[bedifferent]

Hi everyone, I have a small collection of chooks, a mixture of brown hens, light sussex and Cochins. One of the aforementioned Cochins is developing into a fine looking cockerel. I am hoping that he does not prove to be too loud, if not then i will keep him. If he were to mate with the other hens - would eggs that they lay be fertile and would a cross between these breeds of chooks be ok? I thought it might be interesting to see what these mixtures produce. Am i missing any fundementals of chicken design?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[poultrygeist]

My limited understanding is a chicken is a chicken is a chicken.

Be interesting to see the answers abotu the crosses though. It's GM the natural way.

Rob

[Foxy]

If I were you I wouldn't -only because you may get a quite a few cockerels, and it can e difficult enough to sell/FTGH pure breds, very hard or even impossible to rehome crosses Im afraid. I know it is tempting -specially when you get a broody!
Why not try some hatching eggs? or find a couple of nice cochin hens for your cockerel? 

[nnbreeder]

Even the pure breeds are crosses. DNA testing of most breeds show that both the Grey Jungle Fowl and the Red Jungle Fowl are the parent stock of all breeds.

As far as being fertile yes they should be. Many Cochin breeders trim the feathers around the vent of both sexes for better fertility. It shouldn't really be too hard to get rid of a heavy breed like a Cochin if you can find someone that wants a good table bird.