Why I love mixed breeds - a mixed breed thread

[The Mother Hen]

A bard rock rooster and an Easter Egger pullet will result in a beautiful silvery/grey chick. They are a 1/3 pure-breed so they cannot be shown in legit bird shows, and they have a low mortality rate (or a high one... basically they will sometimes die off really easily).

A Buff Orpington Rooster (we had one but got rid of him) X a Road Island Red will result in a reddish gold or reddish brown chicken. So far my two females from their parents are a reddish gold, while their brother is leaning to the reddish brown side. I will eventually post pictures once I can get my hands on a camera.

A Bard Rock Rooster X Silver-lace Wyandotte will result in a Wybar, a beautiful white and black hen. The female pullets have white faces plus a white spot on their head when they hatch and at three months they have "peppered" feathers. Depending on the dominant gene, one chick might have a straight comb or possibly a rose comb from the Wyandotte hen.

A Bard Rock Rooster X Brahma will result in a Bard rock... but with feathered feet! One of my chicks that had E.coli from its hatching had beautiful pearly pink feet and beak with long feathered feet (I think it was a hen but I couldn't tell). My male chick (if I am right about the sex) has his father's slight orange and black beak and feet. They are also scaly while the chick that died had smoother feet.

More to come!

 

[Makomd]

Just wanted to give you a hand. One cross of a barred rock and a Wyandotte will not give you a wybar. It will give you a start to making wybars, but will not breed true or even be autosexed until at least 3 more selected crossings. The variations of the second mating will yield some barred birds no lacing, some solid birds, some birds barred and complete laced, and some birds barred and incomplete laced. The second crossing can give you as many as 128 different colored birds with different comb genetics.

Just figured I would let you know before you gave any away or sold them as Wybars, as they would find out quickly they are not autosexing wyandottes which is the main purpose of the Wybar.

 

[The Mother Hen]

Thank you! I am still getting used to the genetics category, so this helped a lot!

I did notice that one of my girls from my Wyandotte and Barred Rock has a straight comb, while the other might have a rose comb from the mother.

I am actually keeping some of the brood from Bob the Barred Rock since my other hens are getting a bit older.

 

[Makomd]

Sometimes Wyandottes are bred to single comb birds for increased fertility.(whole other debate on Rose comb dominant R/R = low fertility) Often they will have a rose comb but be carrying the recessive gene for single comb (R/r+). When bred to a single comb bird they offspring will be either single comb or the same Rose comb, but carrying a recessive gene for single comb as well.

Its really fun to look at the mixes and see how the genes interact and the outcomes and I like hearing how some of you mixes have turned out.

 

[The Mother Hen]

Sometimes Wyandottes are bred to single comb birds for increased fertility.(whole other debate on Rose comb dominant R/R = low fertility) Often they will have a rose comb but be carrying the recessive gene for single comb (R/r+). When bred to a single comb bird they offspring will be either single comb or the same Rose comb, but carrying a recessive gene for single comb as well.

Its really fun to look at the mixes and see how the genes interact and the outcomes and I like hearing how some of you mixes have turned out.

It's a lot of fun! My two Bard rocks X Wyandotte actually had one straight comb and the other had a rose comb. Both of my silver-grey ones had rose combs like their mother. I ended up getting rid of all but one Wyandotte offspring (I accidentally sold the other because it was nighttime and I forgot I was going to keep her) the Brahma and Bard Rock's baby, the two female Orpington's redish-gold offspring along with two of the roosters (will sell one at least). I sold the others due to them growing and CHOWING down their food.