Egg Production with Silkie Crosses

[spepple]

My only roo is a golden silkie. For hens I have a Buff Orphington, Blue Plymouth Tint, Dark Brahma, Golden Sexlink, and Australorp. Is there anyway of knowing how much eggs we would get from potential chicks? Would egg production be more similar to the hens or the silkie?

 

[MysteryChicken]

My only roo is a golden silkie. For hens I have a Buff Orphington, Blue Plymouth Tint, Dark Brahma, Golden Sexlink, and Australorp. Is there anyway of knowing how much eggs we would get from potential chicks? Would egg production be more similar to the hens or the silkie?

My silkies lay eggs every day in general up until they go broody at least, so their egg production is pretty good. Broodiness is to be expected with both purebred silkies, & mixes.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is no way to now how many eggs to expect from a single hen based only on breed. Some Silkies may lay as well as MC's, some may lay half that often. The same can be said for any breed, even the egg laying ones. (I do not consider the commercial egg laying hybrids to be a breed.) I consider strain to be more important. If the person selecting which chickens get to breed uses egg production as a criteria you can get a flock where they lay really well. If egg laying is not a criteria, you may get a flock that does not meet breed averages. Often birds from a hatchery lay better than the breed average. Birds bred for other reasons may lay less than the breed average. You can get quite a bit of variation by breed and by individual hens. If you have a flock that lays the "breed average", that's just the flock average. You can get individual hens that lay better and some that lay worse. You need enough for averages to mean something. If you only have one of that breed do you have one that lays above average or one that lays below?

Would egg production be more similar to the hens or the silkie?

Both the hen and rooster contribute genetics that affect egg laying. That's the way gene pairs work, both parents contribute. Usually when you cross birds you get something in between what the parents' flocks do. A rooster doesn't lay eggs so you can't know what he will contribute but if you know how his mother laid and how his grandmothers laid you can get an idea.

You never know for sure what any one pullet will do, but on average you should get something in between what the mother and father contribute.

 

[sourland]

In my experience silkie crosses have been as broody as silkies resulting in relatively low egg production.