Questions?

[redneck4life27]

I have a silkiexpolishxmaran rooster in with my rhode island reds/production reds they were from efowl. I was hoping to hatch my own eggs this year. What sorta egg layers would i have outta these breeds? I know my pullets are giving me between 12-15 eggs per day. So im just wondering how theyll turn out is it worth hatching them or just ordering them from a hatchery? I sell most of my eggs so i like alot of production. Hope to hear any info

 

[Ridgerunner]

The way I see it, you have two issues. You want eggs to sell so you want a lot of eggs but you probably want then to be a certain size too.

One iaaue is how well did the chickens lay that your rooster came from? Both hens and roosters contribute genetics to egg laying. It’s hard to tell exactly what a rooster contributes to that since he does not lay eggs, but you can get a pretty good idea if you know what his mother and grandmothers did.

Silkies and Polish have a reputation of maybe not being the best in numbers of eggs produced, but that can really vary. If the person selecting the breeders has been selecting for chickens that lay well for a few generations you can get chickens from either breed that lay really well. Marans are known to lay pretty well. But if the person that has been selecting the breeders has not been choosing the breeders for good egg laying, they may not lay really well.

Also Silkies and Polish are normally bantams. Bantams lay smaller eggs. Not all Silkies and Polish are bantams, but you could easily be putting genetics for small eggs into your flock.

Your hens should contribute a lot to the genetics for good egg laying.

I don’t know the genetic background of that rooster as far as the genes for laying a lot of big eggs, but he would not be my choice for those goals. If you want a rooster that will contribute toward your goal, I suggest you get a rooster that comes from a flock that lays a lot of big eggs.