hybrid question

[()relics]

I want to breed my own hybrid pullets probably similar to the advertised "Production Red"... I have decided on Rhode Island Reds X Rhode Island Whites...I have two very good lines and some specific birds already picked out but....
My question to the genetic professionals...you know who you are...list to include Henk...For the best egg layer should I use RIR rooster over RIwhite hen or vise versa RIwhite rooster over RIR hen....Or does it matter?...maybe someone has tried this?...Or maybe a different pairing is a better way to go????? Again all I want is to raise good brown egg laying pullets...no need for sex links or body size requirements.

 

[Mahonri]

Which variety lays better? Red or White?

The best layer is your hen.

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

I would try both and let the results decide. Each chicken is different then another, each strain or line is different as well. Thats why breeder's chickens are better usually then hatchery chickens. When a breeder finds the right birds to make a line with then the line gets stronger and thus better then the randomly mixed chickens in hatcheries.

So what Im trying to say, is there's more to it then just what breeds to mix. You have to pick the right birds to mix. Takes a lot of time and effort.

 

[Henk69]

The magic word here is hybrid vigor.
Egg laying capacity is not sexlinked that I know of and even if: both parents have good genes for that trait.
But if the two lines are unrelated you will get the hybrid effect.
For instance: I crossed my bantam lakenvelders to my large fowl lakenvelders and got an intermediate size chicken that lays eggs almost as big as from the large fowl, but not unimportant, twice as much.

 

[()relics]

The reds are better and more consistant layers...so RIwhite rooster X RIR hens, is the way to go? The RIR roosters are much bigger than the white roosters. So that will give me an orangish bird with the increased vigor...the lines being unrelated....so better egg laying and possibly a smaller bird?...now if this is correct, could the age of egg production be decreased say to 17 weeks? or is the 20 weeks set in stone? Thus giving you a smaller bird=more feed efficient,a better egg layer, and quicker maturity.

 

[Mahonri]

Don't think you'll get orange.

Probably red or white or a combo.

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

Mixing different color chickens is not like mixing paint. lol You will get a mix of white and redish feathers likely.

 

[Jayare's Chicks]

Why don't you use a red roo and some white hens in one pen and a white roo and some red hens in another pen and then mix their offspring to each other?

Jayare

 

[kyeschicks]

yeah you should do one of each

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

If you have a Rhode Island Red Roo over Rhode Island White Hens, they will be sex-links. All the Boys will be white and all of the girls will be grown / hellow chicks and age out looking like a lighter Rhode Island Red with White tips on her feathers. From feathersite.com. This combo, I have and they lay beautiful large brown eggs and lots of them.

"Buff with white or tinted undercolor (such as Golden Comet, Rhode Island Red x Rhode Island White) "

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKSexLink.html