Suggestions for Fun/Good Hybrids?

[LilJoe]

They are also sex-libked

 

[Robert 1234]

Hybrids... Can be interesting. If done with purpose can be very rewarding. I came into possession of a trio of old English game x black rose comb cross . Pure white. Roo was black.. These birds are awesome. They all have dads rose comb. I like this so much that I will work with this line and see where it goes. Rose comb and seabrights can have a tough time with our winters up here. This trio... If done correctly, may give me some of the colors, with the comb desired with a little toughness added in. Bantams will work well for me ... Lots of fun.. Plus just enough eggs for family and friends. I wish you all well

 

[KentuckyRooster]

Turken cochins.

Naked but fluffly and with big butts. Adorable.

A couple of my personal favorite crosses if you opt to get other breeds have been a silkie cochin cross and a serama mille fleur cross. Adorable. The cochin cross was very sassy and broody and the milles (I had two of those) also did a lot of brooding. Tiny and very brightly colored with little beards.

 

[Robert 1234]

Babyboss, thanks for the reply... Gump said it best!
Life's a box of chocolates, .... The mind wonders !
I have white silkies as well..
They do well here... The walnut comb could be handy.
If I am to have a chicken dinner... The skin color would not bother me...as they are now running together...
I may find out

 

[rodeorulz]

Turkens crossed with the cochin has also been considered! Lol
I do think that unique look would be fun!
The reason I am thinking the turken/leghorn cross is to improve the laying of the turken and maybe also try to breed for smaller size as well. Do those sound like good reasons for that specific cross and something that shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish?

 

[rodeorulz]

Also I am hoping that the leghorn breed will improve the age of maturity of the turken. By adding the turken in I am also hoping it will help with the friendliness and docility.
So my next question...would you use a turken rooster over white leghorns or a white leghorn rooster over turken hens? Or would you use both? What are the pros/cons? I am also fine with getting white birds from the cross and would eventually like to breed for true naked necks and get rid of the bowties (quick all mine have) as well as breed for yellow shanks (which my rooster has). Right now I don't have a leghorn rooster because he got aggressive with kids and had to be turned into a freezer chicken but I am hoping to replace him down the road.
Does anyone have good reading suggestions for researching more about genetics and such?
Thanks!!

 

[Robert 1234]

Good morning. In response to Turkmen x leghorn.
The Turken gene is a dominant one. This bird has less feathers than the average bird and is used to some extent in the Broiler industry.
If your goal is to produce more eggs... A commercial type leghorn hen would be the best.
The Turken has larger breast , so... You may get a meatier leghorn.
You will have your work ahead of you. Too breed out
(The bib ) will take time, as you are doing a out cross to a full feathers breed.
Keep the best Turken roo's you find that best meet your ideal and cross back to the best Turk x leghorn hens to maintain the neck gene .
You will have to raise three flocks:
One pure Turken
One Turk x leghorn
One leghorn x Turk
Breed only from the best
Hope this helps

 

[rodeorulz]

What do you mean...to breed out the bib? Do you mean the bowtie? I do realize that will take a fair amount of time and culling just because my turkens do all have bowties. Maybe I should work on breeding that out first? Then it should reduce the amount of culling a little when I start crossing? Does one gender of one breed (the leghorn in this case) tend to make a difference when helping breed to keep the size smaller? I haven't weighed my turken rooster but he has got to be right around the same size as my black australorp rooster. One of my hens is on the smaller side and started laying around the same time as my leghorns but the other two are a little larger and I don't think one of them has started laying yet. I am actually thinking I may focus a fair amount of time on making sure I get a large amount of chicks out of her because she is so close to what I am looking for as an end result. I guess as my little white turken in the brooder grows I will get a small idea of the growth rate and size of bird I could end up with with that cross (leghorn hen x turken rooster). I will probably be posting pictures of them at some point to see if we all can guess which roosters are the fathers. they were just a test batch of chicks so I didn't separate any of my roosters.
Thanks for the response!

 

[DesertChic]

Turken cochins.

Naked but fluffly and with big butts. Adorable.

A couple of my personal favorite crosses if you opt to get other breeds have been a silkie cochin cross and a serama mille fleur cross. Adorable. The cochin cross was very sassy and broody and the milles (I had two of those) also did a lot of brooding. Tiny and very brightly colored with little beards.

NN/Cochin crosses really are quite lovely. It makes nice sized birds that are more heat tolerant and still possess the broodiness tendencies. This was my girl Duckie:

 

[rodeorulz]

I can't tell...did you end up with feathered shanks? Not that it really matters, just curious.
I'm really on the fence still about keeping my cochin rooster. It's not that I don't like him, he just does not really "fit" with my flock very well. I feel like anything I crossed him with I would do with the intention of eating the offspring so they would all be short term, making the cuteness factor null Good to know that the cross does make some nice sized birds though!