Which Breeds To Cross..ffa

[Barredacauna]

Okay, so in FFA im doing a project where im going to breed the best meat Bird, and take a meat/layer and cross breed them.... i was thinking i was going to take a RIR Rooster to a BR hen...?? any suggestions??????

 

[gritsar]

Can you edit your post and change the title to something like "which breeds to cross?"? It might help you get more responses.

 

[Barredacauna]

Thanks for the tip!
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[Laigaie]

So the project is to cross-breed a layer and a meatie to get a better meatie? As far as growing good meaties, Cornish crosses are always your best bet.

 

[Barredacauna]

The project is to get a dual purpose bird... Half Layer, Half Meatie

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Those exist. Orpington, Plymouth Rock and to lesser extent Rhode Island Red are great dual purpose birds. If you can get a hold of an old type New Hampshire that would get you a faster maturing meatie. The NH was bred out from the RIR for just that purpose, anymore the hatchery stock is same as RIR and in these forums referred to as Production Reds. Older type Australorp was a serious utility bird too. That was made taking a black Orpington and crossing into it Rock and a few others. So I'd say if your looking to improve on a duel purpose breed I'd start with good quality Australorp and then see about locating fast maturing heritage New Hampshire.

 

[dretd]

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Interesting project!

Your RIRxBR will get you a Black Sex-Link.

You might want to try a Brahma and cross it with a fast growing high egg production bird and see what happens. Brahmas are sure big and could be the meat bird half. You could even do a sex link if you did your RIR roo and crossed it with a Light Brahma hen=Red Sex Link.

Good Luck!

 

[ChicKat]

Today I was reading in Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens: 3rd Edition (Storey's Guide to Raising Series) by Gail Damerow

about the RIR and Barred Rock cross which they call a Black Sex-link or Black Star. Damerow said that this bird weighs in heaver than the Red-sex-link, and thus she says is a better meat bird, or "dual purpose" bird, than the Red. As the other poster stated though, these crosses are to get maximum egg production.

A lot of the existing breeds already are considered 'dual purpose'. Does FFA want you to experiment with existing known results or to find a new type of cross?

Good luck with the project it sounds very interesting. Post your results when you get them to help enlighten others about what you learned. Thanks.

 

[Barredacauna]

Thanks to everyone who replied! i think i might just go with the black sex-link... but what would i get if i crossed a black sex-link with a red-sexlink??? theres something to think about!

 

[Barredacauna]

I was going to try and find a new type of cross!
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