Brown leghorn x

[Rdh1223]

So I have a 9 week old BL roo and 9 options for breeding when the time comes.

The hens that are about 15 months old are

1) Red Cross
2) whiting true green
3) whiting true blue
4) easter eager
5) easter eager
6) New Hampshire red

3 pullets that are also 9 weeks

1) whiting true green
2) speckled sussex
3) white leghorn

Im curious to hear if anybody has any of those would be crosses and what the offspring are like.

The Red Cross is the most prolific layer averaging over 6 eggs per week

The NHR is second place averaging just over 5 eggs per weeks.

I would assume the white leghorn is also going to be a great layer and maybe breeding BLxWL makes sense?

Would any of these combinations auto sex?

Im mostly interested in egg laying ability and a bird that is hardy/healthy. I know next to nothing on the subject and although I've done some reading here on the site I don't understand much of what I've read. I was a terrible student of biology .

 

[NatJ]

Would any of these combinations auto sex?

For the Whiting True Blue and Easter Egger hens, it depends on the color of the hen. If you want to know about them, I suggest posting photos of them.

I'm pretty sure I know what colors the other hens are, and no you will not get color-sexable offspring by mating any of them with your Brown Leghorn cockerel.

Im mostly interested in egg laying ability and a bird that is hardy/healthy. I know next to nothing on the subject and although I've done some reading here on the site I don't understand much of what I've read. I was a terrible student of biology .

Hardy & healthy should be possible from all the crosses.

Egg laying ability should be pretty good from all of them. The best-laying hens will probably produce the best-laying daughters, but there might not be enough difference to notice.

With the Brown Leghorn father, you should get egg colors of white, cream or light brown, blue, and light green. I would not expect any dark brown eggs or any dark green eggs.

Hens that lay blue or green eggs should produce at least some daughters that lay blue or green eggs. They might also produce some daughters that lay white or cream eggs.

 

[Rdh1223]

The whiting true blue is solid black in color and she lays 3-4 light blue medium size eggs per week.

The easter eggers

1 is white with gray splotches

1 is light brown with black

 

[Rdh1223]

The bottom 2 hens in the 2nd photo are the EE'rs

 

[BigBlueHen53]

There is no telling what the offspring of an EE will look like, simply because they are crossbreeds themselves, basically DNA soup, or "mutts." No idea what breeds have gone into their development. They are (pardon the pun) "Pullet Surprises," lol.

 

[NatJ]

The whiting true blue is solid black in color and she lays 3-4 light blue medium size eggs per week.

The easter eggers

1 is white with gray splotches

1 is light brown with black

From the black and the brown, you will not get color-sexable chicks.

From the white one, you have a good chance of getting color-sexable chicks. If it works, sons should be white and daughters brown (both with bits of black, and they may have stripes like Brown Leghorns or various other shading and markings.)

If you hatch just the eggs from that hen, you can probably sex the chicks by color. Look for gold/brown shades on females and white/yellow shades on the males. Sometimes it is very easy to sex chicks like that, and sometimes they have a bunch of black or gray that hides the sex-specific color differences.

But if you hatch a mixed group of eggs from several hens, there will be both brown chicks and white chicks of both sexes, so you will not be able to pick out certain ones and tell their sex.

There is no telling what the offspring of an EE will look like, simply because they are crossbreeds themselves, basically DNA soup, or "mutts." No idea what breeds have gone into their development. They are (pardon the pun) "Pullet Surprises," lol.

Yes and no. Looking at the chickens or at photos can tell something about what genes they have, and those genes do still get inherited in rather predictable ways. For example, crossing a brown hen (Easter Egger) with a brown rooster (Brown Leghorn) is almost certainly going to produce brown chicks. The black Whiting True Blue is going to produce some black chicks, although she may produce some chicks of other colors too.

Hens with puffy cheeks (muff & beard) will give that trait to some or all of their chicks.

Hens with a pea comb will give that to some or all of their chicks (although it can be larger and oddly shaped, because of crossing with the Brown Leghorn, but it still tends to look different than a single comb like the rooster has.)

I do not see any feathered feet, or any crests of feathers on the heads, of any hens. Since Brown Leghorns do not have feathered feet or crested heads either, I would not expect any chicks to have those traits.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thanks for the clarification, @NatJ