Australorps breed Thread

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Double post, sorry. :/

Bryan

 

[ronott1]

Howdy y'all!

Wow, this thread has been active in the past two years since I posted! I was wondering if anyone has tried crossing BAs with Black Jersey Giants? I had to rehome my roo and stop breeding because my BA flock was getting inbred (bent toes and low hatch rates). As I'm not breeding to SOP, I thought some Jersey Giant genes in the pool would add some genetic diversity and make the large size birds I prefer down the road.

I just picked up my Meyer order of 7 Jersey Giant pullets and 8 straight-run BAs, and couldn't tell them apart right away. Then I remembered the bottoms of the feet are black or yellow so when I get off work I'll check again. I'm hoping for at least one good BA roo to replace Karl, who was just awesome (and still is, according to his new owners) but he was the only roo for four years, and I hatched eggs all four years.

I have 15 BA hens now, ranging in age from 3-7 years. Two are constantly broody but the others lay almost every day. Also two RIRs and three Seabright bantams that my wife adopted.

Cheers!

Bryan

Not with a Jersey Giant, but I did cross Australorp X SG Dorking and they were delicious!

 

[lightchick]

Not with a Jersey Giant, but I did cross Australorp X SG Dorking and they were delicious!

You ate them! I'd never eat any of my chickens!

 

[ronott1]

You ate them! I'd never eat any of my chickens!

Dorking crosses were one of the original meat hybrids. They crossed them with things like sussex and etc.

I am more comfortable with the ones I raise than the ones from the grocery store. They do not have a good life and they are processed at around 6 weeks old.

I did not have a Typical modern child hood. I was raised on a working prune orchard--40 acres and we raised our on beef, rabbits, poultry and swine. The Beef and chickens were free ranged and ate a lot of Grass too.

 

[getaclue]

Well, this may sound really dumb, but here goes....Why would you start with a decent line of chickens, and cross them to make mutts, and bring down the line? Even if you are worried about not having enough genetic diversity, it would seem to be wiser to get to best source of the same breed chicken, and outbreed them, to upgrade the line....Always up, never down. Even if one begins with mutt chickens, it would seem a person would want to breed for at least one of the following: better feathering, better egg laying, higher hatch rate, calmness, more/less broodiness, fuller frame, better growth rate, etc. to improve on current stock. Bent toes, and low hatch rates can be due to several factors, one of which is age, however, outbreeding would seem to be a better choice. I am not criticizing anyone, I'm just not understanding the benefits of some of the choices in crosses.

 

[ronott1]

Well, this may sound really dumb, but here goes....Why would you start with a decent line of chickens, and cross them to make mutts, and bring down the line? Even if you are worried about not having enough genetic diversity, it would seem to be wiser to get to best source of the same breed chicken, and outbreed them, to upgrade the line....Always up, never down. Even if one begins with mutt chickens, it would seem a person would want to breed for at least one of the following: better feathering, better egg laying, higher hatch rate, calmness, more/less broodiness, fuller frame, better growth rate, etc. to improve on current stock. Bent toes, and low hatch rates can be due to several factors, one of which is age, however, outbreeding would seem to be a better choice. I am not criticizing anyone, I'm just not understanding the benefits of some of the choices in crosses.

X2

Too many problems and oddness that would make the chickens not look like either breed. It would that many years to breed out the faults of breeding towards SOP.

It would be best to bring in either a new Australorp line or to cross with a better version of the line you are currently working with.

For pets, it would not matter much. The crosses should not be sold as Australorps either.

 

[subhanalah]

Well, this may sound really dumb, but here goes....Why would you start with a decent line of chickens, and cross them to make mutts, and bring down the line?  Even if you are worried about not having enough genetic diversity, it would seem to be wiser to get to best source of the same breed chicken, and outbreed them, to upgrade the line....Always up, never down.  Even if one begins with mutt chickens, it would seem a person would want to breed for at least one of the following: better feathering, better egg laying, higher hatch rate, calmness, more/less broodiness, fuller frame, better growth rate, etc. to improve on current stock.  Bent toes, and low hatch rates can be due to several factors, one of which is age, however, outbreeding would seem to be a better choice.  I am not criticizing anyone, I'm just not understanding the benefits of some of the choices in crosses. 

X2

Too many problems and oddness that would make the chickens not look like either breed. It would that many years to breed out the faults of breeding towards SOP.

It would be best to bring in either a new Australorp line or to cross with a better version of the line you are currently working with.

For pets, it would not matter much. The crosses should not be sold as Australorps either.

I have to agree. Crossing Aussies with JG is a step backwards in their development. JG eat too much to be a decent meat bird and doesn't lay enough to be a decent layer. Egg production and feed thrift will both greatly deteriorate with this line of breeding.

However, it's not like you are trying to breed for betterment of anything, breed them together if you like them together.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

That's not dumb, it's a valid position and one I shared for many years, especially in regards to rabbits. Some reasons for crossbreeding include "hybrid vigor" where the Cornish Rock chick grows faster than its Cornish or Plymouth Rock parents, and the opportunity to make a custom flock with the attributes one values. So, in my case, I'm (hopefully) not making "mutts" as much as tweaking the flock a little. In a few years, I hope to have a robust flock of slightly-larger-than-SOP Black Australorps. I don't show chickens and my stock was hatchery quality to start with, so adding superior quality BAs would be an unnecessary expense..... in my case.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Oh, and I did get some unrelated BA chicks toz for what it's worth.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Every chicken breed started as a "mutt", right?