Breeding for egg color

[chelseajgoss]

So i was wondering if theres anyone out there that could help me figure out what i want to breed that would sell.
Egg color is something i definitely want to breed for.
Right now in the incubator, i have some ameraucana eggs. So in a while they will be ready for breeding.
What i have for breeding is
1 black copper maran rooster and 2 hens
1 golden cuckoo maran hen
6 golden comets hens
1 sagitta hen
1 amber white hen
1 silver laced wyandotte hen

Im hatching some pure BCM right now with my ameraucana.
What i want in the future, is to be able to have a layer that has like a mint green egg. But im not sure how to get anything other than olive. (Which i already have an olive layer too).

If anyone has any reccomenations on what they have had the best luck selling, by either breed or egg color, it would sure be helpful! Or any reccomenations for maybe other roosters that would breed.well in my flock. ( you can include my future ameraucanas, though the eggs are very light blue)

 

[donrae]

Are you selling eggs, or birds?

What color are your Ameraucana?

I'm going to answer thinking you're wanting to be able to sell pullets that lay specific/different color eggs. If that's not the case, let me know......

First is your Marans. They're very in demand here, I could sell those all day long if I had that many.

And of course, your Marans x Ameraucana. Olive eggers are very trendy and good sellers.

Your Marans rooster over your cuckoo hen will give you sex linked chicks. That would allow you to sell day old pullets instead of having to raise them up to be old enough to sex.

Different shades of green are hit or miss, in my experience. Putting your Ameraucana rooster over various brown eggers should give you pullets that lay green eggs. What shade of green is unpredictable, far as I can tell. I get mint, sage, teal, etc.

What I have found, though, is folks aren't too particular. I just sold a lot of barnyard mix pullets that had the potential to lay shades of brown or green, and I sold out so fast my head spun. People preferred the colored layers, but they were very willing to take their chances and the whole "it will be a surprise, what color she lays" thing seemed to excite them also.


I would pull the sagitta hen's eggs. She's not really going to contribute much for egg production or color. Her place would be if folks are wanting a meatier carcass.

Your Sex links with your Ameraucana rooster would make a nice cross. High rate of lay from the momma, colored eggs from the father. Plus, the colors could vary quite a bit, and unique looking birds sell well.

I hope that gets you started

 

[chelseajgoss]

Thank you! I would be wanting to sell at all ages from egg to laying hen. I didnt even realize i could get sex linked chicks! I have some eggs from them in the bator right now, that would be an easy way to tell the golden copper cross from the plain black copper chicks right? Cuz the eggs look almost the same... what do you breed to get the light green egg layers? I got a black copper maran/ameraucana on accident and she lays an army green egg. Which is cool and all, but i woud prefer brighter.

 

[donrae]

You'll be able to tell the males from the cuckoo hen, they'll have the white head spot and feather out barred. But, the females from her will look pretty much like both sexes of the BCMs. So, if you want to sell sexed pullets, you'll have to set just her eggs, or her eggs and other hens besides the Marans.

Green is basically brown + blue. Dark brown gives the darker, richer olive green. Lighter brown eggers crossed with blue eggers give lighter shades of green. Your Ameraucana rooster over your sex links or any regular brown egger, like your Wyandotte or that Amber white , would give lighter green eggs.

 

[chelseajgoss]

Cool thanks so much! I will seperate the golden maran then and see if she lays the more speckled egg or less speckled egg then so i know which babies are bcm and witch will be sex linked

 

[chickenfarmergal]

I know this thread is old but I'm trying to figure out how to breed for this really dark olive egg color with the speckles . I contacted the person who is selling them and they said it was 3rd gen CCL, BCM, and Fibro hen along with something called golden barred. Please help I would like to know what the last 2 are.

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

I know this thread is old but I'm trying to figure out how to breed for this really dark olive egg color with the speckles . I contacted the person who is selling them and they said it was 3rd gen CCL, BCM, and Fibro hen along with something called golden barred. Please help I would like to know what the last 2 are.

You might be better off starting your own new thread with your question. A lot of people see a thread dug back up that is several years old and don't even bother to see that there is a new question.