well to start off about half of our flock are mutts. I have 1 SLW, 1 partridge cochin chick, 5 buff bramahn chicks, 1 red star chick, 1 barred rock rooster, 1 game rooster (has purple sheen to back and neck feathers), 1 game hen, 1 SLW/RIR hen (looks like a GLW), 2 mutt hens (game hen/mutt roo), 2 mutt roos (SLW hen/mutt roo), 1 red and blue mutt, 3 white and black bearded mutts (SLW/easter egger), 4 california whites (2 roo 2 hen), 1 buff pied (california white/buff orp), 1 brown mutt hen. also have 15 meat chicks, but those aren't making it to breeding age anyway. the project: I want full sized, colored egg laying, bearded, feather footed, top hated, good setters. prefer partridge, red or buff coloring. may add 5 toes and "puffy" like cochins as well. and i want to breed them myself. yes i know i will have to order some birds to get all of these qualities. but i want to do it. it's a hobby, all my chickens have a nice free ranging life. don't want to do any genetic damage to any of my birds. are any of these traits dangerous to chickens or dangerous in combination. top hats sometimes have problems seeing through the feathers but thats not a health problem really. any suggestions on breeds i might want to pick up. might take awhile but I have no plans on stopping raising chickens so i have plenty of time and space.
First create a table showing traits that are desired in the composite. On same table indicate phenotypes of birds to be used to make composite. Then look into how the traits are inherited as dominant and recessive. You will have to make many crosses and make many chicks per cross. Most of the pretty or cool traits of chicken breeds are an issue when dealing with predators and some are bad when dealing with weather.
It's so cool that you are aiming for these traits in your flock! I have a mostly mixed flock right now. I started off with a lot of hatchery-quality birds from a local feed store. I was given some game hens and some Naked Necks. Overall, I'm kind of excited for my EE rooster to breed with my Naked Neck hen that lays pink eggs. I can't wait to see what may occur. Or maybe for him to mate with our Black Australorp hen. She always seems to give us some really nice looking pullets, so we'll see how it works out. I love my mutt flock. They all look a little different, they all have these really great personalities (most of the babies have been super tame, especially considering that their mothers hate me, haha!). It's great!
Feathered feet - Silkies, Langshans, Marans, Faverolles. Muffs, beard, crest etc - Faverolles, Araucana's, Silkies. Colored laying gene - Araucana ( blue/ green ), EE's ( Pink, green, blue ), Marans, Olive Eggers. Good sitters - Silkies, cochins. Here are just some breeds with your desired traits. Now, with crested breeds you have the faulted skull problem -----> http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=casestudiesemergencies&action=display&num=1160927052 Have a read through this ( wont take long and you will understand ). Also just Google "vaulted skull in chickens" and have a search. Also, the weather. Cochins, and other 'fluffy' and feather footed breeds suffer in hot humid climates. Also mud is a problem. So if you have a hot humid climate with rains, bad idea.
