crossing breeds?

[watchdogps]

If I have a mixed flock and they breed, is there any way to know what the outcomes might be? Do crossbred chickens tend to look like one parent or do they have a blend of traits? Are there breeds or traits that are dominant?

 

[Ridgerunner]

If the parents are purebred, you can determine what the chicks will look like. there is really not much variety. But if the parents are both mixed, there are many different possibilities of what the offspring will look like.

Some traits are dominant. Some are recessive. Some are partially dominant, or incomplete dominance. An exampleof incomplete dominance is, when you cross a black chicken with a splash chicken, you get blue. Neither splash or black are completely dominant.


Some colors tend to dominate other colors. But you have both base colors and pattern colors. And you have many different genes that interact to make these colors and patterns. When you breed crosses, you can come up with colors or patterns that you would not have known were possible. For example, if you crosss a Rhode Island Red rooster with a Barred Rock hen, you will get black puillets and black and white barred roosters, typical black sex links. You will probably get some red leakage but they are mostly these colors. But if you cross the offspring, you can get many different patterns and colors, even some that look pretty white. Different shades of red will show up, from pretty light to pretty dark red, along with several different possible patterns. Half will be barred but half will not be.

Hopefully this helps answer your question.

 

[orientphoenix]

i really don't know, but mixed breeds r cool though

here r some of mine
golden seabright and millie fluer duccle mix and some partridge cochin mixed in there to

silie duccle mix

oriental game fowl silkie mixed

 

[Arielle]

THere are benfits to crossing breeds, other than the fun of figuring out the feather coloring. Usually, hybrid vigor results in a healthier bird that also grows faster than it's parents. So many crosses are beneficial, like the above mentioned black sexlinks.

 

[saladin]

You can get something that approaches hybrid vigor by crossing to birds of the same breed but from different strains (families).

If you want to see how different colors interact with one-another you can generally do that within the same breed as well.


The unfortunate thing is that many purebred quality birds are on the literal virge of extinction. If you are going to take the time to breed, hatch and feed the stock then I encourage you to pick a rare breed and breed them for improvement.

You can work with a mix flock to begin with and acquire two or three cockbirds from the breed of your choice. Just begin a grading system. Within 6 to 8 generations you will, for all practical purposes, have a nice flock of whatever rare breed you have desired to save and work with.

Just a thought.

 

[watchdogps]

I'm sure I will find a breed to latch on to sooner or later, but for my intro to chickens, I'm probably going to acquire a small group of birds that someone just doesnt want any more. I'm seeing plenty of them on CL. My friend has a very young white leghorn that was supposed to be a pullet, but isnt! Does anyone know how a white leghorn will crossbreed?
Oh- and I am not planning on breeding per se, but I will probably allow a few to hatch.

 

[saladin]

Meanest chicken I ever met was a Leghorn!

Now watch all the Leghorn people jump on me for being honest. lol.

 

[watchdogps]

Her current white leghorn is named Dick, for that reason. I'm calling mine Biff, it seems suitable. If he's too much of a jerk though, I'll have to rehome him..

 

[saladin]

Trouble with the egg laying breeds is that they were never culled along the lines of being human friendly.

That is why I keep Games and Orientals; I like friendly birds; not placid like say a Cochin but friendly nonetheless. Now there is a big friendly bird: a Cochin.

 

[hallerlake]

I am contemplating out crossing Cream Brabanters and Appenzeller Spitzhaubens. One of my Brabanter pullets has no beard. I've read that beard genes have incomplete dominance. Does that mean she has no beard genes? If I cross her with my (beardless) Spitz cock, does this mean their offspring will not have beards? I have a Spitz pullet with a beard. If I cross her with my (bearded) Brabanter cock, does this mean some of their offspring will have big beards, and some will have small beards? Since the Brabanter cock is a sibling of the beardless Brabanter pullet, could some of the Brabanter/ bearded Spitz off spring have no beards? Thank you.