What makes crossed-up roosters?
Don’t be afraid of getting crossed-up roosters just because you are mixing many different strains of game fowl such as roundhead, hatch, claret, kelso, butcher, etc.
First of all, when you do this you are, strictly speaking, not even crossing breeds but just crossing strains of the same breed. Roundhead, hatch and the others are all strains of the same breed the American Game. Crossing breeds is when you cross American Game with Aseel. Or American Game with Peruvian.
The different strains of American Game although they differ in names have much in common. The built, the manners, the overall looks and many other things are common in these different strains. They vary in plumage and leg color and in comb types, fighting ability and a few other specifics, but as a whole they are the same. That is why they are considered of one breed.
So when you mix American Game strains you are not altering much. There is not much danger of a crossed-up generation. And, also and more important is the fact that what produces crossed-up individuals is not the mixing of different strains but the mixing of different traits.
Indeed, the danger of producing crossed up individuals when you cross strains is not that high. However, as stated care must be exercised concerning traits. Moreover when it comes to fighting ability because fighting traits are not simple hereditary traits.
Take note of the big difference between mixing different strains and mixing different traits. It is not the presence in the chicken of many different names of strains that make it crossed up but the presence of many different traits.
Breeding a ylh to a kelso then to a sweater will not necessarily result in cross up generation if they possess the same traits like being pea comb, yellow legged, light red plumage and similarities in fighting style. When you breed a white line to a red line to a grey line then that is crossed-up in plumage color. When you breed strains with different fighting styles then that could result in crossed up fighting styles.
So, again it is not the names of strains that count but the traits and fighting ability. Don’t breed according to bloodline names. Breed according to desirable traits.
Our point here is that it is useless to base selection on bloodline names or plumage color. Anybody can drop any famous bloodline name. Anybody can call any pea comb yellow legged rooster as sweater, yellow legged hatch or kelso. Likewise popular plumage color like white or bulik, can be bred into a line in a season. But, barring lucky nicks, genuine positive traits are bred in over years of intelligent selection and decisions. This is what we are after. Genuine positive traits, not just bloodline names.
How do we do it? By repeatedly breeding these desired traits year in and year out into our gene pool.
Well, forget bloodline names. We grab a good chicken regardless of its name. An excellent chicken is worth its weight in gold, no matter what it is called. A bum is a bum, no matter the brand.
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