Breeding a new chicken breed

[LadiesAndJane]

Based on my research, egg production of offspring should be comparable to the higher producing parent, vs. split between them. That seems to be the case in my Welsummer-Legbar crosses, which have about the same high productivity as my Welsummer hens vs. my moderate producing Legbar hens. In that cross, the higher producing parent was the rooster.

I just got my first pullet eggs from my Spitz-Dominique cross this week, just shy of 5 months old. In the coming weeks I should know whether the new girls produce like Dominique, Spitz, or something in between. In this cross, the Dominique hen was the much higher producing parent. My only Spitz hen is the poorest producer of the flock. In fact, the only reason I decided to use my Spitz rooster in so many crosses was because of the research that indicated the offspring wouldn't be seriously affected by the poor egg laying of the Spitz, as long as I crossed him with productive hens. I think I can have it all, with beauty and productivity. I hope it's true!

Hope that’s true for my leghorn/silkie cross!

 

[Arjun Masthi]

I would expect them to come equally from both sides.

Because of the way chicken sex chromosomes work, there are some traits that a hen only gets from her father, not her mother. (Roosters have ZZ chromosomes, and pass Z to every chick. Hens have ZW, and pass Z to their sons and W to their daughters. So anything on the Z chromosome cannot be passed from mother to daughter.) But I don't think broodiness or number of eggs work that way.

I've had a few crosses of roosters from a broody breed that didn't pass that even in the slightest to the offspring, didn't come back up in a back cross either. So was wondering. Thanks but!

 

[Arjun Masthi]

Based on my research, egg production of offspring should be comparable to the higher producing parent, vs. split between them. That seems to be the case in my Welsummer-Legbar crosses, which have about the same high productivity as my Welsummer hens vs. my moderate producing Legbar hens. In that cross, the higher producing parent was the rooster.

I just got my first pullet eggs from my Spitz-Dominique cross this week, just shy of 5 months old. In the coming weeks I should know whether the new girls produce like Dominique, Spitz, or something in between. In this cross, the Dominique hen was the much higher producing parent. My only Spitz hen is the poorest producer of the flock. In fact, the only reason I decided to use my Spitz rooster in so many crosses was because of the research that indicated the offspring wouldn't be seriously affected by the poor egg laying of the Spitz, as long as I crossed him with productive hens. I think I can have it all, with beauty and productivity. I hope it's true!

Thanks for the clarification of the first half. I would love to be updated about the Spitz-Dominique cross, that would clear a lot of confusion!
P.S I hope it's true too! All the best!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Sorry about the clarity, they have just been moved here. Quite flighty.
The buff rooster is a split for Partridge. These are the medium sized birds I have. The other hen with it is a F1 cross between a Landrace and the Giriraja Breed I spoke about in the beginning. One of the largest of the batch.

My Project Wheaten Crele Orpingtons are split for partridge. Gives them a unique look.

Your's look very pretty.

 

[Arjun Masthi]

My Project Wheaten Crele Orpingtons are split for partridge. Gives them a unique look.

Your's look very pretty.

Thanks! I'm sure it would look unique. Thanks again!

 

[Arjun Masthi]

Based on my research, egg production of offspring should be comparable to the higher producing parent, vs. split between them. That seems to be the case in my Welsummer-Legbar crosses, which have about the same high productivity as my Welsummer hens vs. my moderate producing Legbar hens. In that cross, the higher producing parent was the rooster.

I just got my first pullet eggs from my Spitz-Dominique cross this week, just shy of 5 months old. In the coming weeks I should know whether the new girls produce like Dominique, Spitz, or something in between. In this cross, the Dominique hen was the much higher producing parent. My only Spitz hen is the poorest producer of the flock. In fact, the only reason I decided to use my Spitz rooster in so many crosses was because of the research that indicated the offspring wouldn't be seriously affected by the poor egg laying of the Spitz, as long as I crossed him with productive hens. I think I can have it all, with beauty and productivity. I hope it's true!

I'll still keep the producers in the male line and the brooders in the female line. Planning on creating a chart to make the breeding more organised. Will put it up when I'm done.

 

[halefamily_flock]

Hope that’s true for my leghorn/silkie cross!

You'll have to keep us posted!

 

[halefamily_flock]

I'll still keep the producers in the male line and the brooders in the female line. Planning on creating a chart to make the breeding more organised. Will put it up when I'm done.

That would be great! I don't have any experience with broody hens.

 

[Arjun Masthi]

So here is a chart I just created for the project.
Now there are two things I'd like to elaborate.
I could have simply used F2 crosses here and there to simplify the tree and still get the desired characters, but I chose to keep a lot of separate crossings to begin with so I can use more unrelated birds to begin with.

I intend to bring out the final characters through line breeding using sufficient numbers.
I'm guessing atleast 3 years are needed to be anywhere near the final, before starting to line breed

To introduce fresh blood, I'll do so with Faverolles×Brahma cross birds to the Irpu breed every few generations, then breed back to the said breed, selecting required characters (emphasising on the characters not present in the Faverolles×Brahma birds, so as to retain the characters of the said breed inherited from the other breeds)

The recessive traits shall be tested for with out-crosses and then will the birds be used in the project as and when required. Please feel free to point out mistakes/ give suggestions.
Regards.

 

[NatJ]

So here is a chart I just created for the project.
Please feel free to point out mistakes/ give suggestions.

You want to select i3 for most eggs and broody, and i4 for broody.
But one of those two needs to be a rooster, if you want to cross them and get chicks.
I'm not sure how you'd select for most eggs or broodiness in a rooster.

You are going to need to produce a LOT of birds in some generations, to find all the right traits in a single one.

I don't know how important it is to have absolutely clean legs.
If you can stand a few feather stubs here and there, it should work fine.
But from what I've read, there are probably one or more recessive genes that can cause feather stubs, so they tend to keep popping up in later generations.
So all those feather-legged ancestors may be making your project more difficult (if they're the only available birds with the other traits you need, then I understand you may just have to work with that.)

I could have simply used F2 crosses here and there to simplify the tree and still get the desired characters, but I chose to keep a lot of separate crossings to begin with so I can use more unrelated birds to begin with.

I was thinking it's more complicated than really necessary

Just an observation--chickens seem to tolerate inbreeding quite well, so it might be worth using fewer birds if it makes your life easier. A wide genetic base seems more important with big mammals than with chickens.