Creating a Dual-Purpose

[Mr D]

Has anyone experimented with creating your own Dual Purpose? Maybe crossing a Cornish with a Leghorn? Or something along the lines of a good meat bird with a good layer?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You can cross whatever you want but with so many excellent DP breeds available, I can't imagine why one would want to go through all that effort.
First, it takes decades to do it right.
Secondly, the genetics of what you suggest fight each other. The heavier a bird, the fewer eggs they will lay. And vice versa.
To perfect and make any breed repeatable can IMHO take a minimum of 10 years and 30 or more is more likely.
Just taking a long established breed of landrace fowl will require decades to refine into color varieties.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Hybrid birds is what your actually talking about. As ChickenCanoe said it takes generations to solidify traits and there are already good dual purpose birds out there for example Standard bred New Hampshire, Buckeye, Red Sussex, Dorking, etc.

If you peruse the Meat bird forum you'll see many folks that make hybrids. I've yet to read one of those threads where they made what could be called repeatable offspring. Typically you see they keep back crossing to a CornishX to maintain size. This is not repeatable and not even close to calling a line of birds. Continuous hybrids nearing sustainable.

 

[mandelyn]

You'll get more predictable results by working with an established breed. Once you go into hybrids, that first cross will be consistent to each other and then it goes out the window after that in subsequent generations. From there, you have to hatch like crazy, pull what's good to move on with and cull the rest. As in, hatching 100 to keep 10. With project birds, you have to come up with a plan and then select according to your goals. Then you have to stick with it and not get sidetracked by pretty feathers.

We raise Marans and Bresse for our predictable purebreds, then I also have a project on the side that I'm messing around with. Looking for a Walnut comb with barred feathers on a wide body frame, is where I'm at with that, 3 generations. In the meantime, they lay funky egg colors to go with their funky feathers. Not many are coming in with the chunk factor of dual purpose, those that are I hold onto. I have a couple of little chunky monsters in the brooders now, some with the desired Walnut comb and barred feathers.

I'm thankful that I started my project birds in my 30's. Perhaps when I retire I'll be onto something with them.

What I have learned though is that not every bloodline within a dual purpose breed will make dual purpose birds. The breeding for that needs to be worked with to maintain the desired body type.

 

[iosman987]

Basically, can they all look mostly like Cream Legbars with a completely different father? Is there one trait they would all lose assuming a father with dominate traits? Thanks for information.

 

[iosman987]

Basically, can they all look mostly like Cream Legbars with a completely different father? Is there one trait they would all lose assuming a father with dominate traits? Thanks for information..

thanks my issue has been fixed.

 

[Coopscraft]

So what would be the traits of a leghorn x dark Cornish? Or vice versa? Would it be a dual purpose hybrid or just an ugly chicken that’s not good at anything?