Breeding A Cross Between Indio Gigante Chicken And A Malay Chicken For Hybrid Vigor

We received Indio Gigante chicks in April 2021 from Rare Rooster Acres, a 10-acre family-owned farm in Central Florida. We are attracted to Indio Gigante because of their size but more importantly we believe they have a lot of Malay in their pedigree. We raised these beautiful birds and when they were of breeding age, we picked one to breed. Below is the rooster we picked. He displays some strong Malay traits with a beautiful walnut comb and a good posture.

I received a beautiful Malay hen from my friend Neil a few years back. This hen was originally from stock of Mary Chapman of, Find Malay Chickens, Facebook group. Mary got her birds from a breeding program of 3 men. First, is John Glueckert of Niles MI., second believed to be, Jesus Lanos of Florida, and the third man retired from breeding, and John bought most of his flock. We really liked this Malay hen and decided to breed her with the Indio Gigante. Below are some photos of this hen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Viggo and I are pleased how healthy and robust the cross is we hatched back in June of 2022. “Heterosishybrid vigor, or outbreeding enhancement is the improved or increased function of any biological quality in a hybrid offspring. An offspring is heterotic if its traits are enhanced as a result of mixing the genetic contributions of its parents.” He’s not fully grown yet. I like how he moves, his posture, and his vigor. I believe this Malay/ Indio cross rooster will be a good candidate for breeding in the M.I.G.H.T project, Malay invigoration gene hybridization team. The hope is to breed him against one of our Malay hens and try to get healthiest and most robust Malay chickens we can. Below is a photo of this Malay cross.

Cascadia Heritage Farm will be also looking in and out of the US to find Malay bloodlines to help invigorate the American Malay.  We plan to reintroduce more foundation stock to the American Malay such as the Kulang, Kolongi, Lari and Hint to add vigor. We also are introducing Indio Gigante to our breeding program because of the heavy influence of Malay in their pedigree.

We are excited to continue our mission at Cascadia Heritage Farm, we believe we can make a difference and that you can too.

 

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