Question!

[CarolinaLady]

So ..what would happen if you
bred a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire Red roo over Golden Comet hens? If the parents of the GC were New Hampshire Red Roo and White Rock Hen would the chicks basically be RIR x NHR and RIR x White Rock?
Trying to get the thought process …like what Actually pops out of Golden Comet to Golden Comet? I know they are no longer sexlinks but are the chicks just like 50/50 whatever their original parents were?
Thanks!

 

[NatJ]

So ..what would happen if you
bred a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire Red roo over Golden Comet hens? If the parents of the GC were New Hampshire Red Roo and White Rock Hen would the chicks basically be RIR x NHR and RIR x White Rock?
Trying to get the thought process …like

You would get chicks with a variety of traits, but the RIR and NH traits would be most obvious.

Probably half the chicks would be black tailed red (like RIR or NH) and the other half would be white tailed red (like the Golden Comet mother.) Either gender of chick could have either color.

Those breeds have a lot of traits in common (brown eggs, general dual-purpose traits), so chicks should pretty much have those traits too. You will probably find some that grow faster or lay better than others, but I would not expect great big differences.

what Actually pops out of Golden Comet to Golden Comet? I know they are no longer sexlinks but are the chicks just like 50/50 whatever their original parents were?

Often they are about 50/50 of what the original parents were, but not always.

To take an example of two particular genes: The red (NH or RIR) parent was black tailed red. The White Rock parent would have been White Tailed White (meaning, one gene that changes black to white, and a different gene that changes red to white.)

If you breed two Golden Comets, you can get chicks in any of the following combinations:

black tailed red (like New Hampshire or Rhode Island Red)
white tailed red (like Golden Comet hen, but may or may not also carry the gene that allows black in the tail.)
black tailed white (may also carry the gene that allows red, or may not.)
white tailed white (may also carry the gene that allows black, or the gene that allows red, or both, or neither.)

And that's just two genes. The same kind of re-combining happens with all the other genes, too. This includes genes for size, growth rate, body shape, egg production, egg color, feather color, and so on. You can end up with a chicken that is almost like a New Hampshire or Rhode Island Red, or one that is almost like a White Rock, or one that is almost like the Golden Comet, or one that clearly has a bit of everything.

A trait shared by all the parent breeds will probably be found in the chicks as well. Examples in this case would include single comb and clean legs (no feathered feet.)

The more traits the parent breeds share, the more alike the chicks will be too.

 

[CarolinaLady]

Thank you very much! That’s very helpful! I really want some Golden Comets but I’m trying to figure out how to have more of them or at least very close to it without having to buy a few more every year or so. I also want a roo anyway for free range. However, with GC to GC throwing white babies id rather breed back to one of their parent lineage breeds for more red because white will stick out like a sore thumb and I’m assuming make them an easier target in a free range setting. This cross would still be pretty close to a GC and hopefully keep the XL /faster growing traits plus maybe some more eye appeal. I had RIRs in the past that were great layers too but I’ve seen the GC eggs and they were still bigger! I’m a sucker for the kids whopper eggs haha.

 

[NatJ]

I had RIRs in the past that were great layers too but I’ve seen the GC eggs and they were still bigger! I’m a sucker for the kids whopper eggs haha.

There is another way to get bigger eggs: keep older hens (second or later year of laying.)
Egg size tends to increase over time.

But it works the other way around, too. If you want to select for large egg size, make sure you are selecting big eggs from hens that are the same age. If you have hens of different ages, and you hatch the biggest eggs, you may be selecting for old hens rather than ones that lay bigger eggs.

(Hatching eggs from second-year and older hens isn't a problem, and if you want to breed for long-lived hens it is a good thing to do, but it will make it more complicated to select for egg size.)

 

[CarolinaLady]

Oh nice to know!! Thanks!