# What do y'all think of this cross?



## Shayanna (Sep 25, 2013)

I have a mixed flock but my favorite hens by far are my buff Orpington hens. They are a little past their prime however. So I plan on letting one (or however many) go broody this spring and hatching their own. I have a Minorca roo right now so he would be the father for this year. I would keep the pullets to replace their mothers. I also have two standard game fowl cockerels who I could possibly breed to the cross pullets the next year(2015). Or I could possibly get a buff Orpington roo for 2015. What would you do? I want good layers with strong broody instincts. Feed efficiency is nice too but I want them to dress out well when spent. 

Also, my BO hens adopt other hens eggs, so I will likely get some RIR/Minorca crosses and ISA/Minorca crosses, and I also have two Leghorn hens that may lay come spring.

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## troyer (Dec 22, 2012)

Use your largest game rooster on 1 or 2 of your broodiest hens and hatch out some chicks, then take the biggest rooster from that hatch and put him over all the rest of your chickens. That should ensure a good broody trait while also giving you a nicely rounded carcass when they are done laying and the excess cockerels that you get should be fairly nice when they need to be processed. I would probably use the Orpingtons for the cross as they tend to be more broody. I think that If you wanted some pullets out of the Minorcas that should be fine. I have found that when I've bred a broody breed to a non broody breed most of the offspring pullets/hens are broody because of the strong broodiness in the games. I have also found the game crosses to be exceptional hardy layers, often doing as well as their layer parents although the eggs might be a touch smaller. I will recommend breeding back to the layer side for 5-6 generations before crossing a lighter breed back in again. With your mixed flock that should be no problem at all.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

You won't achieve good feed efficiency crossing anything you have. It would be just "normal" efficiency. The 2:1 conversion ratio of a broiler chicken was achieved over years of selective breeding, our more regular flock gets more like 6-8:1. 
That being said size comes from the hen. A big breasted heavy male won't increase the size of the flock as well as the same size profile in a hen. If you are breeding for broodiness, the hen should be very broody but the rooster should come from very broody lines himself, his mothers traits will pass on to his chicks. If you want size, get a rooster who's mother was a hefty girl and cross him to your heftiest girl. Stronger layers, same thing. A lineage is built of the females, and the best roosters come from the best hens (obviously a bad rooster will detriment your flock), but keep that in mind when you are breeding for anything.
If you don't have a background source on your birds then just breed to whatever traits the birds are exhibiting and hopefully hatch out those traits. If the Minorca is a busty fellow and the orpingtons are hefty you will at least get sizeable offspring. The above poster gave good inform on the subject too.


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