Chicken Genetics | Questions?? | Any Dangerous Combos or No-Nos?

[Butt_Nugget_Hut092]

Hey,
So I have a few questions in terms of chicken genetics. I was wondering if there were any chicken breeds that would be dangerous to mix together or are just general don't dos when breed? Mind you... I'm not actively looking to breed my chickens, My hens are for eggs and my roosters for protection when they free range. Breeding and selling the chicks are not my goal. However, I have a mixed flock and wanted to be on the safe side instead of ending up with an oops clutch later and a bunch of genetically deficient chicks or ending up accidentally breeding chicks with a bunch of issues and or weaknesses to diseases.
For example, I'm aware of the rule about not breeding a frizzle hen with a frizzle rooster, BIG NO-NO... So is there anything else?

I currently have Three Different flocks But I'm contemplating a change... which prompted this thought process and my question.

Flock #1 is my standard size chicken flock. I have 19 hens and 1 rooster. Different Breeds in the same run and coop. This isn't really the flock I'm concerned about, but if you see anything, please point it out. This is what is in my Standard Flock:

• Little Yellow - Yellow #089 - White Plymouth Rock - Hatch Day: September 16th, 2023 | *Laying
• Belle - Blue #037 - Barred Rock - Hatch Day: September 16th, 2023 | *Laying
• Growly Growl - Purple #050 - Barred Rock - Hatch Day: September 16th, 2023 | *Laying
• Bon Jovi - Green #000 - Silver Laced Wyandotte x Black Sussex - Hatch Day: September 16th, 2023 | *Laying
• Tufty - Green #000 - Barred Rock x Ameraucana - September 16th, 2023 | *Laying
• Plucky Duck (Plucky) - Yellow #096 - Barred Plymouth Rock - Est. Hatch Day: May 1st, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Bluey - Blue #028 - Barred Plymouth Rock - Est. Hatch Day: May 1st, 2024 | *Laying
• Guin Guin (Guin) - NO BAND #000 - Midnight Majesty Maran - Est. Hatch Day: May 1st, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Snowball - Green #000 - Rhode Island Red x Ameraucana - Hatch Day: May 18th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Foghorn Leghorn - ROOSTER | No Band #000 - Rhode Island Red x White Leghorn - Hatch Day: May 18th, 2024
• Reba - Green #000 - Starlight Green Egger - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Dolly - Blue #000 - Starlight Green Egger - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Stevie - Purple #000 - Starlight Green Egger - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Whitney - Red #000 - Prairie Bluebell Egger - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Marylin - Yellow #000 - Prairie Bluebell Egger - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Blondie - Blondie #000 - Olive Egger - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Mo-Mo - Purple #058 - Sapphire Olive Egger - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Joan - Purple #000 - French Black Maran- Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Pat - Blue #000 - French Black Maran - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying
• Madonna - Yellow #000 - Ameraucana - Hatch Date: June 17th, 2024 | **Not Laying

Flock #2... This is my Bantam/Serama Flock.

• Button - ROOSTER| Crelé Old English Bantam - Est. Hatch Day: May 1st, 2024
• Sylvester - Blue #000 - Blue Old English Bantam - Est. Hatch Day: May 1st, 2024 | *Laying - About 1 a week
• Tweety - NO BAND #000 - White Cochin Bantam - Est. Hatch Day: May 1st, 2024 | *Laying - About 2 a week
• Lola - NO BAND #000 - Frizzle Serama - Est. Hatch Date: February 2024 | *Laying - About 1 a week
• Daffy - NO BAND #000 - Silver Laced Serama - Est. Hatch Date: January 2024 | ***Not Laying

Flock #3... This is my silkie flock.

• Onyx - NO BAND #000 - ROOSTER| Black Silkie - Est. Hatch Day: May 1st, 2024 (His name should be changed to peckerhead...)
• Topaz - NO BAND #000 - Chocolate Silkie - Est. Hatch Date: May 2024 _ Day Unknown | **Not Laying
• Opal - NO BAND #000 - White Silkie - Est. Hatch Date: May 2024 _ Day Unknown | *Laying - Started 10/20/24
• Amber - NO BAND #000 - Millie Satin Silkie - Est. Hatch Date: March 2024 _ Day Unknown | **Not Laying
• Ruby - NO BAND #000 - Millie Satin Silkie - Est. Hatch Date: March 2024 _ Day Unknown | **Not Laying

So here is what prompted my question... My Silkie rooster went from being the sweetest little guy... to being a little peckerhead with mood swings. He has bitten me on many occasions and is having an issue being nice to his hens. I am aware that he is still young and learning, if his issues were just with his hens then I might wait it out. But the attacking me and biting me is getting annoying.
So I'm considering rehoming him and possibly integrating his hens into my bantam flock. My bantam game rooster is a sweet heart and very nice to his hens. He's also pretty accepting of new ladies, probably because he likes getting frisky with them. Anyway... Would combining the silkies in with him cause any known genetic issues if they happened to hide and then hatch some eggs if my game bantam were their rooster?
Or would I be better off getting a different, possibly older and more experienced silkie rooster to replace my current one?

I hope that makes sense. I just don't want to be responsible for oops chicks that have loads of issues, if I could have done something to prevent it from happening. Knowledge is power, as they say. Thanks In Advance for any help!
Feel free to be as educational and detailed as you want to with the responses. I love learning new things and chicken genetics definitely do interest me.

 

[Debbie292d]

I raise/breed silkies, and other than the frizzle X frizzle, there's nothing I've ever heard of being bad to breed together. Mean roosters we cull, although our farmer neighbor wanted the last little white helion to try breed with her Brahmas. What a joke lol, but he's still there riding them, literally, for his third year now.

For color genetics, that's what I'm finally learning and trying to acquire what color of what sex I need to make whatever, ie., buffs -- have to have a rooster and hen both buff to produce more buffs.

Here's the main link I use for reference for the other colors I have. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-color-genetics.1219858/page-2#post-19511066

With all this information you have on your chickens, you might want to start your own blog of sorts here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/pictures-stories-of-my-chickens.39/

I and many of us have a page there. You can keep track there, post pictures, updates, etc.

 

[NatJ]

I was wondering if there were any chicken breeds that would be dangerous to mix together or are just general don't dos when breed?

Feel free to be as educational and detailed as you want to with the responses. I love learning new things and chicken genetics definitely do interest me.

A bit late, but:
--don't breed frizzle to frizzle (you knew that)

--don't breed short legs together (example: Japanese or Dorkings, about 1/4 of offspring are expected to die before hatch because of the creeper gene that causes the short legs)

--don't breed birds with ear tufts together (example: Araucanas, the USA version. About 1/4 of offspring are expected to die before hatch. Araucanas in some other countries, and Ameraucanas in the USA, lack ear tufts and have no problems. Muffs are fine.)

For all of those traits, the issues happen when raising purebreds too. If you mix frizzle with creeper or ear tuft, every chick should be fine, because no chick can have two copies of the frizzle gene or the creeper gene or the ear tuft gene.

Looking at your list of chicken breeds, I don't see any reason to worry. I only see one frizzle, and no short legs or ear tufts.

 

[Butt_Nugget_Hut092]

A bit late, but:
--don't breed frizzle to frizzle (you knew that)

--don't breed short legs together (example: Japanese or Dorkings, about 1/4 of offspring are expected to die before hatch because of the creeper gene that causes the short legs)

--don't breed birds with ear tufts together (example: Araucanas, the USA version. About 1/4 of offspring are expected to die before hatch. Araucanas in some other countries, and Ameraucanas in the USA, lack ear tufts and have no problems. Muffs are fine.)

For all of those traits, the issues happen when raising purebreds too. If you mix frizzle with creeper or ear tuft, every chick should be fine, because no chick can have two copies of the frizzle gene or the creeper gene or the ear tuft gene.

Looking at your list of chicken breeds, I don't see any reason to worry. I only see one frizzle, and no short legs or ear tufts.

Thank you! That is all extremely interesting information and useful to know.
I was aware of the frizzle to frizzle. I was told that was due to the offspring becoming a frazzle and ending up with very fragile feathers and bones. Almost like they are made of glass and easy to shatter. The chicken suffers for however long they live.

I did not know about the short Leg one. Is creeper a type of chicken I'm unaware of or is that what the gene is called?

What's the reason that the ear tuft offspring die? What gene modifications does it cause? Just out of curiosity.

This is all fascinating to me.

 

[NatJ]

I did not know about the short Leg one. Is creeper a type of chicken I'm unaware of or is that what the gene is called?

Creeper is the name of the gene.
Short legs is a description of the trait.
Japanese Bantams and Dorkings are examples of breeds that have the trait.
(Or maybe Dorkings don't actually have it. I'm finding conflicting information there.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeper_chickens

What's the reason that the ear tuft offspring die? What gene modifications does it cause? Just out of curiosity.

There are some studies on it. An example:
https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article-abstract/72/2/121/822363

It works out to "something develops wrong," but I've never cared enough to understand beyond that.