Have you ever considered what it would be like collecting an Easter basketful full of colored eggs from your hen every day ? confide me , it ’s one of the good office about keeping chickens and will never fail to excite me . Experienced wimp breeders have become very experimental with colour in and speckles on their testis recently .
All of this experimenting makes for an absolutely arresting nut basket . cover chickens for egg colour is incredibly rewarding , but it involves a lot of test and error .
Buying vs Breeding Chickens for Egg Color
pick out to breed your own colorful egg layers is quite an project that is n’t for everyone . When engender chicken for nut color , especially outstanding and unique ball colors , it can take many generations , lots of fails , and emphatically some frustration .
The impudent - side is the rapt touch you ’ll get when your favorite project hen lays a gorgeous egg , the cross you ’re excited about finally hatches and you discover the cross that creates your ideal egg stratum .
If you do n’t have the time , money or desire to spend years working towards your dream egg layer , buying from a passionate project breeder may be a more viable option . The initial cost of rarified chicks like these can be a bit much , but when you think about all the employment that went into the chick , it ’s in spades worth it .
When search for a stock breeder , make certain you observe a reputable one that will answer your questions and allow example of their birds and eggs .
In the end , breeding your own chicken for egg color gives you more ascendance over what your final product is . For those that are passionate about fosterage projects or desire to jump in headfirst , this is your gross opportunity . If all you ’re after is a coloured bollock basket , you could achieve that without getting elbows deeply in fostering task .
Do n’t just look at how expensive colorful ball layer chicks are because I promise you they fall out cheaper if you buy them vs breeding them yourself .
In the remainder , it comes down to how much are you in it for a fun breeding experience and how much are you in it for colorful eggs ? conceive your end goals and determine for yourself if breed or buying your easter egg stratum is the sound option for you .
Chicken Breeds to Use When Breeding for Egg Color
Once you ’ve decided that you ’re going to dive into breeding chickens for egg colour , you require to get laid what you ’re make for with . There are many different non-white egg level purebred chickens that can be crossed to create raw hybrids that lie novel coloration .
You ’ll want to learn about the chicken you have to wreak with so you could decide which one appeal to your breeding projects .
When it comes to acquiring most of these breeds , they wo n’t be cheap at all if you are purchasing high - quality bird . You ’ll want to ensure you ’re getting respectable quality chicken to ensure that they go on on the right trait that each breed is supposed to carry .
Dark Brown Egg Layers
1. Marans
Maransare a well - known strain that is widely bang for their vivid burnt umber color eggs . Finding good caliber Marans can be slightly hard bet on the time of yr . In some case , you may need to get on a waitlist once you ’ve found a reputable breeder .
This Gallic breed is a must - have for anyone that wants to spawn a gorgeous dour brownish egg level . to boot , you’re able to always breed purebred Marans if you just want some beautiful chocolate bollock in your nesting box .
2. Welsummers
Welsummersare another dark chocolate-brown ball layer that is especially loved for all the speckle that are on their eggs . When engender with Welsummers , many breeders will use them in their olive egger program to make speckled olive orchis .
Welsummers are n’t quite as widespread as Marans , but they can be dear if you ’re look for high-pitched - quality birds .
Blue Egg Layers
1. Ameraucanas
Ameraucanasare the old understudy for a glorious blue orchis layer . These birds are quite fun to use in spearmint and lawful blue projects . Ameraucanas are not quite as pricy as some colorful egg layers , but you ’ll always want to make certain you ’re purchase straight Ameraucanas and notEaster Eggers .
2. Legbars
Although goodLegbarsaren’t the easiest to arrive across , they are absolutely wonderful blue orchis layers to work with . Legbars are an autosexing stock , which means you could determine the sex as presently as these chicks dry off .
Now would n’t that make breeding projects so much easier to not raise an full slew of chicks to adulthood only to have 75 % rooster ?
3. Easter Eggers
AlthoughEaster Eggersare a colorful egg level , it ’s never recommended to employ them in a training labor . If you ’re make a fun and impulsive cross that you do n’t specially care about the outcome , you could utilise an Easter Egger .
However , since this breed does n’t consistently pass on the same genetics , Easter Eggers wo n’t work well when you ’re breeding for specific traits and characteristics .
Creating Hybrids
Now it gets exciting ! You ’ve got your breeds for colourful eggs and you have many hypothesis for interesting hybrids and crown of thorns you’re able to create for new egg color .
1. Green Egg Layers
Creating a green egg layer is one of the most wide-eyed but fun crossing you may create . To multiply a fleeceable testis bed , you ’ll want to sweep a dreary egg layer with a dark brown bollock bed .
For example , if you put a Black Copper Maran cock over a flock of SplashAmeraucanahens , you ’ll create a down in the mouth F1Olive Egger . Other possible combinations could be aCream Legbarrooster over a flock ofMaranhens for another playfulness F1 Olive Egger .
Later , we will discuss what the F part of Olive Egger mean and how to cover a glum European olive tree bed .
2. True Blues
Another interesting crossbreeding is a straight blue egg layer . To create a drear ballock level , you have to cross an intense blue ball layer with a white ballock bed . An example of such a cross would be a Cream Legbar rooster over a flock of White Leghorn hen .
Your lead chicken would be a sky blue egg level with splendid egg production because of the White Leghorn genetics .
Getting Creative
Once you ’ve make some canonic hybrids , you’re able to get experimental with additional crosses using these birds .
The worst part about panoptic breeding like this is having to wait so long for your birds to start position ! If you started with your purebred snort as chicks , you ’ve had to wait for them to grow up and start laying so you could breed the hybrid you want .
Now that your hybrids are all get , you’re able to make new crosses and look for them to produce up just to see what color eggs they ’ll set . See what I mean when I said buying singular crown of thorns straight from a breeder is far less Labor Department - intensive ?
no matter of how crazy the waiting game can be , playing around with breeding projects is no doubt an exciting and rewarding unconscious process .
1. Breeding Using Hybrids
When breeding using hybrids , you ’ll ordinarily require to breed a hybrid to a purebred if you want controlled results . Crossing two hybridscan be fun , it will just have unbelievably varied results because of all the different genetics you ’re combining .
foil two Olive Eggers will result in chicks with all different feather and egg colors . If you find like cause fun and experimenting , this is a combination that will definitely keep things interesting .
2. Intensifying Olives
think back how I said aristocratic egg layers x dark brown eggs layers resulted in an F1 olive eggar ? You might be wondering what the F and 1 mean here . F stands for filial , which means “ denoting the generation or generations after the maternal generation ” . The 1 mean it ’s the first genesis after the maternal generation .
You may be wondering how we get F2 , F3 , and so on for our olive egger multiplication ? To get an F2 olive eggar , spawn an F1 olive eggar back to a purebred sinister egg bed such as a Marans .
Once you have your F2 olive egger , you would cover that bird back to your purebred glum egg level . With each generation , the subtlety of the egg heighten to more and more of an olive color .
3. Breeding for Speckles
Now that we have all the colouring of the rainbow in the poulet world insure , let ’s add some contrast to our eggshells . The only thing that relieve oneself me happier than a gorgeous dark-green nut is a gorgeous , speckled green nut .
To cover for a speckled green ball stratum , you ’ll use Welsummers in your olive eggar raising programme . Breeders will often alternate between Marans and Welsummers as the generation deepen with olive eggers to uphold speckle and a dark color in the resulting eggs .
If you do n’t care as much about the darkest olive possible , you could exclusively use Welsummers in your breeding platform for a heavy dosage of dapple .
4. Spearmint Egg Layers
Who would have thought you could get so many eggshell colors from chickens ? I ’m seriously wondering why the only ball colors our grocery entrepot provision are white and brown eggs . Spearmint is n’t as heavily focalise on as the rich and dark-skinned testis colors , but they are for certain pretty testicle .
To reach a pretty spearmint orchis , you ’ll need to queer an F1 olive egger with a purebred blue ball level . The most popular selection for Mentha spicata egg layer are usually Ameraucanas or Legbars .
Breeding Responsibly
It ’s important to check that that health and vigor remains in each generation of your breeding task . It can be prosperous to focus solely on the egg color and block to pay care to important thing such as temperament and health .
Always stave off inbreeding whenever potential to make indisputable you ’re constantly introducing new genetics to your reproduction flocks . If you have an especiallyaggressive rooster , it ’s not idealistic to use him in your breeding projects .
It is not difficult to breed level-headed and vigorous skirt as long as you carefully opt your breeding birds . Observation is key to ensure you ’re only using the healthiest chick for your breeding projection .
Enjoying the Journey
It ’s well-to-do to get catch up in a failed breeding labor or the lost hatch of your favorite crossbreed . However , husbandry come with mistakes and breeding chickens for amazing testicle color come with much trial and error .
It ’s crucial to delight your succeeder , con from failures and never stop having fun with your experiments and endeavour .
ED – talk of fun , all these simulacrum belongs to the author – Savannah Brown .
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