CAN/SHOULD YOU MIX VARIETIES OF THE SAME BREED?

[Illia]

You can cross colors and still have it an acceptable thing to do in the exhibition world, yes, but only colors that work in the first or second generation to later breed true without issues.

Black, Duckwing, Wheaten, Splash, Lavender, Blue, Dun, Platinum, White (dominant) are some colors that can be worked with amongst each other and will be fine in the second generation once you've gotten back to your desired color, because all these listed colors have only one gene difference.

Gold Laced, Silver Laced can be crossed. Partridge and Penciled can be crossed. Gold Duckwing, Silver can be crossed. Light Columbian and Buff Columbian can be crossed. But none of them can cross with another color because there's more than just one or two gene's difference, so an inexperienced breeder might really mess things up and not know how to get back on track.


But just for backyard/pet/layer/meat flocks it is perfectly fine, so long as you'd notify any possible buyers what you did.

 

[Desert Damsel]

Thank you!

If we have EE then we can just import a small flock rare birds with a rooster and breed two strains. It would be easy to divide the offspring prior to hatching, since EE have blue/green eggs. Just wanted to know how the color blending goes so they stay attractive and somewhat predictable.

 

[Illia]

Wheaten x Duckwing will still stay attractive, yes. When you cross the two, the females won't look hardly much different from your original hens you have now, but down the road you may end up with some that look like a normal Wheaten again. Roosters though will always be the same, it's just the silver vs gold genes that change their appearance.