stupid question [maybe], but please reply

[thaijack]

I'm an expat in Thailand and have 20 Rhode Island Red crosses and the seller said they were the best egg producers available in Thailand. They are all hens and about 1 yr old and laying near 100%. now I would like to get a rooster and breed them, preferably another layer type, but so far, impossible to locate here.

My [stupid?] question is.....being hybrids, can I cross them with another large breed rooster, leghorn, barred rock or RIR??
I thought 'why not?' but after visiting a local farming college that had roostrs available, the head professor said crossing my RIR with another large breed rooster won't work...... [why?].

He did suggest that I simply use a 'native Thai rooster' which is a half wild mongrel of a bird that has all the bad traits that the RIR hens don't have, but they are broody. he also said that the offspring would be 50% pure RIR and the other half would be 50% pure local Thai.

I always thought that when crossing breeds, the offspring takes on the looks and traits of both parents???

Does this guy know what he is talking about??

 

[danielle82]

yeah.... I'm with you on that one, I think the chicks would be considered cross-bred... I don't think half the batch would be pure RIR and the other half pure something else, that just sounds like crazy-talk IMO

 

[enola]

You can breed them to any breed rooster you like. They are not infertile because they are crossbred. However, the better the quality of the rooster, the better the quality of the chicks.

 

[danielle82]

by the way

 

[georgialee]

I swear that's one of the funnier things I've heard... half would be rir and half would be thai???

Each chick would be a cross with traits of both birds. So each bird would be 50% of each breed (maybe that's what he meant?). I think if you crosses with another laying breed you would get decent results.

 

[Lover-of-Poultry]

I think that the only way you could even get close to having a purebred (and then it still wouldnt be pure) would be if the pullets you have are 75% RIR and the rooster was 100%. Then that would be about 85-90% I think.

O and crossing them with another "good natured" breed wont effect anything I wouldnt think. I have a couple of "mutt" breeds here that lay better than most of the purebreds I have.

Good Luck

Almost Forgot: WELCOME TO BYC!

 

[thaijack]

Great forum, and thanks for all answers. So, it looks like the professor was wrong....or another possibility is that it got lost in translation as lots of things do here in Thailand. This is a wonderful country and the Thais are wonderful people, but it is totally lacking in getting consistent and accurate information.
Now my question is what kind of chicken would be the best to breed my RIR's with???

 

[Lover-of-Poultry]

That all depends on what you are looking for in the next generation, but whatever i chose I would make sure that they would a good one and not a cull

 

[Judy]

Guess we should be kind and assume something got lost in the translation.

Actually, the cross with their native rooster might be an interesting matchup, especially if you'd like a broody, as likely you'd get at least some broody hens. You will occasionally read here about "hybrid vigor." You might be throwing enough different genes together to get some really good birds.

In your shoes, I'd probably get a barred rock or RIR roo if I could, and a native roo, and separate the flocks, and see what I got. (I don't like leghorns, too flighty.) But then, I don't know anything about their genetics, what is dominant, etc., so it would just be an experiment for me.

 

[DiVon80]

Quote:
I agree!