white Jersey Giant

[Dead Rabbit]

looking for advice or experiences:

i have a flock of Rhode Island Whites. im happy with them as a whole. but im wanting to experiment some. id like to see my RIW flock produce slightly bigger eggs. right now there is no typical egg size. the sizes are all over the map. and few are ever bigger than x-large. most are smaller. im thinking of putting a white jersey giant over the hens just to see if offspring will produce larger eggs.

the reason im thinking of the WJG is b/c i have read they produce x-lg eggs and they are white. i like white fowl.

has anyone ever tried this? experiences? if not how about speculations..educated speculations....hopefully based on prior experiences with breeding.

thankyou.

 

[Bullitt]

looking for advice or experiences:

i have a flock of Rhode Island Whites. im happy with them as a whole. but im wanting to experiment some. id like to see my RIW flock produce slightly bigger eggs. right now there is no typical egg size. the sizes are all over the map. and few are ever bigger than x-large. most are smaller. im thinking of putting a white jersey giant over the hens just to see if offspring will produce larger eggs.

the reason im thinking of the WJG is b/c i have read they produce x-lg eggs and they are white. i like white fowl.

has anyone ever tried this? experiences? if not how about speculations..educated speculations....hopefully based on prior experiences with breeding.

thankyou.

How old are your Rhode Island Whites?

Do you just care about creating hens that lay bigger eggs or do you also want them to produce more eggs?

 

[Dead Rabbit]

im happy with the output of eggs. they arent as good as a hybrid sex link. but they will do. but you bring up a good point. from all the research ive done the JG doesnt lay as well as the RIW .................so do you think the JG will bring the production down also?

to answer your question, id like to keep production where it is, or improve. and improve the size of egg.

my main problem here is finding a good white chicken to cross with my RIW. to keep the white coloration. any other breed suggestions will be appreciated also.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

How old are your Rhode Island Whites?

Do you just care about creating hens that lay bigger eggs or do you also want them to produce more eggs?

my whites are 1.5 yrs...

 

[Bullitt]

im happy with the output of eggs. they arent as good as a hybrid sex link. but they will do. but you bring up a good point. from all the research ive done the JG doesnt lay as well as the RIW .................so do you think the JG will bring the production down also?

to answer your question, id like to keep production where it is, or improve. and improve the size of egg.

my main problem here is finding a good white chicken to cross with my RIW. to keep the white coloration. any other breed suggestions will be appreciated also.

Yes, I think your production would probably decrease if you crossed in a White Jersey Giant. That breed doesn't lay as well.

From what I know, Rhode Island Whites lay a large to extra-large egg. The egg size should also increase in the hens' second year of laying.

I think you would be better off selecting for the trait you want. Determine which of your hens lay the largest and most eggs, and you breed those hens. If you did that for two or three generations you would have Rhode Island Whites that laid lots of extra-large eggs.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

i hatched out some last yr. many of the pure offspring were weak as chicks. they showed signs of being too tightly bred. but as mentioned egg size has alot of variance . the chicks had size variance too. so this tells me not to inbred. so i was contemplating a cross to add that vigor. hence my quest for a white chicken that would compliment the RIW. but im struggling. not many brown egg laying white breeds out there.

 

[Bullitt]

i hatched out some last yr. many of the pure offspring were weak as chicks. they showed signs of being too tightly bred. but as mentioned egg size has alot of variance . the chicks had size variance too. so this tells me not to inbred. so i was contemplating a cross to add that vigor. hence my quest for a white chicken that would compliment the RIW. but im struggling. not many brown egg laying white breeds out there.

Well, you obviously need to get some new Rhode Island White blood. Get a new Rhode Island White rooster and breed him with your hens that are laying the biggest and most eggs.


If you insist on bringing in another breed.

White Plymouth Rock

Maybe
Delaware (They have a little color)

White Leghorns lay lots of large white eggs. But you would produce hens that lay light brown eggs in the first crossing. Then bring in a Rhode Island White rooster to breed the hens that you produced. I am pretty sure you would get hens that lay lots of large brown eggs.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

im looking for rose comb RIW now. but they are difficult to find. mine are Straight comb. bred for production. so im somewhat apprehensive that the RC blood my cause decline in production...much less egg size. but in reality this is the best method. rose comb is breed standard. and im sure there would be no chance of breeding related lines if i go the rose comb route........

as for the hybrid option:

the white rocks arent as good layers and the eggs are smaller according to my research.
same with the white wyndottes
and most other white breeds i could think of. such as marans, pendescas, chantaclears, etc. my only thought/hope was the jersey giant
i was hoping i would miss one, someone could direct me onto something i hadnt considered.

what i have done is purchased amberlinks and tetra tints. i have a batch of pure RIW and a batch of RIW X Tetra in the bator now. i have no idea what the cross will produce. the tetra eggs are tinted brown at best. not very big but the hens lay very well. of course they are only 8 months old. so the egg size my go up.
im questioning whether the offspring of this cross will come out pure white or not.........and if they do and they perform well which im confident they will. i will still need a RIW cock to put over the offspring. (im infusing the tetra into the RIW line) no sense breeding back to the same RIW cock (sire) to the offspring.

weve gotten away from the Jersey giant thread, but i appreciate your thoughts and advice so far. i welcome more of your opinions. and others also.

 

[Bullitt]

im looking for rose comb RIW now. but they are difficult to find. mine are Straight comb. bred for production. so im somewhat apprehensive that the RC blood my cause decline in production...much less egg size. but in reality this is the best method. rose comb is breed standard. and im sure there would be no chance of breeding related lines if i go the rose comb route........

as for the hybrid option:

the white rocks arent as good layers and the eggs are smaller according to my research.
same with the white wyndottes
and most other white breeds i could think of. such as marans, pendescas, chantaclears, etc. my only thought/hope was the jersey giant
i was hoping i would miss one, someone could direct me onto something i hadnt considered.

what i have done is purchased amberlinks and tetra tints. i have a batch of pure RIW and a batch of RIW X Tetra in the bator now. i have no idea what the cross will produce. the tetra eggs are tinted brown at best. not very big but the hens lay very well. of course they are only 8 months old. so the egg size my go up.
im questioning whether the offspring of this cross will come out pure white or not.........and if they do and they perform well which im confident they will. i will still need a RIW cock to put over the offspring. (im infusing the tetra into the RIW line) no sense breeding back to the same RIW cock (sire) to the offspring.

weve gotten away from the Jersey giant thread, but i appreciate your thoughts and advice so far. i welcome more of your opinions. and others also.

"The Tretra Tint is a cross between a Rhode Island Red male and a White leghorn female, producing cream colored or "tinted" eggs." The Amberlinks are about the same thing.

You did about what I suggested. But the Rhode Island Red blood in the Tetra Tints will put some color in the offspring, I suspect.

Since you are using Single Comb Rhode Island Whites, which are not recognized by the APA, I am guessing you are just doing this for your own satisfaction.

I see the Sand Hill Preservation Center in Iowa has Rose Comb Rhode Island Whites. I am sure you can find them other places also. http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/index.html

Cackle Hatchery in Missouri sells the Single Comb Rhode Island White. http://www.cacklehatchery.com/rhodeislandrdpage.html#RRWhite