Cons of barnyard mixes?

[Doc7]

I have hatchery egg laying pullets only. No high quality chickens. I am very happy with my Meyer purchases.

If I did end up with a roo and decided to hatch some fertile eggs is there any downside to keeping my flock going that way (adding some and removing some yearly to continue steady egg laying from younger and older mix) vs buying 3-4 new chicks per year? The way i figure, buying 3 chicks plus shipping means that nearly 20% or more the life time cost of buying and feeding one chicken for 30 months before culling is in capital costs. Sure would decrease the price of eggs below storebought (ongoing costs, not counting coop construction) if I never paid that never recovered 35 dollars shipping.

I wouldn’t breed siblings, Probably keep one roo around forever so I didn’t end up doing that, could probably keep the flock going for many years like that but I would go from hatchery quality “breeds” to backyard quality “mixed breeds.” If they’ll continue to lay lots of eggs and be healthy that would be fine by me.

 

[sylviethecochin]

You'd have to cull heavily for egg production and have a plan for the cockerels. Also, you would have to hatch at least three times as many birds as you are planning on keeping; eight is too small a number for the 50/50 gender split to be accurate.

In your situation, I'd just stop having them shipped and find a feed store that'll let you take home a small number. Rural king lets you take home as few or as many as you want.

 

[Redhead Rae]

There isn't a real problem with your strategy. With mixes, you can breed them to parents or siblings without much cause for worry for at least several generations, because of the varied bloodlines. In fact, if you have two birds of the same breed from a hatchery, it is very unlikely that they are full or even half siblings. They are definitely going to be somewhat related, but breeding them won't be a problem for a couple generations.

The biggest issue that people run into is consistency in their flock. Consistency of egg laying rates, meat quality, health, temperament, etc.

There are many people on this site that do intentionally breed mixes for many generations.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I think @Ruralhideaway does what you are talking about doing.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I don't see a problem with breeding, not sure what kind of rooster you are using, the fun part about buying store or ordered chicks it the variety. I know if you use say a barred rooster, you chicks may all come out black, which would be boring.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I know if you use say a barred rooster, you chicks may all come out black, which would be boring.

No, the chicks would all be single-barred. Barring is dominant. There is, however, a high likelihood that they would all be barred black.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I don't see a problem with breeding, not sure what kind of rooster you are using, the fun part about buying store or ordered chicks it the variety. I know if you use say a barred rooster, you chicks may all come out black, which would be boring.

They wouldn't come out all black. we got a bunch of mixed chicks from a neighbor who had a Dominique rooster. They all had some sort of barring. This is what the one Dom/RIR cross male looked like. He was a MEAN sucker.

This is what my Dom/Buff hens looked like.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Nothing wrong with mutt chickens. Most easter eggers on the market today are some variety of mutts, olive eggers too, and most production layers are a simple cross breed of two varieties of chicken.

The cons look like;

Cockerels, lots of them. Sometimes 40%, sometimes 80%. In theory it evens out over time but don't count on it. Especially if you focus only on eggs and general hardiness you will end up with a lot of slow-growing skinny teenage boys with no homes that are hard to pluck and hardly worth the feed you put into them. Now if you're OK with it, they make greats soups and such and you can skin them... But at minimum you need a plan for them.
Hatching isn't exact and you will probably end up with spares or too few until you get a feel for it.
Running an incubator is electricity. Broody hens don't lay. Chicks are stupid and you will probably have losses more than you like (IE: more than zero) without a secure brooder.
Roosters are noisy. They just are.
Your chickens may be particularly unpredictable for 1-2 generations, depending on what breeds you go in with. Throwing a Silkie and a Dominique together could result in a skinny bird that lays terribly and is broody all the time for example, you just don't know.

But for the most part you'll just end up with some random birds that, with some careful selection, may even be well adapted to your area over others. Nothing wrong with that. You'll get a few duds but probably mostly competent birds.

 

[Broodygranny]

I have had some great barnyard mixes over the years. The only downside I can think of has already been stated, and that is extra roosters.

 

[Sneebsey]

I breed my layer flock in this manner, however I have around 100 birds, including several cockerels so can maintain genetic diversity through careful crossings. I would suggest bringing in unrelated cockerels every few years, which is the traditional way; in the olden days, farmers would rotate cockerels between themselves.

I agree with @sylviethecochin and @Redhead Rae that you will need to cull for egg production traits. Personally I am breeding toward a dual purpose type and a layer type in two seperate groups, retaining birds with good form and selling pullets which do not meet my goals. I sell perhaps 3/4 of the pullets that I hatch each year. I then only breed from the better layers of larger eggs.

Cockerels are unfortunately mostly culled, which is why I am working toward a dual-purpose group; to maximise their use.