Favorite breed cross?

[Beccazon]

Successfully hatched my first batorful earlier this month. All chickens from my TSC and Farm and Home babies from last spring. No special breeds. (Heck some not even ONE breed). Ducks are in the bator now. I am looking into some GOOD stock and heritage breeds now that I am addicted and know I can successfully incubate!

What breed crosses do you like best? Why? I will have a few meat birds and dual purpose but I have mainly eggs for now. I like visual interest too so I am up for ideas as I would like to breed pure and some crosses as well.

 

[Pretty Birds]

What breed crosses do you like best? Why?

I like visual interest too so I am up for ideas as I would like to breed pure and some crosses as well.

I had my first successful hatch the end of this summer. One of the chicks is half Plymouth Rock and half Easter Egger. Her feet and feathers are the color of a Barred Rock and she has a pea comb and beard. I like the barred and bearded look.

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

I have a 4 in my incubator right now and excited to see what they all look like!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm not fond of crosses. If all we want are chickens for eggs or meat, it is OK but crosses are mutts and will never be anything but.
Having worked with many scarce and rare breeds, I prefer to spend time perpetuating and improving rare genetics - but that's just me.
Cross away.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I don't generally create hybrids on purpose, but if you keep more than one breed accidents are bound to happen. I was very fond of my Cuckoo Marans x Salmon Faverolle pullet, Grey Girl. She looked like a pure bred Cuckoo Faverolle, complete with beard, five toes, and feathered legs. She was a broody monster. I also enjoyed the accidental cross of a Birchin Marans x Welsummer pairing that produced several pullets with a Black Copper pattern. They laid darker eggs than the Welsummers or any of the Marans.

 

[Beccazon]

I'm not fond of crosses. If all we want are chickens for eggs or meat, it is OK but crosses are mutts and will never be anything but.
Having worked with many scarce and rare breeds, I prefer to spend time perpetuating and improving rare genetics - but that's just me.
Cross away.

Best dogs I ever had were mutts. But as chickens go, like I said, I want to work with some heritage breeds and breed pure. But intend on having some fun with crossing as well. Mutts though, are how many breeds became standard in history. Many heritage breeds are from crosses long ago.

 

[Beccazon]

I don't generally create hybrids on purpose, but if you keep more than one breed accidents are bound to happen. I was very fond of my Cuckoo Marans x Salmon Faverolle pullet, Grey Girl. She looked like a pure bred Cuckoo Faverolle, complete with beard, five toes, and feathered legs. She was a broody monster. I also enjoyed the accidental cross of a Birchin Marans x Welsummer pairing that produced several pullets with a Black Copper pattern. They laid darker eggs than the Welsummers or any of the Marans.

Broody monster. I have to look up Birchin Marans!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Broody monster.

Oh she was, she was a dragon queen when she was on a nest. Which was all the time. She was a screamer and a biter. lol

I have to look up Birchin Marans!

I had the Black Birchen, not the blue that is popular now, but here's a Google image search...

https://www.google.com/search?q=bir...a0KHTSFBj4Q_AUIEygC&biw=1344&bih=698&dpr=1.25

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Best dogs I ever had were mutts. But as chickens go, like I said, I want to work with some heritage breeds and breed pure. But intend on having some fun with crossing as well. Mutts though, are how many breeds became standard in history. Many heritage breeds are from crosses long ago.

Very true. Some of these breeds took a century or more to perfect. Then as they become rare it can be a problem crossing them. Perhaps if one has a rooster which breeds other breed hens it can be pretty cool but when there may only be a handful of roosters and hens of a breed, I firmly believe they should be contributing their genetics to producing more of their kind. I'm not talking about the likes of crossing a Plymouth Rock of any variety with an Orpington of a specific variety. I'm talking about producing more of an ancient breed that may be lost forever without yeoman effort to take the unique genetics forward.
Sorry for hijacking the thread for my soapbox. We are just coming at this from completely different points of view.

Mutts are great, but they are no longer made up of the genetics that developed the unique breeds.

 

[The Angry Hen]

I very much like the concept of cross-breeding my birds. It has multiple benefits. Not only does in make the lineage stronger and more sophisticated, but it is an interesting mystery of genetics and variety.



My most successful hybrid is a Delaware/Dorking/Brahma/Faverolle. The grandfather was a cross (not one I created) of a Dorking rooster and a Delaware hen. Later, I bred him to a Buff Brahma hen. Their offspring was a rooster, my best rooster yet.



Eventually, I bred Magnum (the rooster above) to a Salmon Faverolle hen. Three different offspring had hatched, each being of this mix.



Bronze and Annie are wonderful birds... their sister, Merthaniah, is younger and much less friendly. She's a tough hen, but a wonderful mother.
Annie on the other hand, is a spitting image of Bronze with a different coloring. She's gentle, feisty, but very sweet tempered and trusting. Bronzy's a little timid.

As you learn, you find that each bird, even if same in genetics, is their own self. Most of breeding is an assumption... though calculated cautiously in time.

Bronze and Merthaniah are everyday egg producers. Annie's once a week or two!
The two good layers lay the most beautiful eggs.



...

My least successful breed was a Delaware/Dorking/New Hampshire. She wasn't a stable, nor extremely healthy offspring. But I only hatched one... so I cannot assume.

Here is a link to an article I made, listing all of my cross breeds from the past. Hope this is of help! All of my birds are for egg production and pets, but I figured I'd try my best to recommend. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-breeding-journey.75179/

Have fun with you upcoming journeys- I wish you all the best!