I have a flock of "Red Stars" that I got from the local feed store, so other than "generic red hen that lays brown eggs" I don't really know what they are. Some mix of something. Whatever it is, they are very prolific layers - I get an egg a day almost every single day from every one of them, even in the middle of winter.
More recently I went looking for a rooster. I found a local guy that raises pure bred Barred Rocks and had a surplus of Roos. He gave me a nice one for free and told me to come back any time if I needed another. So now I'm incubating eggs that will be 50% Red Star and 50% Barred Rock. I plan on selling the chicks on Craigslist as barnyard mixes and whatever doesn't sell by the time it grows up will be meat chickens.
But this got me thinking. Eventually I will probably keep some of these birds for my next generation of layers. And eventually I will get a new Roo - probably a purebred Barred Rock from the same guy. Then the eggs I hatch will be 75% Barred Rock, and 25% something else.
Rinse. Repeat.
At what point do they stop being barnyard mixes and just become Barred Rocks? Fourth generation? Fifth? Never? I don't mean show quality purebred, but just for the purposes of person to person sale. When I'm talking to someone about what they are it's easy to say half Red Star, half Barred Rock. It's a little cumbersome to say 75% Barred Rock, 25% other. It starts to sound ridiculous when you get to 87.5/12.5 and spirals downward from there. At what point can I just say they are Barred Rocks without being deceptive?
Of course this is all just speculation. I'm incubating my first generation right now, so who knows what will happen between now and gen4.
More recently I went looking for a rooster. I found a local guy that raises pure bred Barred Rocks and had a surplus of Roos. He gave me a nice one for free and told me to come back any time if I needed another. So now I'm incubating eggs that will be 50% Red Star and 50% Barred Rock. I plan on selling the chicks on Craigslist as barnyard mixes and whatever doesn't sell by the time it grows up will be meat chickens.
But this got me thinking. Eventually I will probably keep some of these birds for my next generation of layers. And eventually I will get a new Roo - probably a purebred Barred Rock from the same guy. Then the eggs I hatch will be 75% Barred Rock, and 25% something else.
Rinse. Repeat.
At what point do they stop being barnyard mixes and just become Barred Rocks? Fourth generation? Fifth? Never? I don't mean show quality purebred, but just for the purposes of person to person sale. When I'm talking to someone about what they are it's easy to say half Red Star, half Barred Rock. It's a little cumbersome to say 75% Barred Rock, 25% other. It starts to sound ridiculous when you get to 87.5/12.5 and spirals downward from there. At what point can I just say they are Barred Rocks without being deceptive?
Of course this is all just speculation. I'm incubating my first generation right now, so who knows what will happen between now and gen4.