What would be a good breed?

[osiel]

I have 3 Barred Rocks and 4 Red Sex Links that just started laying and was wondering what would be a good rooster breed mix with them. I have a Buff Orpington Rooster but he is very old and lays in the dirt most of the day.

 

[Michael OShay]

I would recommend a Black Australorp for breeding with them. BAs are very hardy. I've raised them both in CA where summer temperatures frequently reached 117-118 F (123 F once) and in northern Kansas, where the temperature dropped to 30 F below zero one winter, and in both areas they came through unscathed. They are also very calm and gentle, which is a good trait to breed into your offspring, and they are the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. Until it was broken by a caged White Leghorn in 1879, a Black Australorp held the world laying record with 364 eggs in 365 days, and while mine have never reached that kind of production (and likely never will), I've had a few of them lay over 300 eggs in a year. By using a BA rooster, you would be infusing all of these good traits into your offspring. Whatever kind of rooster you end up getting, good luck with your hatches.

 

[osiel]

Anymore suggestions?

 

[gjensen]

A non standard SC Rhode Island White from Ideal.

 

[southernmomma]

A non standard SC Rhode Island White from Ideal.

That's a very specific recommendation~ will you share your thoughts behind it?

M

 

[gjensen]

That's a very specific recommendation~ will you share your thoughts behind it?

M

They share the comb type, are recessive white, and are very good layers of large rich brown eggs. As a pure layer, they are overlooked. They perform (or did) better than most of the Standard breeds (even among hatchery birds).

I could take them and build a line of barred birds, gold birds, and silver birds. Between the three, I could make gold and black sex links. They would be mine, and I could do as I pleased to improve them in the future.

They would be compatible with the sex link, and would improve egg size and color of the hatchery barred rocks.

 

[southernmomma]

A specific and well-considered recommendation then. Thanks for breaking it down. Just goes to show how much there is to consider.

M

 

[donrae]

A lot's going to depend on what you want in chicks. Larger size for butchering cockerels? Increased egg production? Docility? Broodiness? specific color of birds? Eggs? That would help narrow things down.