Are chicken breeds like dog breeds?

[craigwg]

What I mean is, I am familiar with dog breeds. There are poodles, cocker spaniels, westies, great danes, etc. One goal of a dog owner might be to have a pure breed blood hound so he can breed it with other pure breed blood hounds and have pure breed puppies. I'm starting to think about getting chickens and I've noticed there are a TON of breeds of chickens. I've read that some are called sex-link chickens. Is this the same as a mutt dog, ie, random chickens of different breeds mating with random other chickens of other breeds. Would any rooster do the "deed" with any hen or do they tend to stick strictly to their own kind (racism is a shame...tsk tsk tsk...)? I'm not aware of mutt chickens. If they do exist they seem to be rare. But people regularly mix chicken breeds in living quarters. I hope my question makes sense. I'm still learning my chicken vernacular...er...verchickular?

Thanks

 

[donrae]

There are lots of chicken breeds, and learning about them can be overwhelming. I mean, we kinda pick up dog breeds as we grow up, but chicken breeds are usually new to folks, so it's a lot to absorb!

Sex links....they don't have an equivalent to dogs. Sex link means the sex is linked to the color of the bird, making the chick easy to sex at hatch. This started for commercial egg businesses, to be sure they didn't waste time and $ on mistakenly raising male chicks. Vent sexing (looking at the chick's cloaca) is only 90-95% accurate, so those big places were wasting a lot on mis-sexed males! Now, sex links are available to byc folks, and some of us breed them ourselves

. Here's a great link with the basics on sex-links....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information. Don't get bogged down by the hundreds of pages, what you need to know is on the first page.
So, a sex link is a mutt, but with a purpose. They don't breed true, but the crossing of the two parent breeds has a predictable, duplicable result. They're not a hodge-podge like a barnyard mix (chicken term for mutt).

Mixed breed can and do happen. Like a male dog will mate with any other female dog, regardless of breed, a rooster will happily mate with any female chicken.

Since you're not aware of mutt chickens, let me show off some of my birds (plus, I just love showing pictures

)














Some were breed A x breed B, some are so mixed I can only guess at the original breeds involved. I love breeding mixed breed birds because I like having birds that don't look quite like everyone else's.....it's just a me thing. Stand out from the crowd and all that

.

 

[craigwg]

Are these mutt/barnyard mixes healthier than their pure breed counter parts? I've read that for most dog breeds this is true. A mutt will have less health issues, live longer, etc. Is the same true of chicken mutts? And if so, are any any chicken breeds more susceptible to specific health issues? For example dalmatian dogs are prone to blindness, more so than other dogs. Is there any breeds of chicken to avoid due to known health issues? I've not read anything like that in my research and I have been looking for it. You know, I don't want a breed of chicken that is prone to PTSD, or might have knife-wielding tendencies! jk

 

[donrae]

Hybrid vigor does seem to carry over to pretty much all animals, from what I know. Farm-type animals, anyway.

I'm not aware of chicken breeds right off that have genetic issues. I own a Great Dane, so I totally understand the whole genetic predisposition thing! Well, true Aracaunas have a tufted gene that's lethal in a double dose. Kind of like lethal white, but not related to color, instead related to big ol wings of feathers coming off the sides of their faces. This in only true, pure bred Aracaunas. No hatchery has they, hatcheries have Easter eggers (even though they sometimes call them Aracaunas) and EEs have beards and muffs, not tufts.

No PTSD, no knife wielding, but I'd always keep an eye on those silkies. They ain't natural

.