Help me select a breed

[Rundown by the ducks]

I don't know, mine never were broody

 

[fluffycrow]

I don't know, mine never were broody

Exactly. None of mine went broody as well. OP wants a broody breed

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Buff Orpingtons

 

[Konstantinos]

So after the offspring of dominique roosters and araucana hens have the same color, will they have other similarities?
Or should i expect diversity in egg production, combs etc?
How many generations does it take to breed true?
And what will the life expectancy be for these Easter eggers?

 

[NatJ]

So after the offspring of dominique roosters and araucana hens have the same color, will they have other similarities?
Or should i expect diversity in egg production, combs etc?

There will probably be some diversity in egg production and combs and other traits.

How many generations does it take to breed true?

Breeding true would take a bare minimum of 2 generations, more likely 4+ generations, and they might never breed true.

It depends on which ones you select for breeders in each generation.

For example, with the gene that causes blue eggs:
The Araucana has two copies of the blue egg gene.
The Dominique has two copies of the not-blue egg gene.

When you cross them, the chicks get one copy of the blue egg gene and one not-blue.

If you breed those chicks to each other, the next generation will have some with two copies of the blue egg gene (one from each parent), some will have no copies of the blue egg gene (not-blue from each parent), and some will have blue and not-blue (blue egg gene from one parent, not-blue egg gene from the other parent.)

In that generation, if you choose just the ones with no blue egg gene, they will breed true for not-blue eggs. Or if you choose the ones with two blue egg genes, they will breed true for blue eggs. But if you choose the ones that are split blue and not-blue, they will not breed true for either trait.

That is an example with just one gene, but the same thing will be happening with many different genes. When you first cross the breeds, each chick has a mixed set of genes (one from each parent, for every trait involved.) The next generation can give you chicks that are pure for one gene but not for another (example: pure for black feather color but not for blue eggs.) If you hatch a large number of chicks, you have a greater chance of getting some chicks that are pure for more genes (maybe pure for black feather color and blue eggs but not foot color or rose comb. Or split for blue eggs but pure for foot color and feather color. Or some other combination yet.)

The genes for body size and shape, and for egg production, will also be mixing and matching. The examples I used were ones I find easier to imagine and understand, but the production traits may actually be more important to you.

And what will the life expectancy be for these Easter eggers?

I don't know that. Things like predators, or you deciding to butcher a hen because she does not lay enough eggs to suit you, may be more important than any genetic tendency to have a long or short life.

 

[Konstantinos]

Nice, breeding chicken will be very interesting!
I am asking about life expectancy because i read hybrids live only 2-4 years.
But on the other hand Easter eggers live around 8.
For the most part i will be trying to reproduce the (most healthy) ones that produce the most (colorfull) eggs.
Combs will be either pea or rose right?

 

[fluffycrow]

I am asking about life expectancy because i read hybrids live only 2-4 years.
But on the other hand Easter eggers live around 8.

Easter Eggers are mixes themselves

 

[NatJ]

I am asking about life expectancy because i read hybrids live only 2-4 years.
But on the other hand Easter eggers live around 8.

Commercial egg-production hybrids lay the most eggs in the first few years. Most of them die around age 2 because they are killed (not laying enough eggs to be productive in a commercial setting.)

If they are not killed by people or predators, they are more likely to die of reproductive disorders, compared to some other breeds. But that does not happen to every hen. There are some people on this forum who have egg-production hybrids that have lived to be just as old as chickens of any other breed.

Not all Easter Eggers live to old ages either. Just like with the commercial hybrids, some get killed because they are no longer laying as many eggs, and some die of reproductive disorders or other causes (probably less with reproductive disorders, as compared with the high-production hybrids, but it still happens to some of any breed. In general, the fewer eggs they lay, the less likely they are to have reproductive problems: but laying less eggs is a trait many people do not want.)

Just being a hybrid or a purebred is not the cause of any of these problems. The problems come from which traits are being chosen (high production leads to high rate of reproductive disorders in purebreds too), and how they are managed (humans killing the chickens when they are considered not productive enough.)

For the most part i will be trying to reproduce the (most healthy) ones that produce the most (colorfull) eggs.

That sounds like a good plan, and it is the basic method that developed many of the breeds that exist now (especially the ones that are reputed to be unusually healthy and productive!)

Combs will be either pea or rose right?

When you cross rose and pea comb, you get walnut combs.
If you breed those walnut comb chickens together, you can get pea, rose, walnut, or single (probably some of each.)

That's because one gene decides pea or not-pea comb, and a different gene on a different chromosome decides rose or not-rose. Walnut is pea and rose. Single is not-pea and not-rose. Pea and rose are both dominant, so a chick with even one gene for a pea comb or for rose comb will show the effects of that gene.

The pea comb is linked to the blue egg gene, so they tend to be inherited together. Since you are planning to start with Araucanas (pea comb/blue egg), you should expect that chicks who show the pea comb gene (pea combs and walnut combs) will also have the blue egg gene, while chicks who do not show the pea comb gene (single comb and rose comb) will not have the pea comb gene. You might get a few crossovers (where the genes unlink), but probably not many.

The pea comb/blue egg linkage can actually happen in four different combinations:
pea comb/blue egg is found in Araucana and Ameraucana
pea comb/not-blue egg is found in Brahma and Buckeye
not-pea comb/blue egg is found in Cream Legbar
not-pea comb/not-blue egg is found in Dominiques and the majority of other breeds (all the ones with single combs or rose combs that lay white eggs or brown eggs)

No matter which way the linkage goes, it tends to stay together in the offspring, so tracking the comb types can be a way of mostly tracking the blue egg gene (helpful when sorting young pullets, and especially helpful when choosing males.)