What type of chickens would be produced with a meat/laying cross?

[crenees]

I have a mix of laying hens (Orphingtons, Australorps, Sussex, Delaware & Rhode Islands) and am expecting to get some red cornish (not crosses just straight, slower growing cornish from Ideal)...I was just curious to know what I could expect if I was to keep one of the red cornish roosters & cross him with my layers. I know the answer is probably complex but would the cross dimish both the laying & meat production of the offspring or could it increase the dual purpose assets?

Thanks for any answers!

Courtney

 

[Oregon Blues]

If you cross meat producers with eggs producers, you get something that doesn't do either thing very well. But it looks to me like you have a bunch of different dual purpose, so crossing egg layers with meaties is not what you are doing.

 

[crenees]

Quote:
Good to know...I probably wont go through with it but was curious about what type of offspring I could expect if I grew attached to any particular bird

I'm still having split feelings over the slaughtering process since this will be my first go at it so I think I'm toying with the idea of giving any particularly sweet natured bird clemency

+ I'd really like to start producing my own chicks instead of having to order from hatcheries...

And yes, I probably misquoted myself of saying my hens are straight egg-layers as I believe all my hens are actually dual...I guess because I keep them for eggs I catagorize them in my mind that way...that being said, if I did cross a straight meat producing bird with my dual purpose could I hope to get a supply of birds that would be decent meat producers?

Thanks!!

 

[1muttsfan]

Probably would reduce both egg laying and meat production, unless you got a lucky hybred cross. That doesn't mean they wouldn't do either respectably, though. But you would not want to keep any of those crossbreds for future breedings, as you would loose hybred vigor and expect significant decreases in production.

 

[kfacres]

read my BYC page/

sums it all up for you.

 

[Oregon Blues]

By breeding in lines that are good egg layers, you will increase egg production and probably reduce the size of the off spring. Good egg layers tend to be small.

By breeding in good heavy meat birds, you should increase size but reduce egg laying. Heavy meat breeds tend to be mediocre layers.

However, if you want to take on a multi-generational project and do a lot of selective culling, you can work towards a heavy fast-growing bird that lays a lot of eggs. It won't be a fast project.

It can be done, however. The Silver Appleyard duck was developed by one man and it is both a very heavy, fast growing duck with excellent feed conversion, it is also a heavy layer with excellent health. So far, no one has managed to do that with chickens, but if it can be done with ducks, it can be done with chickens....with enough work and enough generations and a lot of culling.