In a good nutshell, I'm looking for a Cornish-type body with decent growth rate on the F1 birds. The females should look like this bird, but bigger and meatier. This bird here is a Thai x Production Red, both those breeds being the lesser of my Shamo x Marans.
The long but naturally large and plentiful muscles and upright position of a Shamo, crossed with the good growth rate and more modernized, short body of the Marans and still some good meat, plus a great outcross turnout, provide for a wide, well muscled, deep breasted bird. The temperament might still need some work with there being Shamo in there, since I'll be raising a bunch of roosters for food, but I'll see how it goes.
Once the chicks hatch and grow out, I'm hoping for at least one barred pullet. That pullet I'll be crossing with another good meat choice, either my best Araucana or one of my Araucana x Marans (
Olive Eggers) - Not only will this provide sex-linked F2 chicks that allow for some very colorful, barred males in which the feathers provide quite useful from, but the Araucana in the mix will continue to keep the good chest size, upright posture, and also some quick growth. My Araucanas, though on the small size, are very compact, meaty, and give some great tasting meat at a nice 5 months of age.
All these breeds don't seem like the normal when working with meat birds, but, I plan to eagerly show people what I'm working on once the first chicks hatch, grow, and things move on from there. I'm NO fan of Cornish X birds, and I'm a big fan of naturally growing dual purpose birds, though I do want something a bit more meaty and hardy like Cornish. Both the Shamo and Araucana will add some extreme broodiness and mothering traits, and both of them will also add a lot of "flock protective" skills as well as excellent foraging skills. The Marans will bring a more bulky bird instead of an upright one, and will mellow the other two breeds' temperaments out. Plus, they're not as slow growing as Heritage breeds.
