Very Disturbed by What I'm Reading So Far

[catwalk]

Hi! Devil's Advocate here. I think I know what the OP is trying to communicate. I don't think the point of the post was "no crossbreeding allowed." I think that is was "stop crossbreeding willy nilly and expect decent show stock." There are plenty of people on this forum who want to create new varieties, breeds, etc., with no knowedge of genetics or the market. Threads like "look at my booted RIR's!" and "why does my Cochin have green legs?" wouldn' t suprise me. Nothing wrong with these birds, they just aren't RIR's or Cochins anymore. If we don't do our homework, and our buyers don't do theirs, there are going to be some really disappointed and disenchanted people bringing their prized pets to shows, and coming home with DQ's.

I don't think it's possible to overpopulate the world with chickens, like it is with dogs and cats. Remove the stigma about eating them, and we wouldn't have that problem either. Because of anti-slaughter laws, unwanted horses are abandoned or turned loose to starve. We have a bigger incentive to breed these types of animals to standard and create quality examples of their breed. Your crossbred may be the most adored animal on Earth, but there is a bigger picture, where most don't fare as well as yours. But I digress.

Banning crossbreeds may be a little extreme, but I didn't see that as the main point of the OP's address. Everyone is free to enjoy their motley flock, and it is okay to sell mutts to others who want to do the same. The problem is that not everyone who wants high quality purebred stock knows what they need, and they aren't willing to do the legwork to learn. That's where you get the threads asking, "which of my hatchery stock chickens should I take to the show?" You look at the pictures, and one has the wrong comb, one has the wrong legs, and none are standard colors. Maybe they weren't hatchery stock. Even reputable breeders will get some crazy anomolies, and if you go to their sale pen and pick out one of them, they won't tell you that you can't have it. Honest breeders will give you their honest opinion, if you ask, but they can't assume that you DON'T want a single-combed Silkie. I myself have a problem with putting one's breeding "shrapnel" out into the world without explicit "pet only" disclaimers.

In conclusion, enjoy your mutts! Eat their eggs, share them with friends, sell them on Craigslist. Your single -combed Rosecomb Bantams are not Seramas, though, and your smutty buffs are not lemon blue anythings. We need to decide, if we breed, what it is that we want. We need to learn everything that we can about it, and represent our results honestly as what they are.

-DA

 

[HeatherLynn]

I seriously think the poster is just sitting back and enjoying the reaction. Maybe this is for a college paper or something. Turning out to be a funny post though.

 

[dieselgrl48]

Mommy are they talking about Us again??

It's ok some people are just mean.But I still love you and you are beautiful to Me.

 

[cjdmashley]

 

[delawarechickmom]

My EE girls are just finishing breakfast . . . yogurt, mealworms, watermelon, peas, and broccoli. Guess they should be getting only chicken feed since they are mutts. . . Seriously though, I understand the concern about breeding "purebred" but most of them were originally crosses of two or more breeds to get where they are today.

 

[Wifezilla]

Catwalk, everything you said is true, but this....

Also I would really like to see BYC get behind a breed purity program of some kind and strongly discourage or even ban all mutts.

just cracked me up.

I raise pure bred Welsh Harlequin ducks, and seriously, that breed took a bunch of crossing to achieve. Runner, rouen, khaki..... it all added up to a fantastic duck breed that provided EXACTLY the traits I wanted and needed from a duck. The whole concept is a "breed purity program" is just laughable.

Now selling crosses as a purebred is just plain wrong. But that doesn't mean you ban mutts. That isn't a mutt problem, that is a lying scumbag problem. Lets just ban all lying scumbags

 

[Crack N' Egg]

Well, I guess if 'purebred' stuck in society many moons ago, there would only be blond haired blue eyed people in the world...ouch!

I love my mutts. I love variety, I love things that are not the norm. That's what brings life to this world!
Not to say that there shouldn't be 'purebreeds'...there should be. If you have the money, and the time and want to be in a (we turn our nose up to you) society..ok.

Been there, done that....no more.

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:

Here's what I learned from ONE clutch of eggs that I crossed.

I have a silkie roo crossed to both a RIR and a GLW - all of his offspring are mutts all but one got right foot 5 toes, left foot 4 toes, all the GLW are bantum sized and the RIR are LF...

Now If he had proper feathers (he doesn't) I would have to check his possible mates to make sure they give 5 toes on the left feet- then I could nearly ensure 5 toes each foot.

If I wanted to breed silkies...

I don't think you can show a four toed silkie.

So I learned from my cross:

My roo carries 4 toed gene for the right foot,
My GLW carries the gene for bantam
My roo carries black under his dominant white
My RIR gold (red) leaks on males but does not leak as much on females weather black or white base feathering. ((this surprised me I thought it would be the other way))
My roo only carries one black skin gene as I had two born with white skin.
My roo only carries one tufted gene as not everyone is tufted.
My roo caries the vaulted skull gene
My roo only carries one foot feather gene OR foot feather is recessive and one of the girls has it also

I guess my silkie is a silkie/sultan cross from what I see.

((Spelling))

 

[DANNY]

Op has no clue about chickens on this planet. There is no such thing as pure because they were all bred from red jungle fowl.

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

Purebreds... riiight like dogs right? So they can have bad hips like Rotties or Shepards? Stomachs that torque and kill them like Danes? Or the cancer that many breeds struggle with due to their genetic "purity"? Sooo lets go get one line of Dominiques or Lakenvelders and just inbreed inbreed inbreed and maybe if we're lucky we'll get some new form of Mareks! YAY! There is something to be said for genetic diversity as well as hybrid vigor as Speckled Hen pointed out. I have a 95% hatch rate with my "mutt" BR/Ameraucana crosses. Good hearty healthy stock. Haven't lost one of them. The purebreds? Not so much. A much lower hatching percentage (and clearly I know how to run a bator if 95% of my own hatch) on some hand carried eggs. Can't blame the post office on this one..

I agree that you should not try to sell your crossbreds as anything else but what they are, but let me tell you.. when looking at Eggs, Meat, or even plumage, there can be some amazing results. My BR crosses make for some nice big hearty healthy dual purpose birds that lay eggs that are large and consistant (and pretty green colors!) and the roosters, should I choose to process them have nice big hearty breasts and large legs. No complaints here.

I DO agree that there is an importance in trying to help preserve the endangered breeds and that it needs to be done carefully. However, this is being addressed by some here. If BYC ever attempted to "police" the crossbreeding and hobby projects people are taking on they'd be no better than the government and Monsanto trying to institute the NAIS. Do your homework... as the mod told you... monoculture can mean the end of a species.