Ok I want a brown egg laying, large dual purpose meat/eggs breed, clean leggs(no feet feathers)and has the trait to brood chicks.
Currently I have large fowl Blue/Black/Splash Cochins that meet all most of the requirements above.
Except they have feathered legs.
2 years ago I had 8 hatchery stock Buff Orpington hens and thought they would go broody.
They never went broody not a single one of them during the almost 3 years we had them.
After that we got Cochins. They are great mothers and sometimes brood 2 clutches in 1 summer.
But the feathered feet get muddy and it's harder to see if they have a scaly leg mite infection.
It also seems harder to spray their legs for scaly leg mite.
I found a Jubilee Orpington breeder and the breeder told me her stock has a tendency to go broody.
They are a large dual purpose breed and are cleaned legged.
So I bought a Jubilee Orpington rooster from her to cross with some Buff Orpington hens I already have.
I also traded Cochin hatching eggs for Jubilee Orpington eggs with her.
Looks like I got 2 Jubilee Orpington pullets and 3 Buff/Jubilee Orpington cross pullets from a June hatch.
I think they are around 7 weeks old now.
I believe that by crossing a heritage strain of Orpington with commercial hatchery stock(that doesn't brood)that some of the offspring will go broody..
At least that's what I'm hoping for..
I guess I will found out next year when the 7 week old Jubilee/Buff Orpington pullets are adults.
Currently I have large fowl Blue/Black/Splash Cochins that meet all most of the requirements above.
Except they have feathered legs.
2 years ago I had 8 hatchery stock Buff Orpington hens and thought they would go broody.
They never went broody not a single one of them during the almost 3 years we had them.
After that we got Cochins. They are great mothers and sometimes brood 2 clutches in 1 summer.
But the feathered feet get muddy and it's harder to see if they have a scaly leg mite infection.
It also seems harder to spray their legs for scaly leg mite.
I found a Jubilee Orpington breeder and the breeder told me her stock has a tendency to go broody.
They are a large dual purpose breed and are cleaned legged.
So I bought a Jubilee Orpington rooster from her to cross with some Buff Orpington hens I already have.
I also traded Cochin hatching eggs for Jubilee Orpington eggs with her.
Looks like I got 2 Jubilee Orpington pullets and 3 Buff/Jubilee Orpington cross pullets from a June hatch.
I think they are around 7 weeks old now.
I believe that by crossing a heritage strain of Orpington with commercial hatchery stock(that doesn't brood)that some of the offspring will go broody..
At least that's what I'm hoping for..
I guess I will found out next year when the 7 week old Jubilee/Buff Orpington pullets are adults.