Is it possible to get the best of both worlds?

[Folly's place]

I see that Chanties have already been mentioned. I too have the white, original variety, and love them! See my avatar, our first rooster of this breed.
Cackle has the white variety, haven't ordered the partridge.
Try some!
Mary

 

[FunClucks]

Bastards as you call them (mix breeds without selection for most eggs or most meat), have in general better genes to be fit for a longer life or environmental circumstances.

Many breeds come in different colours. Often there is a partridge colour among them. In the Netherlands we have a site /encyclopedia that shows all possible colours for each breed (available in NL/Europe).

http://www.kippenencyclopedie.nl/php/index.php?title=Categorie:Kippenrassen

The heritage breed Drents hoen, has beautiful wild colours. But I dont think they lay much and are not sold in the US.
http://www.kippenencyclopedie.nl/php/index.php?title=Drentshoen

I love them! Especially the rumpless ones. I just want to pet their rumps!!!

 

[cubalaya]

i think sandhill has chanteclers also

 

[Amer]

The hatchery wants to feed as few roosters as possible (because roosters don't lay eggs) but they need enough to be sure all the eggs are fertile.

Wow, I didn’t know why those ratios were recommended. It explains why trio and pair breeding is just fine.
With my d’Anvers it’s probably better that way because of low fertility.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Wow, I didn’t know why those ratios were recommended. It explains why trio and pair breeding is just fine.
With my d’Anvers it’s probably better that way because of low fertility.

Honestly, apart from a few random males I've had, nearly all of mine are perfectly fine with small groups, especially if they're the only male. I've had 3 males breed hens ragged, and of those, I fully believe that 2 were breeding hens with more delicate feathering. The 3rd, I can buy being a rough breeder since it was multiple hens, where the others each had just 1 or 2 hens and the others were just fine looking

 

[mwturn99]

I see that Chanties have already been mentioned. I too have the white, original variety, and love them! See my avatar, our first rooster of this breed.
Cackle has the white variety, haven't ordered the partridge.
Try some!
Mary

How are chanteclers temperament in your experience?
Do you ever have issues with cocks getting aggressive?
Can you keep cock(s)(erels) together?
Are they good at foraging/free ranging?
Do they have spurs, if so, how big?

 

[Folly's place]

Our white Chanteclers have been from Cackle, several shipments over several years. All have been mellow birds, not meek like the Salmon Favorelles, but very pleasant. And all our cockerels, and the several roosters we've kept, have been easy to get along with, none have been human aggressive.
So far the two cockerels we have this spring have been fine too. And when we had crosses with hens of other breeds, the birds have been good. I never kept cockerels from those crosses though.
Mary

 

[CEW]

Is there a chicken with the oriental aesthetic of a gamefowl, that is simultaneously a great layer, a broiler, and cold hardy?
if no such bird exists, would cross breeding a gamefowl with a more domesticated chicken (for example AGB x Jersey giant) result in a useless bird, or a perfect cross? Has anyone tried this?

I do not see why not for instance, crossing a OEG x a Leghorn would give you a bird that should lay a lot of eggs and be cold Hardy. When they brought in the Japanese long tailed birds, they had a problem with them dying because of the cold so they cross them with old English and they got what is called the Phoenix,
A bird that tolerates the cold, much better old English game tolerate the Coldwell so if you cross it with another cold Hardy bird that lays a lot of eggs you should get what you want. I have crossed my old English with my Phoenix. I have crossing with a few other heritage breeds, looking for that perfect combination myself. I’ll tell you the leg horn is a good choice.