Most popular breeds to mix.

[GhettoRoo]

Hello everyone. As I am raising now lot of breed chicks, and im looking to cross them.
Im interested which are the most popular breed mixes?
I saw a lot of in my country ads, there are Auracana and Brahmas mixes, regulary for sale. Why?
And what are other popular mixes.
How to select, which breed is better to mix with other. And what to wait after it.
P.S, im more for laying breeds.

 

[Michael OShay]

If they are true Araucanas, mixing them with Brahmas (or any other brown egg layer) will give you Easter Eggers which are the top selling chickens in the USA. You can also mix other blue egg layers such as Ameraucanas and Cream Legbars with brown eggs layers to produce Easter Eggers. Other popular mixes are red gene roosters (RIR, NH, or PR) X silver gene hens (RIW, SLW, Delaware, or Light Sussex), which will produce Red Sex Links (sold under a variety of labels including Red Star, Gold Sex Link, Gold Star, Golden Buff, Golden Comet, Brown Sex Link, Cinnamon Queen, Isa Brown, etc.) and Rhode Island Red roosters X Barred Rock hens which will produce Black Sex Links (Black Stars). Black and Red Sex Links are egg laying machines, outlaying either parent breed. It's one of the interesting quirks of hybridization. )

 

[collie1470]

If you get a dark brown layer and breed with a green egger, you can get olive eggs, I believe.

 

[dekel18042]

If you get a dark brown layer and breed with a green egger, you can get olive eggs, I believe.

Which is the reason people make those crosses. Many of the crosses I've done have been with egg color in mind,

 

[Michael OShay]

If you get a dark brown layer and breed with a green egger, you can get olive eggs, I believe.

Actually it's a dark brown (chocolate) egg layer crossed with a blue egg layer that makes an olive egg layer. )

 

[collie1470]

Ah, I saw a chart that said blue+brown=green, green+green=green, and green+brown=darker green/olive.

Oh well :/

 

[Michael OShay]

Ah, I saw a chart that said blue+brown=green, green+green=green, and green+brown=darker green/olive.

Oh well

I checked and you actually can get an F2 olive egg layer by crossing an F1 olive green egg layer with a brown egg layer, but hatcheries actually cross blue layers X dark brown layers to produce their F1 olive egg layers. There is a chart showing this progression at http://www.moosemanorfarms.com/colored-egg-layers.html.

 

[collie1470]

Huh.....nifty.

 

[GhettoRoo]

Gona call few breeds im gonna have, those who should be the best layers.

Australorps, RIR, silver Wyandotte, Brown leghorn, Auracana.

Now I have 2 sex link roosters, 1 Vorwerk Rooster, and 1 rooster with Easter Egger bloods.

I guess If i cross any of these breeds with my sex link roos, im gonna get better layer.

Im just lookin to make good looking layers. With strong immunities.

 

[Michael OShay]

I guess If i cross any of these breeds with my sex link roos, im gonna get better layer.

Actually, you probably won't get a better layer. Sex Link are the ultimate in brown egg laying machines, but they don't breed true and even the offspring of two sex links bred together don't usually match the lay rate of their sex link mother. I've bred both Black and Red Sex Link together on a number of occasions and while they have generally been good layers, my best layers have still been my first generation Black and Red Sex Links.