The gene-spliced breeds are not good backyard chickens

[2 Acres]

Just a heads up before you get any rhode island reds-- I have read they do best in a single breed flock because they can be aggressive bullies to non RIR. I like different breeds in a flock (and honestly would love to have a Buckeye if I was gunning for a red chicken, over a RIR) so that always stuck out to me.


Anyway, sounds heartbreaking at least with getting one of the battery birds for $1.50 that I've seen Craigslist ads for, you can at least feel like you're giving them a nice life after what they experienced, versus supporting a bad breed being produced.

RIR are one of the most overbred chickens in the industry (production breed). I have never had good luck with standard Reds either.

 

[trenace]

I had five RIR's which my wife found locally and wanted -- they were supposedly "Heritage." Whether they were or not, I have no idea, as I think many buy birds from Tractor Supply or the like thinking they have a bird just like on farms 100 years ago, and then their offspring are sold and buyers end up thinking the birds came from a breeder of genuine heritage birds.

In any case they were giant devourers of food, and were hostile to other breeds. I was glad when she managed to trade them away.

 

[SnackMeat]

These Buckeye observations are based on 3 birds. 2 from a hatchery, one fron TSC. FOOD DRIVEN. Holy cow, these girls love food. Great layers, nice big eggs. And sweet! Friendly, cause they're always checking for snacks.
We raised the 2 hatchery girls in a mixed flock from the same hatchery, but they are pretty large birds and they started bullying (over food), so we moved them out with an older group.
They tolerate winters well, but even with shade, fans, & misting systems, the summers here are are hard on them. 100°++, little rain, lots of wind. Hard on people, too. They stop laying for a couple of months in the summer, but lay fairly well through the winter. We'll most likely have more. Really nice ladies.
Wrong subject for this thread, I know, but I like this breed & wanted to share with @SnackMeat

That's awesome info. Thanks. They're on my list for sure.

 

[MROO]

Most of this information I obtained from nationalacademies.org, FarmForward.org, and IntechOpen Publishers.

Gene splicing does occur.An example is the featherless meat bird but nobody raises them for eggs only food(they do it in egg layers too)

DISCLAIMER:
This is not intended to embarrass or "prove anyone wrong." I was simply curious ... SO ...

I ran this past my family - eighth generation farmers, Agricultural Biology teachers, FFA and 4H advisors, Farm Bureau reps and officers, Ag lobby, all sorts of experience. The discussions were heated and frustration levels were high until we realized that the confusion was not over the science of gene splicing, but over the understanding of scientific terminology.

Today's "Genetically modified" chickens are actually "genetically engineered," which is nowhere near the same thing. "Genetically modified" means that the genes are physically manipulated, aka altered, to change the resulting animal (the Holy Grail of a truly featherless chicken.) "Genetically engineered" means selectively bred to get a specific result (high yield egg producers or fast-growing broilers.)

The hatcheries specifically state that their Black Stars (among others) are hybrids that will not breed true. Remember the Punnett square from middle/Jr. High school? That!

So ... while gene splicing has been done experimentally at the research level, there are no gene-spliced or genetically modified chickens legally available outside of a very small research community.

https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/black_star.html#:~:text=Black Star Sex-Link chickens,Learn More

On an interesting side, The Silkie chicken was created hundreds of years ago in China. Floofy biddies were the serendipitous result of trying to develop a featherless chicken!

Another aside - When you see "Silkie Soup" on your Chinese take-out menu, it doesn't refer to the "smooth" broth. It's a throwback to when Silkie chickens (and their signature dark meat) were used to make a soup delicacy!

EDIT to add: This was actually kicked around over our Thanksgiving meal. I never dreamed I'd use the information again!