Anybody mixing breeds for your "perfect" chicken?

[collie1470]

Just curious if anybody has been either doing this in practice, or studying up on chicken genetics in order to do so?

If so, what breeds do you plan to incorporate into your crosses and why?

I'm interested to see what crosses people are keeping, and what their goal was/is (egg color/size/production, meat quantity/quality, appearance, etc).

 

[collie1470]

I'm looking at NN and Jersey Giant to start. Get some size into the naked necks (I like the reduced feathering....I think it makes for a better looking table bird....)

Then maybe introducing EEs into the mix, to try for the pea comb and to get some color into the eggs.

 

[donrae]

I've been doing this for years. My goals keep changing, thankfully that allows me to get more chickens!

I started out wanting high production colored egg layers. I bred brown Leghorns and Easter eggers and got just what I wanted--hens that laid a lot of large blue or green eggs.



Then I got intrigued by sex link genetics and decided I wanted a colored egg laying sex link. I decided the black sex links were easier for my purposes, so I put those hens under a sex link rooster and got all sorts of pretty barred hens of various colors. Some laid green eggs, some brown. I put the green egg layers under an Ameraucana rooster for sex linked colored egg layers. I also put some of them under my part Welsummer rooster for darker Olive type eggs. I also put the brown egg laying hens under the part Wellie for darker brown laying sex linked pullets.

I'm now looking for a nicer meat carcass, so I have a small breeding pen of Dark Cornish. My plan is to interbreed them with whatever dual purpose layers I have going next year and see how that does for carcass size. Only thing is, the Cornish aren't great layers and I don't want to really drop egg production.

 

[hellbender]

I'm looking at NN and Jersey Giant to start. Get some size into the naked necks (I like the reduced feathering....I think it makes for a better looking table bird....)

Then maybe introducing EEs into the mix, to try for the pea comb and to get some color into the eggs.

If you've been able to follow my posts on my thread...(Production.....) You might see that I'm using Buckeyes over Dark CornishX NN's. Also, crossing Chantecler cockerels over White Rock hens. The Naked Necks are single combs of course but just one or two crosses will produce almost total hatches of pea combed chicks, the pea comb being dominant.

We caponize and poulardize which makes for an overall better table bird in almost every case when he procedure is done early and done correctly.

In my opinion, the Jersey Giant is a fantastically beautiful bird but in my opinion, they carry too much weight in bone.

Good luck.

RON

 

[collie1470]

We plan to caponize as well, actually. Well, I suppose by we, I really mean "I" on that one.

I have been following your thread, it's full of tons of great information. I thought it may be nice to get a list of current and planned mixes up as well. Never know, someone may just see a mix they want to try out

 

[collie1470]

The NNs are what got me wanting to work on crosses. I saw a NN after processing and it was beautiful (well, as beautiful as a carcass can be). It got me thinking about how much nicer that'd look served up for dinner.

But the straight NNs are pretty small, so I wanted to introduce something bigger. And I have always had a love for Jersey Giants. Then from there, I got thinking about the comb. It gets cold....and I'd prefer smaller combs because of that. So I figured, I may as well go for a two-for and get the pea comb and awesome eggs from one place. I'm a sucker for those green eggs....and green and brown bred together brings you toward those wonderful olive eggs, which are so in demand.

So far, EE/NN/JG is where I'm at. I feel bad for my fiance....having to listen to me as I go through researching and deciding. Poor guy XD

 

[collie1470]

I've been doing this for years. My goals keep changing, thankfully that allows me to get more chickens! I started out wanting high production colored egg layers. I bred brown Leghorns and Easter eggers and got just what I wanted--hens that laid a lot of large blue or green eggs. Then I got intrigued by sex link genetics and decided I wanted a colored egg laying sex link. I decided the black sex links were easier for my purposes, so I put those hens under a sex link rooster and got all sorts of pretty barred hens of various colors. Some laid green eggs, some brown. I put the green egg layers under an Ameraucana rooster for sex linked colored egg layers. I also put some of them under my part Welsummer rooster for darker Olive type eggs. I also put the brown egg laying hens under the part Wellie for darker brown laying sex linked pullets. I'm now looking for a nicer meat carcass, so I have a small breeding pen of Dark Cornish. My plan is to interbreed them with whatever dual purpose layers I have going next year and see how that does for carcass size. Only thing is, the Cornish aren't great layers and I don't want to really drop egg production.

I bet a lot of people would love to have EE/Leghorn crosses. I'm actually surprised I don't see more of them.

 

[donrae]

They've gained popularity the last few years as Super Blue Egg Layers or Sapphires. Those usually use white Leghorns and sometimes pure Ameraucana. My birds were brown Leghorns ( I just don't care for white birds) and EE, cause that was all I had. I think it's a great cross

 

[collie1470]

How fun that must be haha. Lots of colors.

 

[collie1470]

I'm driving my fiance crazy talking about what breeds to mix and hopefully get the results I'm after. Poor guy must think I'm crazy XD