# The ultimate chicken



## BrandonM (May 8, 2013)

I want to make the ultimate chicken with the following traits:
Best egg laying
Large meaty bird
Rapid growth
Excellent food to egg/meat ratio
Free range ability
Not noisey

I was thinking a cross between a rock (barred or white) and a dark cornish then a white leghorn. So it would be rock x cornish x leghorn.


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## BrandonM (May 8, 2013)

Perhaps a jersey giant in there although they do get big i heard that don't grow to fast.


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## teddy (Sep 6, 2012)

I like a cross of Buff Orpington Rooster and Sex Link Hen. Sex Link lay some eggs, Buff is good meat and both do very well free range.


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## MatthewBK (Sep 24, 2012)

Haha, sounds like quite a bird! I prefer having a variety!


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## teddy (Sep 6, 2012)

MatthewBK said:


> Haha, sounds like quite a bird! I prefer having a variety!


How do you keep them from cross breeding while free ranging?


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## MatthewBK (Sep 24, 2012)

teddy said:


> How do you keep them from cross breeding while free ranging?


I don't think there's any way of doing that, at least not that I've read/heard of! 
My hens aren't very broody though, so if I want to hatch any chicks out I usually have to do it myself with a 'bator. When I do that I just catch up some hens and a rooster of the same breed and collect the eggs I get from that pen and let them loose when I have the eggs I want. 
Occasionally my hens will nest and hatch out their own crosses, but I'm okay with mixes running around my farm as well!


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## BuckeyeChickens (Jul 11, 2012)

BrandonM said:


> I want to make the ultimate chicken with the following traits:
> Best egg laying
> Large meaty bird
> Rapid growth
> ...


It's been done (except for "rapid growth" but it depends on what you call rapid!!!)....they are called Buckeyes my friend! A lady named Nettie Metcalf created them in the 1890's by crossing Barred Rocks, Buff Cochins, Dark Cornish and Black Breasted Red's (game fowl). They were accepted into the APA in 1904 (standard was printed in 1905) and are the ONLY American breed created by a woman!


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