Breeding my own sex link questions

[QuoVadis]

I'm more so curious because when I've hatched my own eggs I hate raising so many birds straight run. If you could make your own sex link you could sell the baby cockerals on craigslist as meat birds. Then you don't spend money on food for a bunch of birds you don't want to keep but that I never have the heart to kill myself.

I mean I know that the sex link hen I described wouldn't produce as well as commercial sex links, but would it still produce as well as, or better than the parents?

 

[nicalandia]

Example of Heterosis(Hybrid Vigor) for egg laying
Breed A : 150 eggs per year
Breed B : 120 eggs per year
Average for both pure breed = (150 + 120)/2 = 135 eggs per year
Hybrid Average = 145 eggs per year

So heterosis(Hybrid Vigor) percentage is calculated this way:

% Heterosos = 150 – 120(30) divided by Average of both pure breed(135) Multiplied by 100 = 22%

So even if the Heterosis percentage of the homebrewed Hybrid was as high as 22% this ofcourse comes short of the parent that lays the most eggs…
So could you expect a Hybrid to lay more than the parents? Not always, specially if the egg breeds have a big or huge disparity of the egg laying trait, for example a Leghorn mated with a Silkie will NOT yield a Hybrid that outlays the leghorn…

 

[donrae]

My sex link birds--non barred roosters over barred rock hens, all hatchery stock, have laid about as well as the parent stock. I haven't done tons of them, maybe a dozen, but there's nothing magical about crossing a red bird over a silver bird to make phenomenal layers, the parent stock also have to be great layers. I think that's the thing with all the Isa browns, etc....the parent stock has had lots of intensive breeding to increase production. The sex link chick they sell is the end result of tons of breeding, not just a random red over silver.

 

[Frankie Ruiz]

egg laying should be fine. they use hatchery stock birds to make the sex links they sell too.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
you see thats the Big Difference... Hatchery Sexlinks will never ever lay as well as Production Type birds that are genetically breed for Battery Type egg production... Hy-Line Brown is the world’s most balanced brown egg layer. She produces over 320 rich brown eggs to 74 weeks Hy-Line Silver Brown is the world's most prolific egg layer. She produces over 330 rich brown eggs to 74 weeks, source: http://www.hyline.ie/products/products.htm

 

[Frankie Ruiz]

Quote: i thought the battery type egg farmers got their eggs from the hatcheries? from my understanding the hatchery stock birds are bred for egg laying, right?

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
No Large enterprice Battery egg layer producers, get them directly from Hy-Line, or Cobb-Vantress the small guy or backyard producer get them from Hatcheries and they are called Red/Black sex links, as such they dont produce nearly as many eggs

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

For the backyard flock home made sex link should be just fine. I breed and hatch all of my own birds and have plenty of eggs to eat and sell.

But from a commercial standpoint the money spent on chicks from hi production lines would be offset quickly by egg production. Even 1 dozen extra eggs pays for the chick.

If you follow the genetic rules sex links are fun and easy to make. And they will lay plenty of eggs for most backyard keepers.

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

I think I need some hy lines too!

 

[donrae]

i thought the battery type egg farmers got their eggs from the hatcheries? from my understanding the hatchery stock birds are bred for egg laying, right?

Hatchery stock is bred for egg laying, that's why so many of the birds don't meet the SOP, due to the infusion of leghorn or similar blood. But they still don't match the intense production breeding of the battery birds, the money just isn't in it for the hatcheries.