Is a Austrawhite chicken a pure breed?

[KaleyasChick]

I bred my Whites Leghorn hens with my Black Australorp Roo just to add to my flock. I also bred the same Roo to my silver laced Wyandottes. So after incubation I discovered the WL and BA crossed chick's would be called Austrawhites and someone asked if I would sell them and told me they even though they are crosses, they are "Pure bred Austra Whites".
I'm really new to chickens and have little knowledge on genetics nor am I familiar with many breeds. Can anyone clarify for me?

Also, what's the importance of only having pure breeds? The interested buyer got a little judgmental because I had crossed my wyandottes with the australorp. Said only pure breeds should be bred... the same fellow that wanted to purchase the austrawhites... lol.
Help??

 

[junebuggena]

Austra Whites are not a 'breed'. They are, however, a purebred to purebred crossing. An Australorp/Wyandotte/Leghorn mix is not an Austra White, it's a barnyard mix at that point. With purebred birds, a buyer knows exactly what they are getting in terms of size, temperament, and production rate. There are no such certainties with cross breeds.
Your flock, you get to hatch whatever you want. But sell the offspring with full disclosure that they are barnyard mixes.

 

[KaleyasChick]

Oh sorry, I should have written that better. I have pure wyandottes that I bred with my pure Black Australorp and I have pure White Leghorns bred with my Black Australorp. So two separate groups of chicks.
And yes, the buyer was totally aware of the mixes.

 

[donrae]

Some folks think maintaining breed purity is very important, no matter the animal. Funny, though, that this person would be ok with an AustraWhite, which is simply made up and has been around for a while. But not okay with an AustraDotte, a newer, "fresher" mix

Anyway, many of us do our own crosses. I've done barnyard mixes and specific mixed breed projects for years. Personally, I would get bored with working with the same color, same breed year after year. I just don't have the focus to work with one breed. A little ADD, I guess, but if bringing in new breeds and having a mixed flock keeps me happy, why not?

I hatch out and sell chicks and started pullets each year. I never have a problem selling my mixed breed birds. I just tell folks the parentage best I know, and how well and what color eggs they should lay. I sell out every time I run an ad.

 

[KaleyasChick]

Yeah, we just enjoy our chickens so much but they are getting old now so I thought why not just hatch out some mixed breeds considering we enjoy the parents so much. It's pretty exciting to see what they may look like as they mature. All the Austrawhites have random little black specks

Tbh, I didn't even have them advertised for sale. A friend of a friend of a friend found out I had chicks and contacted me.

What colored eggs should I expect from the Austrawhites and AustraDottes?

 

[The Moonshiner]

All your chicks are just mix breed chickens.
You cant cross pure breeds and call the offspring pure bred anythings.
To be a pure bred breed they have to breed true and the crosses wont.
Your austra whites are what some refer to as a hybrid. A hybrid is just that. Two purebred breeds crossed together. When you call them hybrid and give them a name they sell better then if you called them a mixed breed. It almost makes them sound like a real breed to someone that doesnt know better.
Hybrids have a purpose and some make some of the best layers and others are used as meat birds.
Theres just no consistency for breeding them generation after generation.
It is funny that he would be ok with one cross but not the other. That shows how giving a name to a cross or hybrid fools some into thinking that cross is something special or legit compared to just calling it a mix breed.

 

[KaleyasChick]

I totally get preserving breeds and breeding strong beautiful birds. I was just worried I had done something wrong by crossing my own birds to keep as layers. Haha

 

[donrae]

They'll all be brown egg layers, probably light brown. should be wonderful layers....crossing Leghorn with other breeds really boosts production in the offspring in my experience.

The white of the Leghorns is dominant, so you'll get mostly white chicks with black flecks, like you said. The Wyandottes' rose combs are dominant, so their chicks should have those.

 

[KaleyasChick]

Thank you for the info!