When breeding your chickens

[jcatblum]

I personally want a purebred chicken. I like to know what temperament, size, etc I am getting. My DD prefers barnyard mix, she names all the chickens & each one certainly has it's own characteristics. I can't tell most of my rir or welsummer apart. I have a few that come from better lines & even my husband can point those out.

When people that are not use to chickens visit us they prefer the "fancy" chickens. However, most of my fancy birds are still mutts. People are just impressed with the colors, feathered feet, frizzles, etc.

If you are selling large scale I would think customers would be after meat or egg production & possibly both. Small scale people are after a cute pet that lays eggs.

 

[Moochie]

I like to breed out mixes. I've already tried a batch of 5 eggs, light sussex x barred rock, they all came out male but they came out huge. I was looking to get a pullet to see how well one would lay in the seasons for future breeding of the same cross. They're 4 months old and as big as my year old production red hen. I can see them getting bigger.
See it all depends on what you want in your chicken. Dual purpose crosses is what I aim for, but I also aim for other things aswell. Next spring I want to cross light sussex with LF cochin, for looks mainly.
Most people around here sell purebreds, and buy purebreds, but if you put the right info in your ad you can get rid of mutts pretty fast.