Like I said it was just an idea to throw out there. Yes I realize that it would decrease the quality of your show stock thru those crosses but wouldnt you be able to breed them back up to show quality by crossing them back to your original show quality that way by the end they would be7/8ths show quality?
The biggest culprit in exhibition strains is inbreeding that causes a lack of fertility. Or you have a really great looking hen type and color wise and she hardly lays anything or vice versa a great looking cockerel but not vigorous or ambitious enough to breed your hens. There are very few breeders of high quality show stock in alot of these varieties and they just pass those bloodlines back and forth among each other. I know when I started with SP bantams there were only about 3 breeders of quality stock at the time and I had birds from all three of them and infertility came in pretty quick.
Just food for thought, not saying it is an avenue anyone needs to pursue but it would be an interesting experiment to see how much of a difference that it would make.
We are talking about Wyandottes like the Silver Laced or Golden Laced on here but I would think that this same principle would apply to other breeds like Barred Rocks or Rhode Island or New Hampshire Reds. Because the exhibition quality birds in those breeds are just as different from their hatchery counterparts as the Wyandottes we have been speaking of.
Just trying to think of ways to put the Dual-Purpose back into our great old American breeds, it could only help their popularity I would think.
