Where are the new generation of Uber chickens?

[Feathers of Eden]

As a new member to poultry world but with a medical background which enables me to understand Genetics (though human Genetics) I have to admit I am a little surprised to search for Chicken breeds and the top chicken breeds almost always comes with breeds that have been perfected decades to hundreds or even more years ago by locals (including monks and Royals and local farmers) with minimal limited knowledge of their Era .

I mean a Coachman in a corner of England who has no proper education about breeding and Genetics creates Orpington which is still shinning through years.

There are a few modern Breeds like Bielefelder but they are still decades Old.

My question is with being in internet Era and having so many educated knowledgeable poultry Geneticist (people with academic background like Mr Whiting) and all these universities poultry departments where are the breeds that has come to life by these academics (or even self educated poultry enthusiasts) ?

What am I missing here?

 

[Sally PB]

Someone needs to work on breeding for disease resistance. If someone is, that news needs to get out.

 

[Amer]

The “uber” breeds do exist.
They are Cornish X and Hyline layers. Those are what geneticists work for.
The “coachmen” and the simple backyard breeders are the ones who breed purebred poultry. Bielefelders were created by a backyard breeder just like all the others.
You could say the best genetics that exist are in the old breeds. Ever since each breeds’ conception, breeders have worked to improve their genetics. It’s not what you start with or what your original goal was that makes a breed good, it’s what you end with.

 

[Amer]

There actually were two breeds created by academics. Hollands and Lamonas, the two American breeds that are nearly extinct. I guess you could say that just because it’s what scientists think we want doesn’t mean it’s what becomes popular.

 

[NatJ]

What am I missing here?

--Commercial hybrids: this is where people get paid to breed chickens

--Private breeders: some want to preserve what exists, but some do set out to make now breeds.

--Some breeders work on new varieties for existing breeds. I keep reading about people working on new colors of Ameraucanas (examples: Cuckoo, Crele) or Orpingtons (Lavender, Chocolate, several Laced colors), and so forth.

--If someone creates a new breed, it dies out when they die or lose interest, unless they have spread it to other people. So we only hear about some of them. A few examples:

Some years ago, I was reading about a breed-in-development called "Maiden Rock Bantams." The guy developing them apparently quit, and that was the end of that.

Aloha chickens are currently being developed. I do not think they are available from any commercial hatchery yet, and not recognized by the American Poultry Association either. There's an article about them here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/reviews/aloha-chickens.11541/

McMurray Hatchery sells "Whiting True Blue" and "Whiting True Green" chickens that they describe as new breeds, developed by a Mr. Whiting to lay blue (or green) eggs. Commercially available, but not recognized by the American Poultry Association.

Seramas are relatively new, accepted by the American Poultry Association in 2011 (just one color at that time, other colors in progress.) You mostly can't buy them from hatcheries, apparently because the chicks are so small they cannot easily be shipped the way other chicks are.

--There's not much market for new breeds. Most people either choose the modern hybrids or high-production purebreds (best for efficient production of eggs or meat), or they select "heritage" breeds (preserve a good thing from the past), or they play around with barnyard mixes (fun and lots of variety, but usually don't get developed into a uniform flock of chickens that might qualify as a "breed.")

--At least in the USA, the people who would buy a "new" kind of chicken because it's new & exciting are mostly buying breeds that have existed in other places, but are newly imported to the USA. As an example, Greenfire Farms is a particular business that specializes in importing new breeds (expensive, tedious, and time-consuming to do it legally), then they raise chicks and sell them for high prices. Other people buy the chicks and breed their own, and a few years later the price has dropped, but Greenfire has imported a few more breeds by then. I'm sure it's faster & cheaper to import new breeds than to spend the time to develop them, and some people like having chicken breeds with a long history behind them.

 

[Amer]

--Commercial hybrids: this is where people get paid to breed chickens

--Private breeders: some want to preserve what exists, but some do set out to make now breeds.

--Some breeders work on new varieties for existing breeds. I keep reading about people working on new colors of Ameraucanas (examples: Cuckoo, Crele) or Orpingtons (Lavender, Chocolate, several Laced colors), and so forth.

--If someone creates a new breed, it dies out when they die or lose interest, unless they have spread it to other people. So we only hear about some of them. A few examples:

Some years ago, I was reading about a breed-in-development called "Maiden Rock Bantams." The guy developing them apparently quit, and that was the end of that.

Aloha chickens are currently being developed. I do not think they are available from any commercial hatchery yet, and not recognized by the American Poultry Association either. There's an article about them here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/reviews/aloha-chickens.11541/

McMurray Hatchery sells "Whiting True Blue" and "Whiting True Green" chickens that they describe as new breeds, developed by a Mr. Whiting to lay blue (or green) eggs. Commercially available, but not recognized by the American Poultry Association.

Seramas are relatively new, accepted by the American Poultry Association in 2011 (just one color at that time, other colors in progress.) You mostly can't buy them from hatcheries, apparently because the chicks are so small they cannot easily be shipped the way other chicks are.

--There's not much market for new breeds. Most people either choose the modern hybrids or high-production purebreds (best for efficient production of eggs or meat), or they select "heritage" breeds (preserve a good thing from the past), or they play around with barnyard mixes (fun and lots of variety, but usually don't get developed into a uniform flock of chickens that might qualify as a "breed.")

--At least in the USA, the people who would buy a "new" kind of chicken because it's new & exciting are mostly buying breeds that have existed in other places, but are newly imported to the USA. As an example, Greenfire Farms is a particular business that specializes in importing new breeds (expensive, tedious, and time-consuming to do it legally), then they raise chicks and sell them for high prices. Other people buy the chicks and breed their own, and a few years later the price has dropped, but Greenfire has imported a few more breeds by then. I'm sure it's faster & cheaper to import new breeds than to spend the time to develop them, and some people like having chicken breeds with a long history behind them.

This

 

[DarJones]

Dedicated amateurs can still make progress with chicken breeding. Long term advances, however, are increasingly determined by access to genetic testing. My personal project is to breed a blue egg laying Silver Laced Wyandotte. I started with show grade SLW's and crossed with a blue egg laying line of Brown Leghorns developed at UARK by Keith Bramwell. Keith's goal was a high egg producing Leghorn line that could produce blue eggs commercially. My goals are:

1. move the blue egg gene into a SLW background
2. retain the cold hardiness traits of SLW
3. boost total egg production and egg size from the Leghorn genes
4. reduce the broody traits of SLW since this is required to increase egg production

I started in 2013 by laying out the breeding plan and finding birds with the required traits. This was difficult as I needed a straight comb blue egg laying breed in order to wind up with a rose comb blue egg layer. There are VERY few straight comb blue egg laying breeds at present and almost none 7 years ago.

 

[Amer]

Dedicated amateurs can still make progress with chicken breeding. Long term advances, however, are increasingly determined by access to genetic testing. My personal project is to breed a blue egg laying Silver Laced Wyandotte. I started with show grade SLW's and crossed with a blue egg laying line of Brown Leghorns developed at UARK by Keith Bramwell. Keith's goal was a high egg producing Leghorn line that could produce blue eggs commercially. My goals are:

1. move the blue egg gene into a SLW background
2. retain the cold hardiness traits of SLW
3. boost total egg production and egg size from the Leghorn genes
4. reduce the broody traits of SLW since this is required to increase egg production

I started in 2013 by laying out the breeding plan and finding birds with the required traits. This was difficult as I needed a straight comb blue egg laying breed in order to wind up with a rose comb blue egg layer. There are VERY few straight comb blue egg laying breeds at present and almost none 7 years ago.

Wow, that is a very ambitious project! How interesting!

 

[The Moonshiner]

Dedicated amateurs can still make progress with chicken breeding. Long term advances, however, are increasingly determined by access to genetic testing. My personal project is to breed a blue egg laying Silver Laced Wyandotte. I started with show grade SLW's and crossed with a blue egg laying line of Brown Leghorns developed at UARK by Keith Bramwell. Keith's goal was a high egg producing Leghorn line that could produce blue eggs commercially. My goals are:

1. move the blue egg gene into a SLW background
2. retain the cold hardiness traits of SLW
3. boost total egg production and egg size from the Leghorn genes
4. reduce the broody traits of SLW since this is required to increase egg production

I started in 2013 by laying out the breeding plan and finding birds with the required traits. This was difficult as I needed a straight comb blue egg laying breed in order to wind up with a rose comb blue egg layer. There are VERY few straight comb blue egg laying breeds at present and almost none 7 years ago.

Pics of where you're at bird wise at this time?

 

[Amer]

Pics of where you're at bird wise at this time?

X2!