Slightly confused about breeding...

[BeeBee K]

I am a little embarrassed to be asking this, but when I started my little operation I wasn't aware at how important breeds are to some people and was planning on selling my birds as "barnyard mix" . That is the way I bought them. I now have over 20 hens with 5 different breeds! My question is, does the rooster I put them with have to be the same breed as them, or will the chicks take after the mother's breed?

Thank you for any help with this

 

[chicmom]

You can use any rooster you like. The chicks will look a little bit like the hen and a little bit like the rooster. Just recently, I let a broody hatch out some chicks that had a Buckeye rooster and an EE hen for parents. The chicks looked remarkable like my Buckeye rooster, but you could see traces of EE in the chicks, like the fuller neck feathers and they were bearded.

 

[Debbi]

If you want the 5 different breeds to be pure, you will need to seperate them, and get 5 roosters for each breed. Otherwise, you will have the barnyard mixes, AKA mutts.

 

[donrae]

If the hen and the rooster are different breeds you'll have mixed breed chicks with traits from each parent that will vary from chick to chick.

 

[canesisters]

They will be .. well.. a mix of the two.
There are a lot of really great threads on here about individual breeds, several about 'what would I get if I mixed this and that' and a few that get pretty in depth on genetics. But, like puppies, you'll most likely end up with birds that have some traits from each parent. So maybe a barred pattern from mom but legs and a comb like dad - maybe the size of the mom but frizzled feathers like the dad... Get it?

 

[BeeBee K]

wow you guys are fast! lol... thank you for getting back to me so quickly!!

I get it now... and I guess I will have to first determine if any of my birds are pure breds ( I think the lavenders may be) and then try to find a rooster to match them.

the barnyard mixed ones will have to just be sold that way. I liked the puppy analogy! Thank you again everyone