Questions about which breed would be best to put my Barred Rock and BR x Speckled Sussex roos with.

[tjens09]

I have a mixed flock, and I'm not interested in keeping breeds pure. I prefer to crossbreed and see what will come out.
It is my long-range goal to have a flock that lays multi-colored eggs,forages well, broods their own chicks, makes a nice table bird, and is suited to my locality. A land race of sorts, if you will. I'd like to add the Partridge color in at some point, as well as the blue egg gene.
I have a BR roo, and his son by my Speckled Sussex.
I also have four Buff Orps, three RIRs, two Australorps, Pearl White Leghorn, Speckled Sussex, Cuckoo Marans, Barred Rock, and two BR x Sussex hens.
I've seen a lot of posts about BO x BR cross, but what would happen with the reverse? (BR x BO)
My first though is to put the BR roo over the BO, and the BR x SS roo over the reds. Any thoughts?

These are the F1 BR x SS pullets and cockerel.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you want a table bird, don’t use the leghorn. Leghorns lay really well but don’t put much meat on the table.

I’m glad to see you are not too hung up on breed. With your goals about any dual purpose breed will work, but strain is more important. Let’s use the Orpingtons as an example. Orps are known to go broody a lot. But if someone selecting which Orps get to breed and reproduce selects Orp hens that don’t go broody as a goal, in a few generations you have Orps that hardly ever go broody. They are still Orps but that is a non-broody strain. On the other hand, RIR’s are known to not go broody a lot. But if someone selects broody RIR’s as the mothers of their flock, in a few generations you have a flock of RIR’s that often go broody.

If you want blue or green eggs and the partridge color, get started on them now. You have a lot of Extended Black in your flock, which will overpower the partridge color for the first generation so you have some work to do.

I’d get some hens that lay blue or green eggs and a partridge rooster. Put that rooster over the entire flock and start selecting your breeding stock from the ones that best meet your goals. Those could come from any of those breeds or crosses. Breed does not matter nearly as much as strain.

The more different things you are selecting for, the harder it is. The more chicks you hatch the better your selection for the next generation. You can get to where you want to go if you can recognize those traits in your chickens and select those to breed, but how long it takes depends on a lot of different things.

A BO rooster over Barred Rock gives you black sex links. A BR rooster over a BO hen does not give you black sex links but the production genetics are exactly the same as long as the parents come from the same flocks, that is the same strain.

 

[tjens09]

Thanks for your insight. Some good points to ponder!

 

[donrae]

The Orp over Rock cross is nice because the chicks are sex linked, that's why it's so popular. But the Rock over an Orpington hen will give you just as nice a bird, they just won't be sex linked.

Myself, I'd just run them all together and pull eggs from everyone when I'm ready to hatch. That's pretty much what I've done over the years and I've been pretty happy. I was focused more on layers than table birds, so I did breed some Leghorn into my flock. If you want the meatier birds, simply don't set the white eggs.

Agree with Ridgerunner about introducing the genes you're wanting, sooner is better than later. If you keep your eyes out you could maybe find a pure Ameraucana cockerel to put in there, or a cream Legbar (again, both those breeds are on the smaller size), this is when buying someone's cull could work nicely as you're not looking for breed standard, just blue egg genes.

The buff is about the only bird you have that will hold it's own color against the extended black. Well, the Leghorn will, but if you're not wanting skinny birds that's out anyway. Sounds like you might need to start over with new roosters?