Crossing Isa Browns to Heritage breeds

[nicalandia]

More info on Isa Browns Parent and Proof that highly efficient corporations use the reciprocal cross to produce Silver based egglayers(Silver males on Gold females)

Parent Stock of ISA Brown and Dekalb-Amberlink which are sourced from Hendrix Genetics (the leading supplier of Layer GP globally): http://ajanlafarm.com/product-range/poultry/grand-parent-stock-egg-breed/

Isa Brown Parent Stock (Isa brown product of the GoldxSilver cross)

Amberlink Parent stock(SilverxGold, not sexlinked but even more productive than the Isa browns)

If you look closely the Reds lack dominant white while the Silvers look completely white due to being Columbian restricted Silvers and dominant white

 

[MaeIstrom]

Well some sad news with my first batch, I messed up the incubator temperature on day 18 and only a quarter of my eggs hatched and of those only 1 was from the Aracauna/Isa Brown mix. I realized he was a rooster when he started attacking my hand and any other foreign object on his second day of life but after a good thwack he seems to have calmed down. The good news is when he's not pecking the hand that feeds him he displays qualities of intelligence, boldness and friendliness far in excess of his Australorp and Ameraucana hatchmates. While the Australorps will grudgingly take food from my hands and the Ameraucanas will panic if I even look at them this one will actually approach me for petting and sometimes even jump onto my hand so at least I've established the excellent temperament is genetic and not environmental.

As you can see he's already developing strong Aracauna traits such as the crest, beard and (I think) pea comb so at the very least I could cross him over my Ameraucana hens and produce improved Aracaunas sans the inbreeding and low fertility that seems to plague all the Aracauna variants in my area.

 

[MaeIstrom]

As for which laying hens to cross him over I'm torn between hyline browns for eggscalence or a strain of 3/4 leghorn, 1/4 new hampshire pullets that a local hatchery is selling as a longer-lived alternative to the isa brown. Or even a couple of both to create a 3-way cross for f3. Whats fascinating about the 3/4 leghorns is that many of them have splashes of red and some appear almost entirely red which I would've thought impossible for even half-leghorn let alone 3/4 so can I assume these red hens come from at least 2 generations of leghorns with recessive white and their whiter brethren have dominant white? And is dominant white in the isa brown how you were able to predict the lavender/isa brown cross would produce 100% white as opposed to blue or splash?

 

[MaeIstrom]

Well just in case anyone cares my awsome rooster has turned out to be a hen and my method of determining gender by fight frequency, flock dominance and positive attributes in general has turned out to 50% accurate at best. She squatted down today at 4 months and 9 days so I guess eggs are coming soon and sexual maturity is on par with the isa brown. Body size maybe 20% smaller than the 25-26 wo hylines browns she's standing next to in this pic (plus ameraucana hatchmate)

 

[MaeIstrom]

Well she laid her first egg the day after the last post at exactly 19 weeks of age. Since then about 5-6 medium eggs a week. Occasionally she takes a day off and comes back with an eggs as big as the ones laid by my hyline browns. I've attached a pic of 3 of her eggs next to a hyline brown and 2 from Ameraucanas.

 

[Bok-bok]

Really interesting thread! Do you think crossing an Araucana rooster with a hen that lays white eggs would produce a blue egg laying hen?

 

[nicalandia]

Really interesting thread! Do you think crossing an Araucana rooster with a hen that lays white eggs would produce a blue egg laying hen?

100% if the parents are pure. The shade of blue will be a pale shade but blue none the less..

There was this study of crossing a Araucana roosters with Leghorn to see how they performed, the Araucana is said to produce about 170-180 eggs per year and the White Leghorn around 320 the average of the F1 should have been about 250 yet they produced about 280 yielding a 12% heterosis effect.

here is the pdf of the work done.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ae4f/d9522c44c1bf01195d72f7d799a3e5107a17.pdf

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

I am surprised that your ISA Browns have stopped laying at 18 months. I know someone who has an ISA who will be two in July. She is still going strong!

 

[Shahnizr]

Well just in case anyone cares my awsome rooster has turned out to be a hen and my method of determining gender by fight frequency, flock dominance and positive attributes in general has turned out to 50% accurate at best. She squatted down today at 4 months and 9 days so I guess eggs are coming soon and sexual maturity is on par with the isa brown. Body size maybe 20% smaller than the 25-26 wo hylines browns she's standing next to in this pic (plus ameraucana hatchmate)View attachment 1973963

My question to you is , will that cross go clucky! I feel so sorry for the Isa browns and their short life span .

 

[Patricia Brediger]

Wow, you are doing what Ive been trying for many years, but just recently been able to at least start, I have many years of experience working with Isa brown f1 crosses and have been able to sort out how they are produced, lend me some time and I will publish all I know about the project.

Have you crossed lavender Orpington to an Isa Brown hen? I am incubating these would you know what they will look like ? Thankyou