Longterm Crossbreeding Project of Brahma, Polish, Silkie, Ayam Cemani, Araucana and Malay

[Skyeknight]

So this project has been in the works since October 2024 when I acquired an Ayam Cemani rooster. I thought it would be very fun and interesting to breed him to completely other purebred types of chicken. So I tried to think of representatives for different genetics or groups of chicken. These became the following:
- Golden laced bearded Polish; crest and beard.
- Gold partridge bearded Silkie; fibromelanosis, crest, beard, 5 toes, silkie feathers and feathered legs.
- Buff columbian Brahma; big frame and feathered feet.
- Ayam Cemani; fibromelanosis.
- Araucana; blue eggs, ear-tufts and rumpless.
- Wheaten Malay game; gamefowl build and large size.

For the hens I decided on the Polish, Silkie and Brahma since these are more easily to get in the Netherlands. I will try to collect data from the crossbreeds in the form of weight, height, eggs laid per year and photo's. At this moment I am trying to acquire the right hens. As for the roosters I already have the Ayam cemani and will switch him out for another breed in a few years. I will try to breed these hens and their F1 offspring according to the following timetable:
- 2025 Ayam Cemani
- 2026 Ayam Cemani crossbreeds
- 2027 Araucana
- 2028 Araucana crossbreeds
- 2029 Malay
- 2030 Malay crossbreeds

To elaborate on this. the first year I will breed the Ayam Cemani rooster to the Polish, Silkie and Brahma hens. Next year I will breed the CemaniXPolish to the silkie and Brahma, the CemaniXSilkie to the Polish and Brahma, the CemaniXBrahma to the Polish and Silkie. The Year after this I will breed the Araucana to the Polish, Silkie, Brahma and their half-breed Ayam Cemani daughters. I hope you get the idea. I will not be linebreeding or breeding them back to parents or other members of those purebreds.

I will be selecting for specific traits from F2 onwards, as long as the traits aren't too disadvantageous for the chicken. This is because of a project I want to start in about a decade. The traits I want are crest, beard, ear-tufts, fibromelanosis, 5 toes, big frame/gamefowl height, blue eggs and feathered shanks. The traits That seem disadvantageous to me are Silkie feathers, feathered toes and rumpless.

This is the 1 year old Ayam Cemani rooster, it's a bit of an old pic as I have treated him for the leg mites.

These are my 5 week old Brahma and Polish chicks, I hope they will still lay this year.
I also have a 6 month old Silkie. But she is beardless so kinda on the fence if I want to use her.

I do have the following questions:
- How does the Araucana ear-tufts and beard work when a bird carries the genes for both?
- How can I accurately measure their heights? It's kinda difficult to do with the neck, especially when done alone.

Thank you for reading this far! I would love to hear about and see pictures of similar crossbreeds.

 

[GodLovesU]

 

[NatJ]

- How does the Araucana ear-tufts and beard work when a bird carries the genes for both?

Unfortunately I do not know how that works. I have wondered, but haven't seen any pictures or explanation of chickens with both genes.

Why do you want both ear tufts and beard?

The traits That seem disadvantageous to me are Silkie feathers, feathered toes and rumpless.

I would consider ear tufts to be disadvantageos too. If you breed two tufted chickens, a quarter of the chicks die before hatching. So you only get 3/4 live chicks, best case.

If you breed a tufted bird to one with no tufts, you get about equal numbers of tufted and untufted chicks.

Breeding tufted to tufted gives about half of chicks with tufts, a quarter without tufts, a quarter dead.

So either way, only about half of chicks manage to be alive and have tufts.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Tufts and beard (not my pic):

 

[Skyeknight]

Why do you want both ear tufts and beard?

Mainly to know what it looks like and how it interacts with each other. The picture RoostersAreAwesome send already helps a lot with understanding it!

I would consider ear tufts to be disadvantageos too. If you breed two tufted chickens, a quarter of the chicks die before hatching. So you only get 3/4 live chicks, best case.

Since I won't be doing any inbreeding or breeding back to an Araucana this won't be a problem. Tufted birds will only breed with non-tufted birds,

 

[Skyeknight]

Starting to worry a little bit about the gender of my 7 week old Brahma pullet. Her hackle feathers are longer and pointier than the bearded Polish of the same age.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Starting to worry a little bit about the gender of my 7 week old Brahma pullet. Her hackle feathers are longer and pointier than the bearded Polish of the same age.
View attachment 4101211

That’s just the pattern, it isn’t male-specific feathering

 

[Skyeknight]

That’s just the pattern, it isn’t male-specific feathering

Yeah I am probably just being paranoid. Just don't want anymore setbacks than I already have. Although especially working with animals rarely go according to plan.

 

[Skyeknight]

Also I am weighing the Brahma and Polish pullets weekly. That way I can directly compare their growth to their crossbred offspring in the following years. Is anyone interested in me posting their weight every week? I could also wait until they are adults and post their weights all in one message. Once they hit adult I plan to weigh them every year, the same as my other chickens.