Why do people cross breed there chickens?

[velo99]

okay guys
If I were to cross breed my chickens it would be to make a fast growing tender tasty chicken.
The other reason would be to increase the size and taste of the egg and prolificity of the hens.
Not interested in showing only eating.

jmho

 

[Bud and Abbi]

It's not something I'm doing to create a new species of chicken. I have Delawares, Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, White Rocks and Americanas and my alpha male is a Rhode Island Red so he gets a majority of the action. Most of what I'm doing is to sell eggs, I'm just now getting ready to start breeding my chickens (with an incubator). I'm anxious to see what my next generation of chicken is going to look like.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I have started on my next generation of mixed breed chickens,...they are the prettiest and healthiest chickens I have ever seen! They are crossed with barred rock, partridge rock, and easter egger. The rooster I am keeping out of this new generation is so pretty,..he is more black, but barred, but his barring is black with white, tan, green, and blue! He is a looker and big. The hens are grey to black barred, some with beards, some with green legs. I am amazed at how well crossing your hatchery stock makes for a better quality chicken,...now,..lets hope they lay as well!

Its like a box of chocolates,..you never know what you're going to get!

 

[ranchhand]

Hmmmm.... I doubt the OP will see these answers, since he/she hasn't been online since January and the thread is almost 2 years old.

Bud and Abbi,

Up-the-Creek, some of my favorites and best layers are mixes.

I don't show. I want a happy and healthy flock!

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I never even looked at the OP date,...

 

[farmerlor]

I'm cross-breeding my cochins with my Easter Eggers because the EEs don't seem to want to get broody, other than that I love them to death but am seriously tired of incubating their eggs for them. Cochins have shown me from their good parenting of my baby turkeys that they are the perfect bloodline to toss in to the gene pool to see if we can breed some mothering instinct into my colorful flock. Besides, who can resist those fuzzy feet? Hopefully, I'll get fuzzy cheekies and fuzzy feeties.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
LOL, it's a great topic!

I'm just weird about looking at details. And I STILL miss a zillion!

 

[Akane]

My 2 favorite sets of chickens so far are complete mutts. I had standards that were half welsummer and then pendesenca x maran in an unknown amount. They were huge, they laid big chocolate eggs with black spots, good layers, very good free rangers, and they handled our weather extremes with only some minor comb frostbite. I butchered many for meat. Their only down side was that they were very slow to mature. They didn't lay until about 8months and I could hardly tell the breeds apart until 6months. Wasn't really an issue with 170sq ft of coop space and 40 acres of land. They mostly fed themselves aside from winter. I went several months in late summer and fall without buying a bag of feed for them. Then they were my bantam EE which I know had some d'uccle blood in them and the rest is a mystery. Very good layers, wonderful broody, hardy, perfect sky blue eggs, and I had several 100% hatches from them.

I will probably never see birds like that again. Luckily there are tons of breeds and even more crosses I can play with whenever I get in to chickens again.

 

[chickieboy]

i have a welsummer hen that set 2 times for me this year

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Nothing personal, but

All chickens are the same species, and you really won't get very far mating a chicken to an incubator

okay, now that I got that out of my system, other than eggs, do you have a goal in mind?