Oprington cross.....NEED HELP PLEASE!!!

[Weldon farms]

i have several breeds of chickens I would like to cross. I was wanting to know the resulting bird I will get. im not interested in genetics, just wondering if anyone knows what kind of bird ill get.

Blue Orpington male X White leghorn Female
Blue Copper Maran male X blue hen of Delaware female
Lavender orpington male X buff Orpington female
Blue Copper Maran X blue andalusian female
Blue Andalusian male X blue orpington female

any help is greatly appreciated. All my birds are pure. trying to get new breeds, but stay in the same color area. I sell most of my crosses as egg layers, or dual purpose. All of my breeds lay excellent, and most are good meat producers.

Again, any help is great. if you have them, pics are good too

 

[Weldon farms]

im interested mostly in the maran and blue hen of Delaware. the Blue hen's male looks much like a blue copper maran male. this is why I wanted to cross the 2.

 

[torilovessmiles]

Anything Blue x Blue is going to get you a mix of blue, black, and splashed offspring. I believe by crossing blue to blue you get 25% blue, 25% splash, and 50% black. If you cross black to blue, you get 50% blue and 50% black.

 

[donrae]

I'm not sure I understand your question. You're not interested in genetics, but wonder what kind of bird you'll get. If you mix any pure bred bird with another pure bred bird, you'll get a mixed breed bird. That's not just chickens, that's all animals. Breed A x Breed B does not equal Breed C, it equals mongrel or mixed breed. Despite what the designer dog folks try to sell you, there are no chiweenies.

I'm not very familiar with the Delaware birds, so I'll leave them out. But most of your crosses seem to be heavy birds crossed with lightweight egg layers. Seems to me you're just going to wind up with a bird that doesn't do either one well. Marans are decent layers and good meat birds, why would you want to cross them with a Leghorn? You'll up production slightly, but lose a lot of carcass size. Same for the Orps, they're heavy, meaty birds to start with. Andalusians are light weight and will simply pull your carcass size down. If you're wanting production based birds, stay with the Leghorns and Andys, don't add in the heavy birds. They'll increase your carcass size, thus your feed intake, and pull production down.

I guess I'm just not seeing what you overall goal is? maybe that would help answer better.

 

[Michael OShay]

I'm not sure I understand your question. You're not interested in genetics, but wonder what kind of bird you'll get. If you mix any pure bred bird with another pure bred bird, you'll get a mixed breed bird. That's not just chickens, that's all animals. Breed A x Breed B does not equal Breed C, it equals mongrel or mixed breed. Despite what the designer dog folks try to sell you, there are no chiweenies.

I'm not very familiar with the Delaware birds, so I'll leave them out. But most of your crosses seem to be heavy birds crossed with lightweight egg layers. Seems to me you're just going to wind up with a bird that doesn't do either one well. Marans are decent layers and good meat birds, why would you want to cross them with a Leghorn? You'll up production slightly, but lose a lot of carcass size. Same for the Orps, they're heavy, meaty birds to start with. Andalusians are light weight and will simply pull your carcass size down. If you're wanting production based birds, stay with the Leghorns and Andys, don't add in the heavy birds. They'll increase your carcass size, thus your feed intake, and pull production down.

I guess I'm just not seeing what you overall goal is? maybe that would help answer better.

X2 on donrae's post.

 

[junebuggena]

i have several breeds of chickens I would like to cross. I was wanting to know the resulting bird I will get. im not interested in genetics, just wondering if anyone knows what kind of bird ill get.

Blue Orpington male X White leghorn Female
Blue Copper Maran male X blue hen of Delaware female
Lavender orpington male X buff Orpington female
Blue Copper Maran X blue andalusian female
Blue Andalusian male X blue orpington female

any help is greatly appreciated. All my birds are pure. trying to get new breeds, but stay in the same color area. I sell most of my crosses as egg layers, or dual purpose. All of my breeds lay excellent, and most are good meat producers.

Again, any help is great. if you have them, pics are good too

You won't get any "new" breeds. You'll get mixed breeds, birds that don't match any set standard.
From a genetics stand point, White Leghorns are dominant white, so most chicks will be white. Delaware hens are 'silver' based, so, when crossed with a red-based rooster (Copper Marans), the chicks will be red sexlinks. Lavenders are a recessive blue dilute for black, so it needs two copies of the gene to express, otherwise it will breed like solid black. Blue and Lavender should never be crossed with eachother. Blues have a single copy of the Blue/Black/Splash gene, which is the dominant blue dilute gene for black. Orpingtons, Marans, and Andalusians are all white-skinned breeds, which is dominant over yellow skin.

 

[QueenMisha]

i have several breeds of chickens I would like to cross.  I was wanting to know the resulting bird I will get.   im not interested in genetics, just wondering if anyone knows what kind of bird ill get.

Blue Orpington male X White leghorn Female
Blue Copper Maran male X blue hen of Delaware female
Lavender orpington male X buff Orpington female
Blue Copper Maran X blue andalusian female
Blue Andalusian male X blue orpington female

any help is greatly appreciated.   All my birds are pure.   trying to get new breeds, but stay in the same color area.  I sell most of my crosses as egg layers, or dual purpose.   All of my breeds lay excellent, and most are good meat producers.

Again, any help is great.  if you have them, pics are good too

The Orp x Leghorn should give you mostly white offspring, they may have some leakage of blue, black, or whatever color the Leghorn is hiding.

BCM x Blue hen should give you 50% blue offspring and 50% black. The males will likely have red and gold leakage in the hackle, saddle, and wing bow.

Lav Orp x Buff Orp is unpredictable - you are essentially breeding Black Orp x Buff Orp since Lav is recessive. Most of the time Black x anything = black, but Buff puts up a lot more fight than most colors. Best guess, you'll get a bird with a lot of buff through the upper body and black in the tail, fluff, and legs. They will carry recessive Lav, so if bred to each other or their father, they will produce some Lavender offspring as well.

BluCM x Blue Andalusian will produce 50% blue offspring, 25% splash, and 25% black. Males will likely have some gold/red leakage in the hackle, saddle, and wing bow.

Blue Andalusian x Blue Orp will produce 50% blue, 25% splash, and 25% black offspring.

Please remember that you will not be producing new breeds. You will be producing mixed breeds. Unless you choose a specific set of physical traits, make a deliberate cross to attain these, and then breed and fine-tune the birds for many generations, you are not producing anything that could be called a breed. But they will likely be good dual-purpose birds, as the parent stock look to have fine production qualities.

 

[drumstick diva]

x 3 on Donrae's post

 

[Weldon farms]

i undertand what you're saying. it is confusing. all my breeds are great egg layers. i dont eat any of my birds, so the bird size doesnt really matter. i guess what im wanting to know is what size the birds will be, and the color. when i sell mixed breeds, i try to specify the parents. i dont really care about the egg or meat production, im just looking to breed more blue birds with good temperament. thanks for your help

 

[Weldon farms]

i dont have a delaware hen. my hen's breed is called the Blue hen of Delaware. its an old fighting breed that dates back to the revolutionary war.