Now I'm thinking of getting a different rooster. Something so that the offspring will (in general) be kind of dual purpose. Just looking for some fun mixes to make a good barnyard flock. Any ideas for that? Also since they're in a run they would have to be willing to be confined, be cold hardy, protecting his hens isn't a huge factor since they will be in a run, and hopefully be nice to people. I know the last one has a lot to do with handling him from a chick, but any ideas for a good roo?
I have had chickens for years, and this thought has been the problem/joy! One always finds something else that would be fun to try! There are so many to choose from. To me your requirement might best be fit with a Buff Orpington, and they come in lots of colors... AND they go broody, and a hen with chicks is also something to try...
too much fun for years to come! No one gets it right, right away, or anyway, few do.
Mrs K
I've been playing around with your idea for a number of years, and haven't landed on my "go to breed," yet...but about to. I am coming to the conclusion that it is better to breed in increments than in large differences...not a really large bird/slow producer to a small bird/large producer but a decent bird to another decent bird who has the characteristics you want. You get a less dynamic outcome of diverse possibilities (Punnett Square math) which will get you to your goals more quickly.
I've tried a LOT of different breeds, and as I max out at about 20 to 25 chickens...better at 15 to 20 depending upon ages.... I too have smaller area to work with and need birds that will be happier and calmer (they free range on back portion of 1/3 acre with hawks overhead...so I also need some predator savyness and natural feather camouflage).
Since you want to keep to a smaller area, I personally would shy away from breeding forward the JG or Brahma. They are big birds who eat a lot of grain and will outsize your area if you breed that forward and a percentage will be big like them. And they mature very slowly. That means you feed them a lot of grain before you get laying or carcass.
RIR's lay really well, but were noisy and flighty, but keep them in mind as a good quality RIR (from a breeder) can boost egg laying in certain breeds (wait for it).
I agree, Buff Orpingtons are a decent dual purpose, but I do not know that from personal experience. Mine were not particularly outstanding. They ate a lot and laid little. But I've heard many have good luck with them. I would then buy from a good breeder rather than hatchery quality, as I tried it with several hatchery batches and came out with somewhat snotty, fat, lazy hens both times. I would tend to go with BO hens to add color, since you only want one roo.
The closest to breed needs for me have come from Buckeyes and Rhodebars. Both produce nice table size roosters quickly (by 20 to 22 weeks) and decent laying hens, and very sweet, docile birds.
The Rhodebars are a beautiful bird (roos and hens patterned very differently...google them) a very good layer AND autosexing!. RIR infused into them will refresh their laying without disrupting the autosexing (there's a formula to use in order to do that).
The Buckeyes are famous for cold hardy, and the roos were the sweetest birds. My Buck ladies will be good stewers when I retire them. The Bucks give a gorgeous mahagony to the landscape.
As you can re-vitalize the Rhodebars by infusing RIR back in them periodically, I would be tempted to try that with the Buckeye as well.....AND I would be tempted to try the Buckeye roo over the RB girls to see what happens...then breed for RB.
To add variety, you might consider keeping a red based roo (like a sweet Buckeye) and then put him over the Barred Rock girl to get sexlinks. You should be able to infuse better carcass into the BR and better laying into the Buck with the advantage of the black/red (female) and black/white (roo if kept) added to the landscape.
Using the red Buck roo over the different Buff Orp girls could add a lot of color and again keep you within dual purpose, just tweeking qualities.
If you want egg color, I wouldn't go Easter Egger but get a true, from a reputable breeder, Ameraucana or go to something like an Isbar. Those are double blue gene which then allows you to have offspring that are green layers and can be bred back to keep the color in the eggs; otherwise the siblings bred to siblings quickly breeds out the color, especially if you are starting with only 1 gene in the first place with an EE, so I'd keep that line separate if you want the egg color to stay consistent and easily figured out who carries what.
Whatever you do, keep your breeding pairs down to just a few. The more you mix and match, especially at the beginning, the more complexity and problems you create as the Punnett math takes off and you get all sorts of weird going on. Start with a goal, take a rooster and a few hens, and keep breeding back to keep the qualities you like best...generally its best to breed father/daughter and mother/son for 3 or 4 generations before you go sibling....and mark out lines rather than having them run loose breeding at will (or trap lay so you can hatch only what you want)..
Or just toss them in together and watch the fun...but you'll likely get some really nice birds and some pretty useless birds in the process...if you have some wide dynamics...but that can be part of the fun.
I'm still in the theory process yet, and haven't had time to see fruition of efforts, but that's what I've learned thus far. I personally am going to go for more color and production, although tempted to keep a Buck/Rhodebar project...but my breeding attempt will be Barnevelder/Isbar and Barnevelder/Marans to see what kind of color and producer I get....as that's the birds I've got now, money is tighter this summer, and I think it will get me to some goals I want.
Others with long term experience will have better ideas of actual implementation and correct any errors I may have.
LofMc
