Mixed Breeds vs Pure Breeds

[Birds of a Feather]

Actually in my experience mixed breeds sell about the same as pure breeds.

 

[Mary Chapman]

I have had chickens over 40 years. I have purchased both breeder show bird stock and hatchery stock over the years.
The breeder birds were gorgeous but often not as good layers and we did end up bringing some diseases in with a couple of purchases. After that I bought hatchery birds and never had health issues with them. I ended up mixing my many different breeds together. I have to say over the years I got some really beautiful mixes and so many different colors and patterns. They were my favorites. They were strong and healthy. They layed lots of large eggs in so many different shades of blue, green , brown, pinkish, an apricot kind of color and even a few with a slight plum cast. The chicks were like surprises because I never knew what they would grow up to look like. I'm a big fan of mixes. I think I prefer them but I love all kinds of chickens purebred and mixed. I'm hoping to hatch some interesting mixes this year.

I crossed some chickens this year and ended up with slate blue chicks with light gray feathered legs. Most of the time I only cross them for better meat birds. But this years cross I'm keeping and growing out just to see how they look. And they'll be 'spared' because I love their colors. I'm excited to see what color eggs they'll lay as the mothers are Black Copper Marans and the fathers breed lays white eggs.