Great breed combinations

[CherriesBrood]

Hello, I have 18 chickens, all are differnt breeds, I got them for egg production. I'm currently breeding, I have 1 rooster and 1 cockerel (both are a barred rock) Im just wondering what would be a good mix breed for egg production and beauty. Any tips? Thanks for the help.

DiseredFarm18

 

[Ridgerunner]

Beauty is on the eye of the beholder. With most hens a barred rock rooster will give you chickens that are colored a lot like a barred rock, but of course some can give you an exception.

Egg laying is an inherited trait. Cross the rooster with a hen that lays well and you should get a pullet that lays well. Breed is not nearly as important as how the individual hen lays.

 

[CherriesBrood]

Ok thank you, do you have any suggestions for me to try?

 

[CherriesBrood]

Anyone?

 

[Ridgerunner]

As I said, if you breed good egg layers you will get good egg layers. I don’t know how well you hens lay. You are looking at them. Study your flock. Which of your hens lay the best? Breed them.

 

[CherriesBrood]

Yes thank you, a have some in mind, but I also want to cross breed for beauty.

 

[jaredthefox]

Yes thank you, a have some in mind, but I also want to cross breed for beauty.

The problem with crossing barred rock to anything is that the baring is a dominant trait. You would be getting hens that look like a barred rock. I crossed a barred rock rooster with an ee hen and I still got a barred rock looking rooster.

 

[CherriesBrood]

Oh, ok. Well that's too bad. Guess I'll have to breed him with a solid color and hope to get a rooster in that batch. Thanks for the help.

 

[donrae]

The pure barred rooster will give all barred babies, male and female. He's extended black, so most of his chicks will also be black, or mostly so. If you have a buff Orpington, that cross would give you a buff and black bird...buff is one of the better colors to hold it's own against black. Otherwise, you'll take a few generations to get rid of the barring and the black. I kept breeding to Easter eggers and brown Leghorns and got some pretty hens in about 3 generations.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you could give us an idea of what you consider "beauty" and tell us what breed and color of hens you are working with, we might be able to give suggestions. But it is hard to give specific suggestions when you don't have anything to base it on.

Rachel, some other things that might make a difference. A blue or splash hen with a BR could give you a blue barred chick. With a solid white hen you might or might not get white chicks. It would be interesting to see what would happen with a Delaware hen. I think the chicks would have the Delaware pattern instead of barred all over but I'm not sure. A Naked Neck should give you another Naked Neck.

This does not consider comb type, feathered legs, or those silly things some have on their heads. The Frizzle gene is dominant so it should show up but the Silkie feathering is recessive so you will not see it in the first generation. Personally I don't consider any of these beautiful except certain combs go best on certain chickens but many people are in love with this type of thing. For some people egg shell color is important. All of us have different goals. I can't guess what someone else's standards of beauty are.

I have not done the buff and black cross yet but that is my next adventure. My flock master in 2016 will be a buff rock and I do have some black mottled, green egg laying hens. I'm looking forward to seeing what I get.