production red burn out and sex link/hybrid question

[opihiman911]

I asked a question in the general forum about production reds burning out their egg laying in 2 years. The consensus is yes, production strains do burn out and quit laying quicker than heritage birds. Some people also mentioned this happening to sex-link hens.
Below is the question I had about sex links that I was thinking of making with my RIR and BR, but am having second thoughts about doing this especially if the burn out in 2-3 years. I have several hens going on 5 years old and are still giving me good egg production. I don't want to have to replace my flock every 2-3


One thing I'm a little confused on is sex linked chickens. People are saying that red stars and golden comet sex links will have this early burn out. Why is it that the cross breeds burn out early? I thought these were just crosses of RIR, barred rock, hampshire reds, rhode whites. Why would a cross of these that make a sex link trait be any different from a cross of your average barnyard mix? I thought barnyard crosses, i.e. mutts, were actually supposed to be stronger healthier better laying hens than your purebred. Aren't sex links really just mutts that you can tell a hen from a roo?
If that is true I might have to rethink my plan of making black sex links with my RIR and BR. My barnyard mutts and laying great but it only been a little over a year with them and my first time breeding them and I just let nature do its thing.
Should I just let nature go and get a general mix of everything and have a bunch of mutts, put my RIR and BR together for black sex links or keep my couple purebreeds together to keep the purebred?
Hmmm..... I think I need to go and cross post this on the breeders forum too.
Thanks for all the info.

Cory

 

[kstaven]

I explained it in the other thread. HYBRID VIGOR is part of the equation in increasing performance but the big one is the SELECTIVE BREEDING for egg laying ability. So doing your own cross will give you the hybrid vigor part of the equation but not the element of generations (decades) of selective breeding. Thus you will not experience the burn out of the production cross.

 

[opihiman911]

Okay I think I understand it.
The sex links you get from hatcheries have been selected for and bred for prolific egg production and therefore have early burn out? But my homemade sex links will be just normal hybrids that have hybrid vigor with the sex link but with normal egg production so they won't burn out in 2 years.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Aloha,Cory

 

[kstaven]

If the birds(hens) you select have good egg laying characteristics and the rooster comes from good egg laying ancestry then the hybrid vigor may give you a marginal boost in eggs per year. It is the decades of selection that is the BIG factor in industrial egg laying and thus the burnout.

Much like you see in meat birds. You can breed your own cornish cross that will flesh out well, but take longer than the commercial cousin. Your cross will not be prone to the leg problems and heart attacks of the commercial cousin because while it still has the hybrid vigor edge it does not have the years of narrow breeding selection.