True Blue Whiting info please?

[shortgrass]

I discovered a breed I think I need

True blue whiting? Never heard of it until I was playing with the chick selector on McMurrays... Here they are.
https://m.www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/whiting_true_blue.html


They sound intriguing, almost exactly what I'm attempting to cross myself!

Blue eggs, hardy in cold or hot weather, exellent free ranging layer.

Anyone have info or tips to share to encourage, or discourage me from adding these beauties to my free ranging flock?

TIA

 

[Sunshine Mesa Farm]

http://whitingfarms.com
http://www.5280.com/2017/06/the-feather

Designing, breeding, and ultimately killing animals to use their parts for fashion or crafting or fly-tying isn’t without controversy. In the early 2010s, for example, when long feathers became fashionable as hair accessories, Whiting Farms’ plumes went for as much as $1 apiece. PETA wasn’t amused. The animal rights organization sent a cease-and-desist letter to one of the feather merchants—which sourced from Whiting Farms—for saying its products came from birds that were “treated unethically.” PETA criticized Whiting on its website for confining roosters in “tiny stacked cages inside deafeningly loud barns before they are killed and skinned.”

The harvesting (killing) of any animal for purposes of sustenance or clothing or fashion is always controversial. And I'm glad people talk about it. I don't personally think there is a difference between killing an animal to eat and killing it to utilize its parts. Many laying hens are killed simply because they are no longer economically paying for themselves. Dead is dead. I will say that having personally visited and toured his facility, Dr. Whiting's birds have a far better life than those in any factory farm circumstances, be it layer or meat birds. They have much larger cages than factory birds (they must to keep feathers in top condition), they get to live to adulthood, they are on reasonable light cycles, the facility has automatic cleaning systems and the cages themselves are extremely sanitary. He uses the only PETA approved method of humane killing to harvest his birds: carefully monitored CO2 chambers where the birds go to sleep. It's not the life I would choose for my birds, but breeding at a large scale is never "pretty" - I know large scale hatcheries aren't rainbows and sunshine either. Dr. Whiting participates in restoring/saving a lot of heritage breeds from extinction - we saw several birds who were the last few of their breed in the whole world, and he's working to restore them to healthy stocks. Dr. Whiting is also a big advocate for breeding meat birds on a larger scale that "have dignity" as he calls it. He hates what big ag calls the Cornish Cross and finds it utterly inhumane that chickens would be bred so large their legs break and they have heart attacks. He actively promotes these breeds to small and mid-scale producers as alternatives to XCross. So, although I wish all chickens could live in outdoor, pastured environments with sunshine and love, I think he's still doing the chicken world some great favors. If it weren't for folks like him, I do believe backyard chicken keeping would not exist in the form it does today.

I say all this because I firmly believe that it's worthy of discussion, but it also shouldn't take away from the true culprits of inhumane treatment, CAFO's/factory farming. I hope PETA continues to focus on those atrocious large scale operations...I know they have done some really wonderful things exposing them and educating the public.

 

[MeepBeep]

This "breed" if you want to call it that is nothing more than a pathetic attempt at putting something on the market that no body else has. They want to compete with the companies that are offering new breeds of chickens that are laying blue eggs, without investing any money in decent breeding stock.

I agree with Donrea, skanky is a good word for the poor birds in that picture. All this "breed" is is another strain of Easter Eggers. But, people are so desperate for blue egg laying hens, they will buy them.

I beg to differ on it being a pathetic attempt without investing any money in decent breeding stock, quite the opposite IMO as some very experienced individuals have contributed to the development...

These are a Paul Whiting fork off of the University of Arkansas Blue layer, this is not some all the sudden MMM project... Paul has been selling these locally from his farm for years, MMM is simply a national distributor now... The initial goal with this project was to produce a high laying volume blue egg layer by mixing in commercial leghorns and what Paul has done beyond that with his fork off is anyone's guess... The University of Arkansas is well versed in chicken breeding and genetics and Paul is also well versed in breeding and chicken genetics, after all his company is one of the premier suppliers of feathers to the fly tying industry...

Sure the are not for everyone and many will just dismiss them as just another Easter Egger as you did, but that doesn't mean for one second that I placed my order out of desperation for another blue laying chicken breed as you claim... It's not like they are being sold for some huge premium over everyday generic Easter Eggers, and it's clear they are uniquely different then your run of the mill hatchery Easter Egger... For me personally I'm intrigued by the fact that have commercial leghorn mixed in and that should provide a high volume and decent sized blue egg, something that can't be said for many hatchery Easter Eggers or other blue layers...

As I stated earlier I to don't like the body shape and stance but if they have good egg genetics to build upon I will enjoy using them in my own blue and olive egg breeding projects based on those egg genetics...

 

[Sunshine Mesa Farm]

I am very fortunate to live in the same area as Dr. Whiting and his hatchery, so was able to get nearly all of my stock directly from Dr. Whiting's hatchery this past summer. We have ~160 of his birds, 50 of which are Whiting True Blues. I love them - they are a funny, motley crew of mixed colors, beards/no beards, and single/pea combs. They have a really wide range of personalities. I have a few that are pretty flighty (two are almost untouchable), but most are quite friendly. Many of them became really friendly when they came into lay. I have one WTB hen, the aptly named Cuddles, who is the friendliest hen I've ever seen. She will run from across the yard to jump in anyone's lap who sits down (and snuggle in for a nap).

They definitely have a few different breeds in their genetics, but they breed true for blue to blue/green eggs. I've been really pleased with my egg colors; important for us because we are marketing our Rainbow Dozens. The blue eggs in my avatar are from the WTB. Here's a pic of a nice blue WTB egg next to one of the Welsummer and Whiting greens, another specialty of Dr. Whiting's.

So far, the eggs have been small to medium but they are rapidly increasing in size, and should reach a medium to large consistently. They are a lot better layers than my original EE hens were at this age.

My birds were sexed but I did end up with three very beautiful roos. They aren't particularly friendly, but no aggression issues, they don't fight each other, and they do a really wonderful job watching out for the many hawks we have here.

I believe McMurray stocks WTB - not sure of their quality or consistency vs getting them direct from the source.

Here's one of our young roos, Rico Suave.

 

[Sunshine Mesa Farm]

These are Americana leghorn cross.

They definitely have genetics from those birds, but they are more than just a simple cross. They may have started as that cross, but have been selectively bred for egg color, production, and vitality. The production and egg quality of my WTB's rivals my traditional production breeds such as ISA and leghorns - I'm seeing them lay 6 eggs a week. They are also a very consistent shade of blue. This is proving crucially important for our egg laying operation. Egg color is what sells our eggs for top dollar, and no way would our business work if I had a flock of birds like my first Easter Eggers. Love those girls but lucky to get 4 eggs a week from them. I continue to be really impressed by these birds as their eggs have gotten to full size.

 

[Chickenlady802]

were did you get your WTB..? and are they a breed..? or a cross..? can they fly to escape..? how many eggs a week..? also do you or any one , who knows about the Sapphires..? i believe they are cross of a cream leg bar roo X a white leg horn hen, but thats all i know , just needed egg & temperament info on both the WTB & Sapphires THANKS

I got one each of the WTB and WTG from Murray McMurray this past June. I get an egg every day from both birds and the eggs went from being small to being the large size you get in the grocery store. My WTB is friendly & will perch on you but the WTG is timid and will only sit with you on her terms. Both are about 1/2 the size of my Buff Orps of the same age. They are beautiful girls & lay beautiful eggs.

Picture 1 is Jessie the WTG

Picture 2 is Jordan the WTB

 

[PeepingK]

Well I know that this thread is dead now but I just wanted to come on and correct the people saying that WTBs are “overpriced Easter eggers”. They are NOT Easter eggers. Easter Eggers don’t have a double blue gene and can lay a variety of different coloured eggs. WTBs are their own breed and supposed to be homozygous, so they do lay true for blue eggs. I have one myself and she lays a beautiful bright blue egg without any green tint to it! If you want lots of good info on this breed check out Silver Homestead, they breed whiting true blues and their flock is all homozygous.

 

[bowmanpoultry]

recently ordered 25 whiting true blue chicks to receive feb 3. I was worried about how blue the eggs would really be and how well the chickens would produce. I call one of Tom Whiting's companies and reached his receptionist. I told him I was interested in speaking with Dr Whiting and he said he woul put a note on his desk. Around 8:00pm Mr Whiting called me and we discussed the chickens he developed to lay blue eggs. He assured me of egg color and production. I asked him if they would make a good addition to my free range flock and he said no. Apparently the birds are a crossbreed of some leghorn and something else I wish we could have went into more detail but he surely wouldn't have said. He said the birds are really flightly and would not do well to be free range.

 

[donrae]

Is it just me, or are the MMM birds a little, well, skanky looking? I guess I could maybe get past it if they really churn out the nice true blue eggs, but the build and colors are not at all appealing to me. I have mixed breed blue feathered blue egg layers that I think are a lot prettier

 

[BDRanch]

We ended up making a run to Whiting Farms to get some pullets from Dr Thomas Whiting himself. Love these birds! They are big for six-month olds. Pretty flighty, but they laid 5 eggs on the way

home (four-hour drive) then got 17 eggs today! We'll likely get some day old chicks end of March/April.