True Blue Whiting info please?

[shortgrass]

@shortgrass I don't know where in northern CO you are but the Whiting chicks are offered at some Murdochs stores on the western slope every spring. If you really wanted a more uniform color, it might be worth a trip to pick some up yourself. Just call the store and find out what day they come in. Here are some pics I took this last spring of a bin of the green egg layers and the blue egg layers. I was so tempted but had my hands full so had to wait until this upcoming spring.

Oh I just might have to do that! I used to live over by Montrose, so I knew when you said "Murdoch's", I might be in for a drive .... Oh but a beautiful and well worn drive it is; I miss the western slope!

shortgrass--glad to give you a giggle! My spell check kept wanting to change it to swanky. Nope, that's the opposite of what I meant! I guess I like a rounder, fluffier bird. I was looking at one of my splash blue egger pullets yesterday just thinking how much prettier she is than those birds. Then this morning, I go out and she's dead under the roost. Poor thing hadn't even started laying yet, and she was so, so pretty. Yesterday she was fine, no idea what happened. I know birds just up and die sometimes, but this one was so nice and my own breeding for a few generations, so I'm sad about her loss. Anyway, I could see possibly getting some of these for breeding stock, as the price seems right. But on the other hand, I really like beards and muffs so I'm thinking, why not just find some Ameraucana and get the real thing? Course, I'm at liberty to have quite a few birds and cockerels are not an issue. I understand the appeal of sexed pullets for most folks.

Me too! I love my EEs; they do really well in the cold; must be the beards lol So sorry to hear about your pullet I had a Hamburg do that a week ago, out of the blue; stinks, she was a breeder too. Why is it always one of the favorites? How did you manage to breed blue layers of blue eggs? Same as Whiting in a roundabout way?

 

[donrae]

I used a splash Ameraucana cock over mixed breed barred blue or green eggers. I started back a few generations with some nice blue laying hatchery EE. I crossed them with brown Leghorns to boost production. Then crossed to an EE/barred Rock cockerel, if I recall correctly. That gave me some black barred hens that laid blue eggs. I put them under the splash Ameraucana rooster with the theory being the chicks would be sex links. Well, the gene that diluted black to blue also made the head spot ambiguous in enough chicks I couldn't sex them with confidence, so that project kind of fizzled. I also had barred Holland hens (white egg layers) under the same splash rooster. I took some of the blue offspring and put them back under a different splash Ameraucana rooster, that's how I got this pretty splash pullet I just lost. I love the blue and splash birds, and I love blue eggs, so I'll probably have some type of project going on with that all the time.

 

[BDRanch]

TB Whiting chicks must be somewhat popular. Went in to place my order, and have to wait until April. Does anyone know if Murdoch's in Salida will carry them or is it just locations on the western slope?

 

[shortgrass]

I used a splash Ameraucana cock over mixed breed barred blue or green eggers. I started back a few generations with some nice blue laying hatchery EE. I crossed them with brown Leghorns to boost production. Then crossed to an EE/barred Rock cockerel, if I recall correctly. That gave me some black barred hens that laid blue eggs. I put them under the splash Ameraucana rooster with the theory being the chicks would be sex links. Well, the gene that diluted black to blue also made the head spot ambiguous in enough chicks I couldn't sex them with confidence, so that project kind of fizzled. I also had barred Holland hens (white egg layers) under the same splash rooster. I took some of the blue offspring and put them back under a different splash Ameraucana rooster, that's how I got this pretty splash pullet I just lost. I love the blue and splash birds, and I love blue eggs, so I'll probably have some type of project going on with that all the time. 

Wow, thanks! I just started this project, so I appreciate the tips!

And to think, I was fine with just some "chickens" and some "eggs", until we got a new fancy feed store and they had these "Easter eggers", and I had to do a Google search about whether they were a joke or not....

Fast forward a year and about 25 extra chickens and 3 coops, and a "blue chicken that lays blue eggs" project ha-ha

Great minds think alike ha-ha

Do you have a good demand for chicks or pullets/breeders, or are you just on a personal project basis with it yet? (I'm trying to help with feed costs with chicks and hatching eggs)

 

[shortgrass]

TB Whiting chicks must be somewhat popular.  Went in to place my order, and have to wait until April.  Does anyone know if Murdoch's in Salida will carry them or is it just locations on the western slope? 

Oh see now, that figures lol; I hadn't placed my order yet!


You might have the best luck calling the store in Salida, or maybe see if they have a website for Murdoch's... I would be inclined to personally call and see if they can order a batch, but they would probably want a deposit and a minimum order if at least 25, maybe 50... At least, that's the way our regional store worked in Montrose. They look like a fairly cold tolerant cross, so I wouldn't see why they wouldn't be a good choice for high elevation like Salida...


Wow, ironic... I used to live there, too lol

Drive by Monarch for me and send a little wave

 

[BDRanch]

Great idea. I looked up Thomas Whiting, but didn't think to call his office to see if I could order directly from him. Calling to see isn't a bad idea ... I'm going to try and cross some of these w/ an F3 Olive Egger. I want to try for an Emu-colored egg. And, yes -- I'll give Monarch a wave, especially if I have to head to the western slope (to go see Dr. Whiting) for more birds!

Incidentally, I've been reading BYC posts for a few years now, and purposely did not join as I didn't want to further feed the addiction. Just finally joined yesterday ... and I see where this is headed ...

 

[BDRanch]

Could you try this same thing w/ a cream legbar rooster, or would you lose all the blue feathering?

 

[donrae]

shortgrass, due to my health I was never able to hatch out enough birds to really hit a selling point. Folks do love blue birds, though, so I don't anticipate any issues selling as many as I could hatch. And everyone loves blue eggs, so it sure sounds like a win to me. My plans for the spring are in flux at the moment, so this project may have to wait until 2017

. And since the sex link part didn't work, I think I would work on blue and blue barred blue eggers. I love blue barred birds, they're so pretty. With my sex link project they've all been cockerels, so having blue barred pullets to keep would make me happy

 

[shortgrass]

I'm not entirely sure, @BDRanch, but I think you could keep a Blue feather with a CL, but they have patterned feathers that I'm not sure would breed OUT...

I'm new at chicken genetics lol; my horticulture based knowledge us not sufficient enough to figure out the feathering patterns in offspring yet

But they definitely have the blue eggs, and I wouldn't be surprised to see something like that back in the beginning of Dr Whitings experiment...

And it gives me more to consider as far as what would be useful to have in breeding stock.

Cold tolerance, definitely lol...

Oh and I got my McMurray catalog today; I'll have to snap a pic of the page, but they used the original egg pic, and added a pic of a little girl holding a Blue pullet lol

Still the same dumpy flock photo though ha-ha

 

[shortgrass]

I agree @donrae; it seems that there's a selling point for the blue breeds over other colors for sure... I looked into the cream legbars and a little shocked at the price tag on some fancier breeds just because if breeding potential, so if course I would be daft to not try to take advantage of it lol


Oh, were those all those blue cockerels that you were staring at a couple of months ago? Lol ... I remember those, they were nice looking birds either way