of her, she doesn't pose well.

The plan is to use the DC roo over various hens, and see what I get. I have some Delaware hens, too, and some Buckeye, but can't find any good pics. The Brahma/DC crosses are promising, and I have this beautiful black Australorp/Brahma cross. She's a hefty babe but she doesn't pose well, either.

There are several Light Brahma /EE crosses, too, that look really good.

I recently sent eggs from this bunch to a friend to hatch, and they've started hatching. He said they're the biggest chicks he's ever seen. I'm looking forward to hatching a bunch myself, to see how they turn out. I have to finish processing the meat birds first, (I haven't been well the last couple of weeks, that's why I still have them now. Otherwise, they'd already be in the freezer.) and reduce the overall size of the flock, and sell my 2 Buckeye cockerels, they've just started jumping on hens. Then I can hatch some out and see what turns out how.

I'm definitely curious to see what you get out of a DC/Brahma cross, or a DC/brahma/something else cross. I have a couple of brahmas and they have a really nice body shape but they are such slowwwwww growers.

And that australorp/brahma cross is so pretty! Well, her rear end is pretty. I think a brahma/orp cross might be interesting -- nice round shape, maybe faster growth than the brahma alone.

Keep us posted.

Nice! Keep us posted!

I have 48 eggs ready to go into the brooder from my experiment. I have a Delaware roo in a pasture pen with Dark Cornish hens, and a Cornish roo in one with Delaware hens. I want to see which cross works the best.

Next I switch the roos back and then start the next generation of DC and Dels.

The biggest chicks he's ever seen, there's a compliment, very exciting. I look forward to seeing your chicks and hope you get feeling better so you can start hatching some. I don't know much about chickens, but I love your Brahma male.

I don't have the Brahma roo anymore, but I have descendants of his. The color pattern crops up all the time, I had a couple of roos from last fall's chicks that looked just like him, except one had an EE muff. Very pretty! I had light Brahma roos too, and some of my light Brahma hens are purebred, but most are crosses now. Some hens are from a brahma roo/DC hen cross, before I lost the buff Brahma roo.

The guy who gave me the DC roo showed me his DC/Delaware cross roo, he was huge! He was about 8 months old, so I don't know how big he was at maybe 16 weeks or so, but I've wanted to try that cross myself, to see.

Those chickens just don't pose very well. I toss out treats, then all I get are nice views of their backsides. I swear, some of the run when they see the camera. Or deliberately turn their backs. I need a new camera, too. The flap that holds in the batteries is broken and it's a PITA to use. It'll do for now.

I can't wait to see how the chicks my friend is hatching turn out, and get a batch of my own started.

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Will you call them Coralware ?

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How about Corlaware? Or Cornlaware? (I was already thinking Corningware.)

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How about Corlaware? Or Cornlaware? (I was already thinking Corningware.)

Yeah , he needs a cross of Dorking in there to complete it .

Have the Brahma Xs been faster growers? I've got Brahma Xed with RIR, BR or EE chicks I just hatched. I'm hoping for layer replacements and extras big enough to be worthwhile processing by 20 wks.

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The ones from the C hen x B roo were slow, but I'll soon be able to tell you if the other way around works any better. The growth on them poked along until they hit about 18 weeks, then there was a huge growth spurt. I had not had them on high protein feed, switched feed to a higher protein, and so I thought the feed change was what did it. Then I had more chicks later, started on higher protein, and they had the same growth pattern. I think they just genetically grow like mad after 18 weeks. By 22 weeks they were pretty big, but I didn't get around to butchering any until later, maybe 2 or 3 more weeks. I have physical issues that often interfere with my getting things done in a timely manner.

I also just don't have the time and energy for really precise record keeping, so I've learned to settle for spotting trends of development, and note what combos tend toward whatever traits I'm looking for. It may seem a sloppy way to go about it, and it is, but it's working ok for me, most of the time.

Now, the disappointing news: My friend who's hatching the eggs, only 7 have hatched. That leaves a BUNCH unhatched. He's check several of the non-hatchers, they had mostly fully developed, dead chicks. A few had chicks that died early. He has a bunch in different incubators, he's going to candle those before he breaks any more open. Then he'll let me know what he finds. I'm going to start a batch in my 'bator and see what happens, and he might come and get some more eggs to try again. So far, it doesn't appear to be a fertility issue. We don't know yet what's wrong. If mine hatch ok, maybe nothing, just a fluke.

I wonder if it's possible that this roo has a lethal gene he's passing on? Would that affect so many? He took home 5 dozen eggs, he only candled one set because they were in with quail and turkey eggs, and he was hand-turning them. The others he didn't candle, so I've no idea how many were clears from the start. But there was around 75% fertility on the ones he candled.