Breeding & Genetics Question *Now with MORE Pics*

[Poulets De Cajun]

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.... finally, some common sense.

 

[greathorse]

Quote:
Apart from I really want to breed this chicken with a Sussex, it is the only chick of my first chicks, if that makes sense, I'm just desperate to be able to produce a 'pure' Sussex over many generations. This chicken is very precious to me.

ETA- Or will its descendants always have the hint of a cross in them?

the bigger question is are you willing/able/ to cull and cull and cull. If you breed them all you will continue to have a mixed up group, if you cull you can likely get something that looks like a sussex. Not real sure what the objective is other than to hatch some offspring of your favorite hen.

You gotta be able to cull if you want progress otherwise you will have a mixed up bunch.

 

[onthespot]

The op can't cull, or she wouldn't be posting this thread, she'd have culled the original bird. If you can't cull, you shouldn't breed. Cull doesn't mean kill, just not using it for breeding.

 

[greathorse]

Hence my post, I understand the term cull quite well, but some folks cant bear the thought of giving a bird up for someone else to take, use, eat. The question of how to get to a pure bred sussex through a bird that is not pure strikes me as unique. On one hand I want a pure bred breed on the other hand I am starting with a mixed breed, and to get to a pure bred I need to cull and sort and breed back to original bird and on and on.

Seems like the common sense thing would be to keep the pet, allow her to produce a couple of chicks if that is important but then go get some pure bred stuff. Logic is sometimes the least of the issue in these cases.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

So do you have a picture of what she looks like? What is she crossed with?

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

And not to get off the subject but the crosses didnt breed true, mainly the tails were off and the leg feathering varied.

 

[eggsrcool]

I dont have a picture of her at the moment, but I do have a few pictures of when she was younger if it's any help.

I will not cull, I really can't see the point in this case, I just want to continue this 'family' of chickens on and on.

Here is a pic of when she was younger: (She is the yellow chick)

And another picture (Not so good) when she was a bit older:

I will try and get a photo of her later.

She is made of a cross of Light Sussex and a mixed cockerel, I dont know the breeds that make him up, here is a pic of him:

And the mother:

Also, my light Sussex hens aren't laying at the moment they may restart though, but because of their age their fertility is extremely low, only 1 egg has hatched out of 7 set.

 

[greathorse]

The "point" of culling would be to eventually arrive at a point where you have a sussex from your cur chiken, it wont happen unless you do.Culling may mean you take all of the offspring wiyh bad type or colr and have them in a laying pen but not breed them. You may end up with a lot of chickens

 

[onthespot]

The barring on the daddy bird is a sex-linked gene and will likely pop up for generations to come. I don't think continuing this little family of birds is a bad thing to do. I just think it is unrealistic to expect to breed your way from that barred rooster back to pure sussex... The cost and labor required to do so would just be astronomical. I would say just enjoy your birds, and don't get your hopes up too high for a line of pure sussex that breeds true, without any of the several faults that that rooster has, to breed out of your line. His hackles are the exact opposite of what you are trying to breed, light sussex having dark hackles and saddle feathers, and daddy roo has light hackles. Light sussex have pure white bodies and the barred roo has a genetically black body plumage, if you remove the effect of the barring. Why you would want to make white bird with a dark neck starting with a black bird with a gold neck is just unfathomable to me.

 

[eggsrcool]

Ok, the only reason I asked this is because my first ever cockerel was a Light Sussex, who fathered my first ever chicks, and I wanted to continue to breed this line and try to breed it as close to a Sussex line as possible...

Thanks