Suggestions for Fun/Good Hybrids?

[DesertChic]

One of the Arizona folks has Turkens x EE, they lay olive green eggs, have Naked Necks. Check out @DesertChic for some photos.

Actually, many of my blue/green egg laying NNs don't have any EE blood in them at all. They have single combs and larger bodies than my NN x EE crosses, which have variations of a rose comb and run on the smaller size. I've been fortunate in having a lot of good blood and variety to work with in my flock.

 

[Parront]

Actually, many of my blue/green egg laying NNs don't have any EE blood in them at all. They have single combs and larger bodies than my NN x EE crosses, which have variations of a rose comb and run on the smaller size. I've been fortunate in having a lot of good blood and variety to work with in my flock.

I guess that they lay colored eggs is why I thought they had some EE. So, some of your colored egg laying NNs just came that way?

 

[DesertChic]

I guess that they lay colored eggs is why I thought they had some EE. So, some of your colored egg laying NNs just came that way?

I purchased my original flock hatching eggs from a breeder out east nearly four years ago. I know she'd been working on various mixes, but I don't know what she was mixing them with. Since rose combs are dominant to single combs, and many of my blue/green layers have single combs, I tend to think it wasn't EE. Maybe Legbar? And now I can't ask her because she's stopped breeding and moved on with her life.

She's actually one of the reasons I keep such detailed and meticulous records myself. I take comfort in being able to trace bloodlines and knowing at least in part what to expect from my pairings.

 

[varidgerunner]

Dominant traits are much easier to weed out than recessives. Despite the implied power of a dominant trait, as a breeder, recessives seem much more powerful, having the ability to show up years and generations later. If the recessive trait is the desired trait, it is much easier to breed for, as an animal showing the trait, is homozygous for the trait.

 

[LittleWillowFarm]

Barred Rock x Orpington

 

[rodeorulz]

One of my roosters is a Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, EE cross and he is pretty gorgeous! I love the barring he shows with the buff coloring (see my profile picture ).

 

[rodeorulz]

So now that I have had a chance to hatch some chicks out of my own chickens...I have a chick that is out of a pearl white leghorn hen and a turken/naked neck rooster and I may be in love! Anyone have good luck with this cross?
Another cross I am considering is my cochin rooster over my legorn hens to produce some meat birds. Has anyone tried this cross? Will it work out ok? I am a little conscerned that I could end up with mixed maturity rates due to the fairly big difference between the breeds.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Dominant traits are much easier to weed out than recessives. Despite the implied power of a dominant trait, as a breeder, recessives seem much more powerful, having the ability to show up years and generations later. If the recessive trait is the desired trait, it is much easier to breed for, as an animal showing the trait, is homozygous for the trait.

This is so true.
I love breeding for recessive. It takes the genes coming from both parents which is a little more work but yes when you got it It shows and you know what both genes are.
When breeding for a dominate trait you get there quicker and with less chicks but that's carrying one gene. You then have to cross to get the second gene. Most come out looking the same whether they have one gene or two so it becomes a lot of work to make sure you've gotten rid of that recessive.
You play the odds figure out how many you need to hatch to get the ones you need. Hatch a bunch of chicks then try to become an expert at finding any sutale tell tale signs that might clue you in that they're carrying the recessive gene.
Then you end up test breeding them to figure out for sure that they don't carry it. That's all throw away chicks and time your program is at a stand still.
If you get lucky you'll weed them out but then again you could end up seeing it pop up down the road and you have to test breed again.
With dominate genes when they don't show they're gone. That's so much easier.
So when breeding for recessive when you got it it shows and when it shows the dominant gene is bred out.
When breeding for dominant when you see it you might have one copy for it or two. You're always trying to breed out something that you can't see so you have to get strategic in figuring out if its gone.

 

[DesertChic]

I'm currently about to hatch out some Lavender Australorps and Swedish Flower Hens. I plan to keep a pure line of LAs, and also cross all of these chicks with my existing Naked Neck flocks, primarily my egg laying line. I tend to cross everything with my NNs because in this hot, desert climate, they're the one breed I never have to worry about overheating or any health problems.

In my meat NN line, I'm continuing to work on maintaining or even improving early size gains plus good meat accumulation. I've got three NN cockerels that each weigh 10-12 lbs and have wonderful dispositions along with several large pullets in hens weighing in between 7 and 9 lbs. I'm crossing at least one of these NN boys with my White Rock hens, and also cross my oldest NN rooster, a true homozygous NN, with my White Rock and White Rock/Bielefelder crosses to not only get more pure black and white birds in my flock, but to perpetuate the old boy's genetics while (hopefully) improving on size.

 

[LilJoe]

If you had these breeds I would suggest a Brahma(R) × Legbar (H)
Beautiful birds!