Breeding a new chicken breed

[NatJ]

Any idea on the long leg gene from Brahma's, Aseel and the like? As in their mode of inheritance. Is it a host of genes, or just one gene that is dominant/partially dominant?

Sorry, I have no idea.

2) I did try Polish and Silkies for crest too. The problem here was I couldn't get any without the cranial vault in the former, and too much vision impairment in the latter.
I decided on the Spitz only because they don't have the cranial vaults and vision impairment.

I think it's possible to breed out the cranial vault while keeping the crest. When I see photos of Polish-cross chicks, they usually have normal shaped heads, but still grow crests.

If the vision impairment was a problem with Silkies, could it be due to the texture of the feathers? Once you get normal feathers (first generation offspring), the crest might stay up out of their way better. So you might be able to manage the original birds by clipping the crest feathers short, and not have a problem with their normal-feathered offspring. (Maybe.)

(I'm not really trying to change what you're doing, just musing about whether these might be less of a problem than you first thought.)

 

[Amer]

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.

I love that Giriraja hen! Very pretty!
This is a fascinating project! You saw a need and took it. It is like following the footsteps of the people who made the American breeds. They took a lot of landraces and random-breds and made more productive purebred birds.
Bearded chickens seem to have good vision. I have d'Anvers with huge beards. They sort of just glance around them.

Thanks! Yes, now that you talk about it, I'm guessing it's their fluff.
The breed standard, asking them to have a 'low stance' confused me initially.

Though, I now guess that longer legs are better on bigger birds, for better predator evasion. Will have to see as time goes.

Any idea on the long leg gene from Brahma's, Aseel and the like? As in their mode of inheritance. Is it a host of genes, or just one gene that is dominant/partially dominant?
All my Brahma crosses have long legs in the F1. Need to wait more to see, because I'm still not line breeding anything yet, so no F2.

It's a host of genes. Almost all leg length genes only have a tiny effect on the length of legs.

 

[Amer]

Advice: to breed for egg production, check width between the pubic bones in hens and select for it. Despite being small, my bantams lay a lot of eggs and have about 2 1/2 fingers of space between the pubic bones. I also always check for body capacity. Good egg layers need a deep heart girth so they have enough room for their organs. They need to eat and digest enough food to be good layers. And I always select for firm breast muscles. I don't want it to be squishy and I don't want to feel ribs. I need substantial muscling.

 

[NatJ]

Advice: to breed for egg production, check width between the pubic bones in hens and select for it. Despite being small, my bantams lay a lot of eggs and have about 2 1/2 fingers of space between the pubic bones.

I know about the difference in pubic bone distance for laying vs. non-laying hens. Are you saying to compare among hens that are actively laying, and choose the ones with the largest spacing? Or are you just checking for which ones are laying vs. not?

 

[Amer]

I know about the difference in pubic bone distance for laying vs. non-laying hens. Are you saying to compare among hens that are actively laying, and choose the ones with the largest spacing? Or are you just checking for which ones are laying vs. not?

I use it to select among hens that are actively laying, to determine the better layers, or birds that will produce better layers. It also effects egg size and quality.

 

[Amer]

What color are you planning for this breed? Breeding for a consistent color really sets birds apart from landraces, but I see why you wouldn't pay attention to it. The type and performance is far more important, then you can see what colors you end up with.

 

[Arjun Masthi]

Sorry, I have no idea.



I think it's possible to breed out the cranial vault while keeping the crest. When I see photos of Polish-cross chicks, they usually have normal shaped heads, but still grow crests.

If the vision impairment was a problem with Silkies, could it be due to the texture of the feathers? Once you get normal feathers (first generation offspring), the crest might stay up out of their way better. So you might be able to manage the original birds by clipping the crest feathers short, and not have a problem with their normal-feathered offspring. (Maybe.)

(I'm not really trying to change what you're doing, just musing about whether these might be less of a problem than you first thought.)

I've seen that almost all cranial vaults come up back in F2 in those chicks that have two copies of the crest gene. And finding polish here without the vault gene is quite a headache because we only keep Polish in India for show.
Same with the Silkies I've seen and had atleast. The texture wasn't a problem, because I observed them in the crosses where feather texture was hard- even in F1, the those crossed with landrace fowl had feathers covering their sides, in the Brahma crosses, they were slightly smaller.
I do know you're trying to help out ill try a few crosses again. I mean won't hurt trying to get a unique bird

Though, my first thought on crest was actually that of the legbar. Gots some Spitz only later...

 

[Arjun Masthi]

I love that Giriraja hen! Very pretty!
This is a fascinating project! You saw a need and took it. It is like following the footsteps of the people who made the American breeds. They took a lot of landraces and random-breds and made more productive purebred birds.

Haha, yes, that and I also think I have the hen fever about 150 years late

Bearded chickens seem to have good vision. I have d'Anvers with huge beards. They sort of just glance around them.

Thanks! I did see some. That's the kind of beard I'm hoping would come out of my crosses once I select for tighter feathers...

It's a host of genes. Almost all leg length genes only have a tiny effect on the length of legs.

Interesting. Back to the drawing board again or just let the legs average out over generations later during line breeding.

 

[Arjun Masthi]

Advice: to breed for egg production, check width between the pubic bones in hens and select for it. Despite being small, my bantams lay a lot of eggs and have about 2 1/2 fingers of space between the pubic bones. I also always check for body capacity. Good egg layers need a deep heart girth so they have enough room for their organs.

Trying to balance out this with good activity for predator evasion.

They need to eat and digest enough food to be good layers. And I always select for firm breast muscles. I don't want it to be squishy and I don't want to feel ribs. I need substantial muscling.

I don't want a fast growth rate, something a little more slow (not as slow as a Brahma either). People here, especially the rural population prefer harder meats with less fatty tissue (that they've been used to in the landraces) over that of the broilers and even the Giriraja for instance.

 

[Arjun Masthi]

What color are you planning for this breed? Breeding for a consistent color really sets birds apart from landraces, but I see why you wouldn't pay attention to it. The type and performance is far more important, then you can see what colors you end up with.

I'm initially looking to have as much colour as possible only to introduce a biger gene pool. The crest, comb and beard is what I want to use to seperate them from landraces and prevent those in the trade of passing off coloured broilers and their crosses as some of the better fowl available here.
That, and the obvious size difference .

Given the option to select for colour [maybe at a later date, for a possible show line of birds , I'd either want partridges (and red shouldered dark) or even Salmon- I'm in love with the faverolles]