Gunna start some breeding projects any suggestions?

[ninjascrub69]

i want to crossbreed some chickens to come up with a meat breed, good layer, or just an ornamental

 

[draye]

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Ever get started on some of them crossbreeds? I have just waiting for the 1st cross to start laying and try the next cross.

 

[kfacres]

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first you should pick from the three and decide what it is you want...

if you don't pick out from the get go, a general direction to head... you'll just go in circles.

It'll be cheaper and easier, just to buy some leghorns for eggs, Cornish X for meat, and pheasants for onamental...

 

[VI KING RANCH]

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first you should pick from the three and decide what it is you want...

if you don't pick out from the get go, a general direction to head... you'll just go in circles.

It'll be cheaper and easier, just to buy some leghorns for eggs, Cornish X for meat, and pheasants for onamental...

BORING....lol

 

[Illia]

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first you should pick from the three and decide what it is you want...

if you don't pick out from the get go, a general direction to head... you'll just go in circles.

It'll be cheaper and easier, just to buy some leghorns for eggs, Cornish X for meat, and pheasants for onamental...

Really? I'm sorry but that's, in my opinion, not the greatest advice.

If someone wants to set their heart out on a project, so be it. Ornamental doesn't mean it needs to look like a Himalayan Monal, egg laying doesn't mean it needs to be a Sex-Link on its first year, and meaty doesn't mean it should grow as fast as a Cornish X.

I want all three too, which is why I like Araucanas and Blue Wheaten Marans so much. But still even there they don't FULLY satisfy me, so I'm still working on tweaking some of my breeds here to develop a new "mutt" or variety of chicken that suits me better.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I think my biggest complaint on that original post, and probably why it didn't get any responses, is because the OP doesn't really seem to know what they want. They don't say anything about combining specific traits, only that they want to come up with something for meat, eggs OR just an ornamental. You kinda need to know what your goals are before you start out on some cross-breeding for specific traits.

Personally, with the price of feed being what it is these days, I can't fathom wanting to develop another dual-purpose breed. Unless you're keeping them primarily because you LIKE them, with eggs and meat just a side benefit, I can't imagine justifying a dual purpose breed, personally. The itty-bitty Mediterranean egg-laying machines that eat like, well, birds and lay like maniacs are looking better and better to me. And no ifs, ands or buts, NOTHING beats the efficiency of a good CX.

 

[kfacres]

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very good post.... agree 100%...

 

[phasianidae]

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The joys of having bantams...

 

[kfacres]

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The joys of having bantams...

the joys of having twice as many bantams... cuz it takes two eggs to equal one...


i wonder, does twice as many bantams, in the same space, require twice as much feed? and is that twice as much feed- equal what half the LF birds eat?

joke for everyone... how many bantams does it take to equal one CX...?

Personally, though, I love our bantam Cornish... They are the number 1 chicken on the place 99% of the time.

 

[pastorwalt]

I saw a suggestion once that someone should start a Tolbunt Wyandotte project
so, I went to the chicken calculator to see what would happen if one crossed
silver laced Wyandottes with Speckled Sussex, then back crossed the F1's
there are all sorts of possibilities that could come out of that.
The nicest things about doing these things on the calculator is that it's
instant, the feed bill is zero and you can let your imagination run wild.
Hey people, they're just chickens, not Holy Icons.
If a guy want's to waste time and money trying to create
Isabel Partidge Rocks or Whatever
It's better than some other vices
IMO
Walt