Is there anything you CANT (or shouldn't) breed together?

[ChickyBangBang]

Are there any breeds of chickens that you're not supposed to mix?

I'm not talking about your personal code of ethics in regard to chicken breeds (everyone has a different set of "chickethics" and I am respectful of everyone's right to choose their own breeds for their flocks).

I am only referring to the health of the hen when laying and the health of the chicks that hatch out of the pairing.

Specifically, I'm worried about size (huge roo fertilizing a small bantam's eggs or something crazy like that) - wouldn't it be too difficult and painful for her to pass that huge egg out of her small frame? I would think it would be, but I only know dogs (nothing about chickens).

Thank you in advance!

 

[Oregon Blues]

The rooster will have zero effect on the size of the egg. When the egg is laid, the chick inside is about the size of the point of a straight pin. The hen will produce the size of egg that her system is designed to produce.

The weight of a large breed rooster might be too much for a very small bantam breed hen and cause leg or back injuries.

There are a few lethal genes in chickens. You can't breed Scotts Dumpys with the short legs and not have a percentage of the chicks die in the shell because of a lethal gene. So, if there are 2 different breeds with the same lethal gene, you wouldn't want to breed those 2 together. I wouldn't know what breeds they would be, though.

 

[PotatoChicken]

I have bred chickens (crossed) banty to polish and it was fine. The banty is a little sebright and she is alright. My favorite part of breeding crosses is finding out what feature each has. Say you cross a brahma with a polish. You could get somthing of a fat sultan type bird with feathered feat a crest and enough meat to feed a colony. So I dont think thiers any restrictoins or ethical problems just fun to be had! But, what I want to see is a muscovy duck crossed with a chicken!

-Potato

 

[PotatoChicken]

The rooster will have zero effect on the size of the egg. When the egg is laid, the chick inside is about the size of the point of a straight pin. The hen will produce the size of egg that her system is designed to produce.

The weight of a large breed rooster might be too much for a very small bantam breed hen and cause leg or back injuries.

There are a few lethal genes in chickens. You can't breed Scotts Dumpys with the short legs and not have a percentage of the chicks die in the shell because of a lethal gene. So, if there are 2 different breeds with the same lethal gene, you wouldn't want to breed those 2 together. I wouldn't know what breeds they would be, though.

The other lethal gene would be a japenese banty. You would get REALLY short legs and a lot of dead chicks. Just saying.

 

[ChickyBangBang]

Thank you for all the information so far! Like I said, I'm newbie (and very ignorant, admittedly) when it comes to breeds of chickens and what the process entails. LOL I only know about dogs and therefore related the egg to being too big if it was fertilized by a big rooster hahahaha (now I feel like a moron!)

 

[galanie]

Don't feel bad about that! We all had misconceptions at one point and some might be even worse!