Cross Chicken Genetics

[MtnMan5]

Hello all, I'm using Egyptian Fayoumi (hens) breed as my free range choice of breed for a several reasons. I want to breed them back to Brown Leghorn (roo) to increase their egg production. I also have Spangled old english game (bantams hens or roo) for which I want to try and carry over the broodiness trait as so far they have been great mothers. How would you go about breeding them to keep the Fayoumi genetics dominate with adding these other triats? If you can help me with this it would be so great to have your guys/gals advice on this subject.
Thanks.

 

[MtnMan5]

Any ideas?

 

[ANightPerson]

Well, it's definitely doable to create a flock of chickens that looks like Egyptian Fayoumis with both upped egg production and increased broodiness with the chickens that you have, but it will likely take a few years. I'll go over two or three different ways that you could do this: the long and careful way, or some much easier but less precise ways. In each way, I suggest completely replacing your flock with the product for the best results.

Long an careful: You should breed your Leghorn roosters to your Egyptian Fayoumi hens and putting their eggs under your broodies. From there, you would select the offspring with the most Fayoumi-like features and with the best egg production, then breed some of those mixed hens back to Fayoumi roosters, and the rest of them back to their most Fayoumi-like brother and put their eggs under your broodies. From there, you should select the offspring with the best traits in each group and breed your best hens to your OEG roosters and let your broody hens hatch the eggs. Then again, select the offspring with the most desirable traits, and put them all together and let them naturally breed and raise chicks. Select towards the chickens with the best traits in each generation, and after two or three generations you should be good. This would make a whole new flock and take probably around five years.

Easier way: Breed some Egyptian Fayoumi hens to OEG roosters, and some to Leghorn roosters. Select for the best offspring from each group and breed them with eachother (roos from group A with the hens from group B, males from group B with the hens from group A.) Select for the most desirable offspring, and either 1. (easiest) cultivate a flock from them, selecting for the most desirable ones in each generation, or 2. (would take a little more patience) breed them back to Egyptian Fayoumis. Select the most desirable offspring and cultivate a flock from them, selecting the best ones each generation. This would take an extra year of selective breeding, but would result in less culls in the next few generations.

The basic principle is just mix them together and select. And of course, if you prefer a less hands-on approach, you can just add some OEGB and Leghorns to your flock and let them integrate over the next few generations. But of course, that would result in a much less precise result.

 

[MtnMan5]

Thanks for your reply. Question: Would the OEG roosters be capable of passing on the broody trait or should I breed a second generation roo back to the OEG hens? I've read (not to say it's correct) that I will most likely not get a Fayoumi to go broody till they are around 2 yrs. of age. I'm also trying to get that trait closer to a year or less if I can. I've raised chickens for years and I've had hens that supposedly never go broody hatch a clutch of eggs at 6 months of age and so called broody hens that never sat on eggs. What I do find though is over all on average they live up to what the expectations of the breed are. I really appreciate your help and I would rather have a more hands on approach as that way I can eliminate the roos or hens when I don't need them. I would love to just let them intermingle but I feel the leghorn trait while adding to egg production is a very dangerous trait to play with, when i'm trying to promote the broodiness that I want to instill in the fayoumi.

FYI: My fayoumi would be my broody hens unless I can use my OEG hens.

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[ANightPerson]

Thanks for your reply. Question: Would the OEG roosters be capable of passing on the broody trait or should I breed a second generation roo back to the OEG hens? I've read (not to say it's correct) that I will most likely not get a Fayoumi to go broody till they are around 2 yrs. of age. I'm also trying to get that trait closer to a year or less if I can. I've raised chickens for years and I've had hens that supposedly never go broody hatch a clutch of eggs at 6 months of age and so called broody hens that never sat on eggs. What I do find though is over all on average they live up to what the expectations of the breed are. I really appreciate your help and I would rather have a more hands on approach as that way I can eliminate the roos or hens when I don't need them. I would love to just let them intermingle but I feel the leghorn trait while adding to egg production is a very dangerous trait to play with, when i'm trying to promote the broodiness that I want to instill in the fayoumi.

FYI: My fayoumi would be my broody hens unless I can use my OEG hens.

Thanks again for your advice!

The roos can pass on the broody trait, all you have to do is wait for their daughters to go broody to hatch the next gen. All chicks should be hatched and raised by a broody hen. Being raised by a broody mama increases their chance of going broody later on.

 

[nicalandia]

Hello all, I'm using Egyptian Fayoumi (hens) breed as my free range choice of breed for a several reasons. I want to breed them back to Brown Leghorn (roo) to increase their egg production. I also have Spangled old english game (bantams hens or roo) for which I want to try and carry over the broodiness trait as so far they have been great mothers. How would you go about breeding them to keep the Fayoumi genetics dominate with adding these other triats? If you can help me with this it would be so great to have your guys/gals advice on this subject.
Thanks.

You had me until.. I also have Spangled old english game (bantams hens or roo) for which I want to try and carry over the broodiness trait as so far they have been great mothers

The best egg layers in the world don't go broody, actually it has been bred out of them. If you cross a Brown Leghorn with Fayoumi hens the F1s will lay about 260 eggs per year if well fed and cared for(the average of both parent breeds times about 12% heterosis) The hens will rarely go broody. Stay at F1s as they are the best performers as any attempt to stabilized any sort of breed will yield lower performance due to loss of heterosis

 

[NatJ]

You might want to just keep the OEG separately as broodies.
Anytime a hen is broody, she is not laying--so broodiness and egg production work against each other.

It IS possible to have a hen that lays well all winter, and goes broody in the spring (but then what eggs will you put under her to hatch?) Some years ago, I had a Partridge Chantecler hen that did that--laid like a champ all winter while some others were slacking, then went broody in the spring when the others were finally starting to lay again.

Obviously you want to cross your Brown Leghorn rooster to your Fayoumi hens. Depending on how long you like to keep each batch of hens, you could then use a male from that cross to mate with your original Fayoumi hens, producing chicks that are 3/4 Fayoumi. Choose the ones (both genders) that look, act, and lay the way you want them. If they're not quite right, cross back to either Fayoumi or Brown Leghorn, depending on what traits you most want.

An alternate way to increase egg production: use pure Fayoumis, but hatch eggs only from your best egg layers. For example, if 2/3 of them quit laying in the middle of winter, figure out who did NOT quit, and then hatch eggs from them next time a hen goes broody. No extra genes to breed out, but I don't know if it would produce good layers in more or less years compared with the Brown Leghorn cross idea.