Breeding for Size and Egg Quality

[Smokerbill]

I have five hatchery quality New Hampshire pullets and of those, one (Orange Band) grew much faster and larger than the others and has been laying great eggs daily.

I have three cockerels. A pair of NH cockerels, the dominant one looks and acts great but is a little smaller than the other, which I believe has a few defects. I also have a Rhode Island Red cockerel, the smallest of the three, he looks good too. The dominant cockerel has started mating with the pullets. I haven't seen the other two mate, but I guess they could be sneaky about it.

How likely is it that pullets raised from Orange Band's eggs inherit the fast growth, large size and egg laying qualities?

Does the cockerel/rooster fertilizing the eggs play a big role in adding to/subtracting from those qualities?

Since RIRs are supposed to be great egg layers, would mating the RIR cockerel with Orange Band be worth trying? I've read you can achieve hybrid vigor when crossing different breeds, even though I guess RIRs and NHs are pretty close to being the same breed.

My goal is to create a line of fast growing, larger size birds that are good layers and grow quickly to a decent eating size, and I want to do that with the birds I have on hand.

Thanks!

 

[FarmerGirl101]

I'm not well versed in breeding chickens but my impression would be that you do selective breeding with the ones you have on hand.

This would mean choosing a male(s) that have the specific traits you want in fast growing and large size. Then in females, you select the birds that have the traits you want, large size, fast growing, and good egg laying. While doing this, you vet the birds to ensure they don't have any undesirable traits or visible defects (not meaning actual vet check).

In each batch you will have birds that meet your goals/requirements and some that don't. From the ones that do, they might have health issues that you don't want to pass down. From there, you keep the ones that meet your requirements and have no health issues in your breeding program and take out the ones that don't.

You likely won't see major changes in the early generations, but over time they should begin to meet what you want. You also need to introduce new lines to prevent inbreeding and the issues that stems from inbreeding unless you have a major operation.