Anyone with Mosiac chicken experience?

[HenHouse4Life]

I have been in contact with a breeder but am reaching out to BYC folks for any further insight, thanks!

 

[Pyxis]

Mosaics aren't a real breed. They're a mixed breed project being sold as a real breed for a lot of money. They don't breed true, no one yet has hatched one that has skin as blue as the picture on the farm that created them's website as far as I know, and really, in my opinion, they're not worth it. I could have something like them in two generations if I crossbred my ayam cemanis to something else. And just like the ones that are being sold, those offspring wouldn't breed true either, so I wouldn't go around trying to sell them as a new breed.

Then again, these were created by the same farm that also purposefully bred ayam cemanis with leakage instead of culling them and was selling those birds under the name of "partridge" ayam cemanis or something like that, so I guess I can't really be that surprised.

However, if you want to lay out the money for mixed breed project birds that don't breed true because you want some pretty yard birds to look at, then it might be worth it to you to get them.

 

[Roxanne c.28]

Not had any issue getting them to breed true. ‍ If you breed an overly white bird to another the fibro color weakens and you begin to lose the mosaic pattern. Sounds more like you just hate the breeder.

 

[Pyxis]

Not had any issue getting them to breed true. ‍ If you breed an overly white bird to another the fibro color weakens and you begin to lose the mosaic pattern. Sounds more like you just hate the breeder.

Glad to hear you've had luck with them Have you had the breed long? What I posted was just taken from what I'd heard from other people who had tried the breed. Mostly I based this on what I've been reading about the breed, stuff like this review, birds bought directly from the farm that created them:

Since they have another year's worth of work into them now (this being posted almost a year ago), it's definitely possible that some kinks have been worked out and the breed is now breeding true more consistently.

 

[Roxanne c.28]

That company. The original breeder is absolutely not the greatest, they are definitely quantity over quality and anything that comes from there seems to catch a bad wrap. Just like any breed out there, order a 100 chicks and maybe 5 are breeder quality. It does not help they left absolutely no direction for anyone to breed them correctly, outside of a basic description of what they should look like. No standard is set for them, for weight, egg producing capabilities ect. I think that was the point. “Exclusivly” bred by them and they apparently intend to keep it that way. I’ve been working with the mosaics awhile. It’s just like any other breed, know what should breed and what shouldn’t and at least a basic understanding of how to preserve the correct characteristics ect. I absolutely will not breed any missing the blue lobes, any without good fibro color, no overly white to overly white ect. I get the same bird with the same mosaic markings over and over again. It truly is a good natured and beautiful bird. They lay decently well and I’ve really enjoyed them. I just hate that they get run down because the original breeder chooses not to share their formula. Not the birds fault.

 

[Roxanne c.28]

I’ve also heard over and over again the original breeder will not respond to anyone regarding a thing to do with breeding them, making it even harder for information about them to be obtained.

 

[Pyxis]

That company. The original breeder is absolutely not the greatest, they are definitely quantity over quality and anything that comes from there seems to catch a bad wrap. Just like any breed out there, order a 100 chicks and maybe 5 are breeder quality. It does not help they left absolutely no direction for anyone to breed them correctly, outside of a basic description of what they should look like. No standard is set for them, for weight, egg producing capabilities ect. I think that was the point. “Exclusivly” bred by them and they apparently intend to keep it that way. I’ve been working with the mosaics awhile. It’s just like any other breed, know what should breed and what shouldn’t and at least a basic understanding of how to preserve the correct characteristics ect. I absolutely will not breed any missing the blue lobes, any without good fibro color, no overly white to overly white ect. I get the same bird with the same mosaic markings over and over again. It truly is a good natured and beautiful bird. They lay decently well and I’ve really enjoyed them. I just hate that they get run down because the original breeder chooses not to share their formula. Not the birds fault.

Sounds like they could benefit from a breed club coming together and deciding on their own standard. I think that's the hardest part. Talk to any old time show breeder and they'll tell you that you have to "build the barn before you paint it", but if you don't have plans for the barn and have no clue what the structure should be...

It also sounds like the creator has given out conflicting info to different people about what crosses were used to make the breed which, again, I'm sure isn't helping anything.

They are beautiful birds, but I'd be reluctant to get any without really having guidance as to where to go with them.

I’ve also heard over and over again the original breeder will not respond to anyone regarding a thing to do with breeding them, making it even harder for information about them to be obtained.

That would really make it hard. Not to mention, I've seen it happen that they've sent sick chicks out to people, which was then verified by having the chicks necropsied at Cornell, and the response of the breeder was to block the person. They've also straight up blocked people just for asking simple questions about their birds. And then they bought a huge Facebook group and started banning people from it and removing competition for themselves. Lots of shady things happening there.

 

[Roxanne c.28]

I’m definitely no fan of the breeder and definitely think they’ve intentionally lied and kept secrets about their practices with this bird.shameful really. Says everything I need to know about them and I will never buy directly from them. I struggled with deciding if I even wanted to mess with the mosaics because of them. I’ve since grown passionate about the “breed” and would looove to see a group form around this bird and see it really take off!