Crossing 'factory' Hen With Local Rooster

[jaideeguy]

I'll be getting some 'factory' chickens and assume that they will all be [unfertilized] hens and only have access to a local rooster [cock] to impregnate them for future chicks. Any idea what I'll come up with??

I know this is bait for jokes and wisecracks, so throw them at me, but I'd appreciate a serious answer from someone who has done it.

[bina]

patterend chickens that lay eggs'

we did that: we imported (smuggled is a better word) thai fighting chicken eggs that were fertilized, incubated them and raised them; we then bred the cocks with our white egg layers (the ones that live in the long chicken houses, red combs, clipped beaks,e tc)... the results were stripey or blotchy black and white chickens, the hens layed like layers (every 30+ hours);

the young males were edible, a bit more meat then the fighting types... but they were able to fend for themselves better then your average stupid white chicken....

cant find my pics... but they were pretty to look at too... people actually liked the mix. they are able to fly like your regular local chickens, their laying pattern was better then our local more like the white layer (lay no matter what the season),

they had longer legs like the thai male and the the males that we kept had the same tail feathering that the thai males had and also the spurs, they all had the thai feet, which are bigger and longer then the white chicken who has a small, fatter foot (and tastier too), i think they also had extra toes (some chickens do)... if u ever pay attention to feet...

bina

israel

[fruity]

I'll be getting some 'factory' chickens and assume that they will all be [unfertilized] hens and only have access to a local rooster [cock] to impregnate them for future chicks. Any idea what I'll come up with??

I know this is bait for jokes and wisecracks, so throw them at me, but I'd appreciate a serious answer from someone who has done it.

When you say factory chickens, do you mean ex-battery caged chickens or day old / young chicks?

These brown hens are HYBRIDS, just the same as a Mule, which is a cross between a horse & an ass they don't breed. They are genetically engineered to perform a specific job, ie, laying prolifically, not as breeders.

There are exceptions to every rule in livestock, these chickens are not 'supposed' to go broody, however, I have one that I can't stop! I brought in a locally bred male, not to produce chickens, but to keep the girls happy as they were/are very randy; squatting down & mounting each other; however, the local male was just too aggressive in his approach & ended up on Mama's table.

[bina]

true, we had problems with them walking around and laying at the same time, but we take the eggs and put them under a brooder/or local hen; or get or make a small incubator its not too difficult...

once we used a turkey hen as a brooder for every egg under the sun except for quail eggs (she would have squashed the chicks)... it was great....

i have one at home who insists on setting on the eggs (i dont collect everyday, no time)... but all unfertizlized. cant keep a male hear the neighbhors would kill me....

bina

[ozzydom]

I'll be getting some 'factory' chickens and assume that they will all be [unfertilized] hens and only have access to a local rooster [cock] to impregnate them for future chicks. Any idea what I'll come up with??

I know this is bait for jokes and wisecracks, so throw them at me, but I'd appreciate a serious answer from someone who has done it.

"Factory" chickens are specifically bred for egg production ,in protected surroundings (some environmentally controlled ) and are not really suited to free ranging here in the tropics.

Most of the brown egg layers are adapted from White Leghorn/Rhode Island Red crossings.

The Leghorn is a superb layer but pure breeds are so flighty and nervous that to keep them as cage birds is very hard as even a thunderstorm will put them into a moult where they just stop laying ,so they are crossed with RIR in the case of brown egg layers as the RIR is a good layer but as a pure breed prone to going broody but when crossed with leghorn gives a chook that is more docile but still lays well.

Doing a first cross with a domestic Thai cock would result in a poorer layer but would result in a bird better able to withstand the rigors of outside life in the tropics.

You could keep a cock bird from the resulting offspring to cross back giving a 1/4 bred chicken and keep them laying reasonably well.

In another life I was chief inspector of an Egg and Poultry Board and a top breeder of Light Sussex and was under the impression that genetic modification of food animals was not allowed in most countries but I have been out of the industry many years so that info by another poster may be correct.

If the chicks you buy will not go broody you have the option of picking up a silky chicken or even a muscovy duck to sit the eggs for you.

[fruity]

"Factory" chickens are specifically bred for egg production ,in protected surroundings (some environmentally controlled ) and are not really suited to free ranging here in the tropics.

My 'factory' bred chickens are free range & are prolific layers.

[ozzydom]

"Factory" chickens are specifically bred for egg production ,in protected surroundings (some environmentally controlled ) and are not really suited to free ranging here in the tropics.

My 'factory' bred chickens are free range & are prolific layers.

I would not doubt that fruity, the Leghorn/RIR or RIR/Leghorn cross is only the base crossing they would then introduce another breed line to get a chicken suitable for local (tropical) conditions and egg requirements.

In Thailands case one of the criteria would be to get a smaller egg which Thais go for.

A straight Leghorn/RIR cross gives a large percentage of 55-60 gram eggs in the final 1/2 of its first laying cycle and nearly 100% large eggs if force moulted for a second cycle.

These size eggs would not suit the Thai market.

[jaideeguy]

Actually, what I had in mind for hen housing was a concept that I have been wanting to experiment with for years.....it's called 'the chicken tractor', where 6 or 7 hens are housed in a portable 'house' 2mx2m and moved around your garden, providing weed control, fertilizing and extra bonus of egg production. I don't think local chickens would adapt to confined conditions of the small house...so that's why i want Rhode Island Red.

[ozzydom]

Actually, what I had in mind for hen housing was a concept that I have been wanting to experiment with for years.....it's called 'the chicken tractor', where 6 or 7 hens are housed in a portable 'house' 2mx2m and moved around your garden, providing weed control, fertilizing and extra bonus of egg production. I don't think local chickens would adapt to confined conditions of the small house...so that's why i want Rhode Island Red.

I used these 60 years ago for rabbits ,a coop with wire mesh bottom for the grass to poke up and the poo to drop out,a couple of cheap wheels one end and a handle the other. Works a treat.

[bina]

i liked the idea too, took out ideas from the internet and gave it hubby; got anon to build me something similar. the only problem is that he built it with wood and stuff that we found laying around the kibbutz and did it thai style so... it is too heavy to move... so we just open the chickens up to wander around our fenced garden when we are outside; we turn their chicken run soil over every weekend and dig up some when needed for the garden....

we also throw the kitchen garbage in to the chicken run (just veggies, eggshells, and leftowver rice, bread, pita etc)... and grass that we cut back by hand ...

three eggs two brown and one white, every day, until about february march, so two months not too many eggs, then back to regular laying again.

for food, we used to steal some of the chicken feed used in feeding the meat chicken houses: sometimes its for chicks (with the anti coccidiosis) sometimes its for the three week olds and sometimes its the stuff just before 'harvesting' the birds for meat and then there's a wait while the houses are empty and we have no food; so have taken to buying some kind of corn and stuff chicken feed mix, and supplement with the leftovers....

we still get too many eggs for home use...

bina

[fruity]

"Factory" chickens are specifically bred for egg production ,in protected surroundings (some environmentally controlled ) and are not really suited to free ranging here in the tropics.

My 'factory' bred chickens are free range & are prolific layers.

I would not doubt that fruity, the Leghorn/RIR or RIR/Leghorn cross is only the base crossing they would then introduce another breed line to get a chicken suitable for local (tropical) conditions and egg requirements.

In Thailands case one of the criteria would be to get a smaller egg which Thais go for.

A straight Leghorn/RIR cross gives a large percentage of 55-60 gram eggs in the final 1/2 of its first laying cycle and nearly 100% large eggs if force moulted for a second cycle.

These size eggs would not suit the Thai market.

Ozzie, I really don't know how these chickens are bred; they look exactly the same as the Hi-sex / Warren browns, I had in England years ago. Like you say, to perform in this tropical climate one would assume some use of native blood, but what I wonder?

[ozzydom]

"Factory" chickens are specifically bred for egg production ,in protected surroundings (some environmentally controlled ) and are not really suited to free ranging here in the tropics.

My 'factory' bred chickens are free range & are prolific layers.

I would not doubt that fruity, the Leghorn/RIR or RIR/Leghorn cross is only the base crossing they would then introduce another breed line to get a chicken suitable for local (tropical) conditions and egg requirements.

In Thailands case one of the criteria would be to get a smaller egg which Thais go for.

A straight Leghorn/RIR cross gives a large percentage of 55-60 gram eggs in the final 1/2 of its first laying cycle and nearly 100% large eggs if force moulted for a second cycle.

These size eggs would not suit the Thai market.

Ozzie, I really don't know how these chickens are bred; they look exactly the same as the Hi-sex / Warren browns, I had in England years ago. Like you say, to perform in this tropical climate one would assume some use of native blood, but what I wonder?

Will be visiting a farang poultry farmer in the near future and also going to the poultry research farm at Phang Khon, so will try and get some info to post.