Rhode Island Red Roo over French Wheaten Maran - What eggs will the cross produce?

JoshFig said:

Anyone try this cross before?

I just hatched eggs that were the RIR roo over a French Wheaten Maran hen. The chicks look a lot like pure French Wheaten Maran's.

Does anyone know if the eggs from the cross's will be dark spotted like the maran or solid lighter brown like the RIR? If the egg trait carries over from the hen - i'd like to hatch several more of these.

This is what mama's egg looks like (with the chick coming out):


Two more - both eggs are from the same hen - some are light like the one on top but most are much darker like the one on the bottom:

Click to expand...

JetCat said:

pure French Wheaten Marans are bright yellow chicks and pure Marans shouldn't be laying such a spotted egg. if both parents are pure (and it's a heritage RIR not a production) the resulting pullets should lay medium to dark brown eggs. i can't tell in your pics, do they have feathers on their shanks?

do you have any current pictures of how they've feathered out?


this is a pure French Wheaten Marans day old chick.

Click to expand...

JoshFig said:

Anyone try this cross before?

I just hatched eggs that were the RIR roo over a French Wheaten Maran hen. The chicks look a lot like pure French Wheaten Maran's.

Does anyone know if the eggs from the cross's will be dark spotted like the maran or solid lighter brown like the RIR? If the egg trait carries over from the hen - i'd like to hatch several more of these.

This is what mama's egg looks like (with the chick coming out):


Two more - both eggs are from the same hen - some are light like the one on top but most are much darker like the one on the bottom:

Click to expand...