Questions on breeding specific Roosters

[AYoung90]

Hi! I have some questions about breeding specific breeds of Roosters (below), & if anyone has pictures of specific crosses, that would be awesome!

Also, can anyone recommend a link or even a book about chicken genetics & breeding? I would love to learn more about it & be able to answer some of my own questions! Specifically how to breed for certain traits like sex linked & auto sexing chicks, good layers, colored egg layers, etc. (I did find a Sex Link thread from 2010 that had some very helpful info.)

1. Can I make sex-link chicks with a dark brahma rooster? If so, what hens?

2. I have a roooster that is a Silkie/Olive Egger mix (Silkie was the father, OE was the mom, idk if that makes a difference.) Can I breed him with any hens so that the female offspring will lay colored eggs?

3. I also have a White Leghorn Rooster. What can I breed him with for good meat/egg laying offspring?

Thank you in advance for anyone who can offer any advice/answer questions!!

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

If you put your general location into your profile we can give better-targeted advice when climate or regional differences matter.

1. Can I make sex-link chicks with a dark brahma rooster? If so, what hens?

Yes, you can make sexlinks by crossing any non-barred rooster with any barred hen. The males from that cross will always be barred (and have a headspot at hatch), and the females will not.

2. I have a roooster that is a Silkie/Olive Egger mix (Silkie was the father, OE was the mom, idk if that makes a difference.) Can I breed him with any hens so that the female offspring will lay colored eggs?

Unless you have him genetically tested you can't be sure if he has the blue egg gene. If he has it from his mother then he will pass it to 50% of his offspring and not to the other 50%.

3. I also have a White Leghorn Rooster. What can I breed him with for good meat/egg laying offspring?

Despite the name "Dual Purpose" describing a lot of the traditional, barnyard breeds, there is no bird that is BOTH an excellent layer AND an excellent meat bird.

Leghorns have been pushed to the extreme for the most possible laying large and extra large eggs on the least possible amount of feed -- which means that they are quite small-bodied.

I don't have a Leghorn, but this photo of one of my California Whites, who was molting at the time, next to her Brahma flockmate shows the effect clearly.

You can expect the daughters of a Leghorn rooster to mature relatively early and lay well. You can expect his sons to mature early and be skinny and undersized.

I had a half-California white cockerel who went into the crockpot and made a good pot of soup. It would have taken several to fry up as a meal for my family.

 

[nuthatched]

Yes, you can make sexlinks by crossing any non-barred rooster with any barred hen. The males from that cross will always be barred (and have a headspot at hatch), and the females will not.

Dark Brahmas are silver duckwing for males and silver penciled for females. Will the penciling throw that off?

 

[AYoung90]

Welcome to BYC.

If you put your general location into your profile we can give better-targeted advice when climate or regional differences matter.



Yes, you can make sexlinks by crossing any non-barred rooster with any barred hen. The males from that cross will always be barred (and have a headspot at hatch), and the females will not.



Unless you have him genetically tested you can't be sure if he has the blue egg gene. If he has it from his mother then he will pass it to 50% of his offspring and not to the other 50%.



Despite the name "Dual Purpose" describing a lot of the traditional, barnyard breeds, there is no bird that is BOTH an excellent layer AND an excellent meat bird.

Leghorns have been pushed to the extreme for the most possible laying large and extra large eggs on the least possible amount of feed -- which means that they are quite small-bodied.

I don't have a Leghorn, but this photo of one of my California Whites, who was molting at the time, next to her Brahma flockmate shows the effect clearly.

You can expect the daughters of a Leghorn rooster to mature relatively early and lay well. You can expect his sons to mature early and be skinny and undersized.

I had a half-California white cockerel who went into the crockpot and made a good pot of soup. It would have taken several to fry up as a meal for my family.

Thank you SO much, that is very helpful!!! I really appreciate it. (One of my hens is a leghorn, she is tiny but she lays the biggest eggs! Some are so large an egg carton won't close correctly. It's impressive & I adore her!)

 

[3KillerBs]

Dark Brahmas are silver duckwing for males and silver penciled for females. Will the penciling throw that off?

I don't know. I'm not familiar with penciling.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you SO much, that is very helpful!!! I really appreciate it. (One of my hens is a leghorn, she is tiny but she lays the biggest eggs! Some are so large an egg carton won't close correctly. It's impressive & I adore her!)

I love my California Whites.

I wouldn't want a whole flock of them, but they are the dash of hot sauce among my placid Australorps.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Dark Brahmas are silver duckwing for males and silver penciled for females. Will the penciling throw that off?

The penciling won’t mess with the chicks’ headspots if the barred parent is black with barring (so the classic barred pattern). However, if the barred parent has a mostly silver pattern, the chicks’ down may end up with too much white to distinguish the headspot. But once the cockerels become fully feathered their barring will be very obvious. Also, just for clarification, dark Brahma males are genetically silver partridge, not silver duckwing.

 

[BlueBaby]

Hello, and welcome! Leghorn's don't have very much meat on them.

 

[Horsensecarole]

Hi! I have some questions about breeding specific breeds of Roosters (below), & if anyone has pictures of specific crosses, that would be awesome!

Also, can anyone recommend a link or even a book about chicken genetics & breeding? I would love to learn more about it & be able to answer some of my own questions! Specifically how to breed for certain traits like sex linked & auto sexing chicks, good layers, colored egg layers, etc. (I did find a Sex Link thread from 2010 that had some very helpful info.)

1. Can I make sex-link chicks with a dark brahma rooster? If so, what hens?

2. I have a roooster that is a Silkie/Olive Egger mix (Silkie was the father, OE was the mom, idk if that makes a difference.) Can I breed him with any hens so that the female offspring will lay colored eggs?

3. I also have a White Leghorn Rooster. What can I breed him with for good meat/egg laying offspring?

Thank you in advance for anyone who can offer any advice/answer questions!!

We used to buy White Leghorns x Rhode Island Red crosses that were great egg layers.