Cold weather lightweight autosexing egg machine

[lazy gardener]

I would think that large comb would make it not terribly winter hardy. but it is certainly some fine eye candy.

 

[jennianne]

Fascinating thread. Very interesting to read and follow the links and try to pick up on the breeding process.

Wondering if you (OP) have made any decision on what direction you are going to achieve your goal ("cold weather lightweight autosexing egg machine") ?

 

[Freeholder]

If it was me, I'd be trying really hard to get pea combs and minimal wattles, with good fluffy feathering. Easter Eggers or Ameraucanas (probably the latter, since you need a specific color male to get the autosexing going) would work. So would Chanteclers and breed the size down, or Buckeyes. Icelandics? Kraienkoppes? I've thought about the Flame Jaerhons that Sand Hill sells, too.

 

[Triplehorn]

This thread interests me very much because I am in a similar predicament as the original poster (heather feather).
I've got an idea that might fit the bill, and I'd like the genetic experts among us to evaluate it. As follows...
Cross cream legbar (CL) and barred Easter Eggers, or barred Americaunas (BEE). Select your beginning stock from someone that culls for eggs production. Hatch a few hundred birds for the first couple generations and select for auto sexing at day old. Then select for comb size at 3-4 weeks (adapt as necessary as soon as you can differentiate). Then select for hens that begin to lay the earliest. Then trap nest your remaining hens periodically over the winter to select for the best layers.
Breed the F1s back to BEE to help with comb size.
Why even include CL? Better autosexing, higher egg production, and some diversity would be my motivation.

I believe that in just a couple of years, you could have small bodied, efficient layers with small combs. The egg color would likely be a spectrum from blue to pale green unless you could find BEEs that lay brown eggs in the beginning. I find that the folks I sell eggs to like any color other than white, and the more color variability in a dozen eggs, the more positive comments I get.
You could start the program with rhodebar and BEE if you really feel that brown eggs are necessary. But It would add much complexity and time to your effort, because you'd have to select for egg color and body size on top of all else.
Whatever route you choose, your should build some good traps on your nest boxes because if you plan to get one or two lines of birds to lay extremely well and maintain that over the generations, it will take heavy selection pressure. Not difficult, just another task.
Comments from the experts?