Hybrid Chickens

Click on the Sub-Menu to the left for information about specific Hybrids

Hybrid Chickens are created by crossing 2 or more different pure breeds. Commercial hens in the UK are all hybrid crosses. Hybrids do not breed true so when you need more of them, you have to go back to crossing the pure breeds again. There are hybrid crosses that produce table birds and hybrid crosses that produce hens for laying. More recently, breeders have been producing hybrids that have attractive egg colours with supermarkets now selling coloured eggs such as those from the Cotswold Legbar or Burford Brown. For hobby poultry keepers there are often many different hybrid to choose from that are productive and ideal for beginners. 

Benefits of Hybrid Chickens

There are a number of benefits of using hybrids instead of pure breeds. Since the blood lines are so different from the parents, the offspring are usually very fit and healthy. When certain breeds are crossed, sex linkage allows the sex of the chicks to be established at a day old by a difference in down colour which is useful when producing hens for laying since it reduces the rearing costs to the breeder and ultimately the price you pay. When crossing certain strains of birds, something called 'Hybrid Vigor' can occur where a chick is better than either of its parents. Something called 'nicking' can occur. This means that if the strains on the fathers and mothers side both lay 200 eggs per year, then the offspring might 'nick' and lay 220 per year. Some strains can also do the opposite and lay 180 eggs per year so once the right strains have been established, breeders keep a closed flock of parent birds to ensure the quality of the offspring remains the same.

This is just one of the positive characteristics that is inherited from the parent strains and the reason why commercially, there are many different names given to the hybrids produced from a given hatchery or parent strains of birds. The "Black Rock" Hybrid for example is a registered name for a Rhode Island Red / Barred Plymouth Rock cross that comes from Crosslee Poultry Farm in Scotland. Every seller in the UK must buy their Black Rock chickens from this hatchery since the name is protected and refers to the hybrid that is produced from their specific strains. There are many other names for the same type of cross that are used by breeders but the type of hen you get may well perform differently.

Hybrids as a Choice for Beginners

Hybrids are ideal beginners birds, they are usually vaccinated (which is often un-economical for small quantities of pure breeds) and are generally quite tame and easy to handle. They are cheaper than pure breeds, you can expect to pay between £10 and £15 for a POL (Point of Lay) Hybrid, compared to £25 - £35 for a pure breed hen.

These are some popular Hybrid Layers:

• Bovans Nera (Rhode Island Red / Barred Plymouth Rock cross) AKA, Black Star, Nera, Rhode Rock
• Bovans Goldline (Rhode Island Red / Light Sussex). Warren,
• Marans Cuivre (Rhode Island Red / Marans cross)
• Speckledy (Marans / Rhode Island Red)

 Do you know of more? Please let us know!  

Please see the Hybrids sub menu to the left where there is more information and photos of these specific hybrids. (Work in progress! ...)