Breed suggestions to upsize SSH

[LateBirdFarms]

I adore my silver spangled hamburg hens, adore the look and amount of eggs they put out, but I wish they layed larger... and wish they were larger in general. I'd also like to breed a bit of their spunk out of them, have them just a wee bit more docile. Can some of you lovely experts give me some ideas of what breed of roo I should invest in to reach a few of these goals? Smaller the comb the better. I love the idea of a brahma roo around here, a friend has an amazing boy that's has the absolute dream personality I'd be looking for, but I'm not so keen on hugely feathered Feet and I can't imagine how I'd pull that breeding off without doing it the other way around with giant hens and a hamburg roo.

 

[HappyDuckie]

Maybe a Orpington? Mine laid every day of the year, and large eggs. No feathered feet, either. And they are nice, too.

 

[NatJ]

If you like the rose comb, you could try crossing to a Wyandotte. One of the laced colors would probably be best, then cross the offspring back to the Hamburg and hatch a bunch of chicks--pick the ones that are big and spangled You could use gold, silver, or even blue laced red, depending on what colors you want to end up with.

I think Wyandotte would be your best bet, but if you like the pea comb of the Brahmas:

You could try a Chantecler. They have a cushion or walnut comb (genetically rose + pea). I would probably use the Partridge color, not the Buff or White, but it might take more than one backcross to Hamburg to get the Spangling right again.

Or you could use a hatchery-quality Dark Cornish (pea comb). Results would be about the same as using the Partridge Chantecler. (Show-quality Cornish are really wide birds, but the hatchery-quality ones are basically a dual-purpose chicken.)

All of these have clean legs. Chantecler, Cornish, and Brahmas also have small wattles, because the pea comb gene causes smaller wattles when the bird has two copies of the gene.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Maybe a Orpington? Mine laid every day of the year, and large eggs. No feathered feet, either. And they are nice, too.

They certainly have the docile nature, but I'm not sure if I want to go for a straight combed roo. I've heard mixed reviews on their laying ability. Were yours all from the same line? I'm curious if the norm is better production than listed. Have you had an orp roo?

 

[LateBirdFarms]

If you like the rose comb, you could try crossing to a Wyandotte. One of the laced colors would probably be best, then cross the offspring back to the Hamburg and hatch a bunch of chicks--pick the ones that are big and spangled You could use gold, silver, or even blue laced red, depending on what colors you want to end up with.

I think Wyandotte would be your best bet, but if you like the pea comb of the Brahmas:

You could try a Chantecler. They have a cushion or walnut comb (genetically rose + pea). I would probably use the Partridge color, not the Buff or White, but it might take more than one backcross to Hamburg to get the Spangling right again.

Or you could use a hatchery-quality Dark Cornish (pea comb). Results would be about the same as using the Partridge Chantecler. (Show-quality Cornish are really wide birds, but the hatchery-quality ones are basically a dual-purpose chicken.)

All of these have clean legs. Chantecler, Cornish, and Brahmas also have small wattles, because the pea comb gene causes smaller wattles when the bird has two copies of the gene.

Oh! I had put some thought into a wyandotte, but chanteclers and cornish never crossed my mind! Those are some pretty awesome suggestions I never would have considered.

I actually started out the year with a silver laced wyandotte boy, but he was a mean, mean bitey little snot. So mean in fact I knew from day 5 or 6 that he was male. I had high Hope's he would grow out of it but at 6 weeks he could draw blood with a well placed bite, I wasn't waiting for him to grow spurs to use too. And... I've been shying away from giving the breed another try because of him, but they were the first breed I thought of when I decided on trying for my ideal chicken.

The chantecler roos I've known have been calm, almost stately boys similar to the brahmas I've seen in demeanor, any idea if the dark cornish roos are generally jerks or not?

Thank you, these are exactly the sorts I was hoping to come up with!

 

[HappyDuckie]

They certainly have the docile nature, but I'm not sure if I want to go for a straight combed roo. I've heard mixed reviews on their laying ability. Were yours all from the same line? I'm curious if the norm is better production than listed. Have you had an orp roo?

I have not had a orp roo- though I want one! Mine were both from the same line. I've got two younger ones that will be laying the next few months, both from a different line. So we shall see. Mine laid an egg a day from the day she started till the day she died. And she went broody once, but stopped within a day or two.

 

[NatJ]

They certainly have the docile nature, but I'm not sure if I want to go for a straight combed roo.

Rose comb (Hamburg) is dominant over single comb (Orpington). So it you cross them, you will get either all or mostly rose combed chicks. If you cross those rose-combed hybrids back to the Orpington, you will get half rose combs and half single combs.

Many rose comb breeds produce the occasional single comb chick anyway, so I wouldn't see it as a big deal to cross in Orpington.

If you cannot have a rooster with a large comb, you could consider getting an Orpington and dubbing his comb & wattles--people usually do it to gamefowl roosters, but it would work just as well on any other kind of rooster. I haven't personally done it, but I know there are descriptions on the internet. (I am not suggesting dubbing as a regular thing, just as way to manage one rooster for breeding, if that's what your project needs. You'll be able to select rose comb birds in all future generations, so it will not be an ongoing issue.)

 

[NatJ]

I actually started out the year with a silver laced wyandotte boy, but he was a mean, mean bitey little snot. So mean in fact I knew from day 5 or 6 that he was male. I had high Hope's he would grow out of it but at 6 weeks he could draw blood with a well placed bite, I wasn't waiting for him to grow spurs to use too. And... I've been shying away from giving the breed another try because of him, but they were the first breed I thought of when I decided on trying for my ideal chicken.

If the Wyandotte was right except for temperament, you could get several and see if any of them are good. Or you could try buying Wyandotte cockerels from a different source. I would expect that each major hatchery has their own line of Wyandottes, and temperaments may vary from one to another. Also, you could try different colors, like gold laced or blue laced red. Because the hatcheries would typically not cross the different colors, you might find different temperaments in one than another, even from the same hatchery.