Can mutts be good egg layers?

[Leah-yes I know I'm crazy]

My hens are JG, BO, Hubbards, and the roo I am concidering using is a RIR. I am going to try to hatch some eggs and have been checking for signs of fertility every time I crack an egg and it appears that my roo has been doing a good job.
The question I pose to anyone with experience in this is if I will end up with layers or fryers? Or if hatchability is compramised because they are mixed breeds. My goal is to have enough girls laying in the spring to justify the cost of becoming a legal seller in Michigan.
Opinions?

 

[rooster-red]

All my mutts are great layers, lay as good as my pure breeds do.

I say go for it!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I think mixed-breed chickens are every bit as good as pure-breds with the only exception being you cannot show them. Otherwise, they are usually extra-healthy with their hybrid vigor and come in a wonderful variety of colors & patterns. The hens do make good layers and the roos can be invited to your table. They won't get as beefy as a pure meat bird, but can be raised with little care and processed at 15-20 weeks.

But I don't know about the "cost of becoming a legal seller in Michigan", or what that all entails. Certainly you could hatch out mixed-breed chicks that will lay nice eggs for you, eggs that will look & taste as well as those from pure-breds. But if you need production-level layers to justify operating costs, you might do better to build your flock with breeds proven to be reliable & frequent layers, and plan to cull the deadbeats every year or two.

Perhaps you could get the breeds that make the Black or Red sex-links, does anyone know who you mate to get what? And if you can use most any bird from that breed to get a good hybrid, or are there specific breeding birds used to get the sex-links? These hens are the best layers, and the roos grow nice & meaty.

 

[ole-crone]

I don't think that ALL mutts would be good egg layers. You have to have mutts FROM good layers and not poor ones.

Remember that techincally, the best layers are mutts - sexlinks, etc.

 

[encmanerabbitry]

Here's some good info on what to breed for sex links.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKSexLink.html

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKMaking.html

 

[MissPrissy]

Yes. Often mutts are better egg layers than pure breeds. You often get the good utility in the mix.

Fryers in general are young cockerals with a thinner breast.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

Absolutely! It just depends on what is in their background. For instance, a barred rock crossed with orpington or leghorn is going to be a very good layer.

 

[Leah-yes I know I'm crazy]

Thanks everyone. I am being selective up to the point of using hens that are good layers and healthy birds in general. For instance, my ee's are good layers but certifiably crazy so I won't continue the line under any circumstances.
My bator can hold 60 so figuring for 80% and half bieng pullets I can only increase by 24 potential layers per cycle and have time for 3 cycles to get summer producers.
This is really my son's project...selling eggs to save for a dirt bike. I'm just the facilitator trying to increase potential production so that we can cover the legals in one year rather than 4 and still make enough profit for him to get his "dream bike." I guess for the four years after that he can save for his "dream car."
Our cost for becoming legal is a dedicated building for cleaning, packaging and storing eggs that is seperate from our household plus license fee of $70/year. We will have to tap new well (it will be a cheap shallow one) and put in new septic.

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

Egg laying can be better in mutts but not all the time. A great mutt layer is the Sexlink (golden Comet, Red Star) They lay a lot better than my Pure breeds. But.. some mutts may not lay as much it really matters on what there breeds are.

 

[LynneP]

My 12 golden comets are averaging 11.5 eggs a day at the age of 26 weeks...