Whole Foods - Brand X

[Pele]

Pele, regarding the mix. I was thinking about doing this some time ago and the only fertile eggs locally are from chino valley ranchers. I emailed them about their breeds and they kindly replied.

They use red sex links, usually ISA Browns for the hens the put White leghorn or similar roosters in with the hens. They prefer Leghorns because they are light weight and therefore do not rip up the girls as much. They like white so they can visually see the difference between the girls and boys from a distance looking at the flock. I would imagine this is common poultry practice.

Seeing as how this brand was so helpful, if I were you I would do some investigation and shoot your guys a note. You may get the exact mixture for the babies and I suspect the managers would get quite a chuckle!

They sure are cute. I can't wait to see them as adults.

It's entirely possible. The egg factory I got the 12 pack from says that they are supposed to be RIR eggs (which probably actually means Production Reds). After some research, I found out that they do offer white eggs as well, from Leghorns.

I'll see if I can get updated pictures soon. Their combs have gone nuts in the past week. It's so funny to see the leghorn in them take off. I've never had such energetic babies. Every time we take them out to handle them, they run EVERYWHERE. There is no walk with these guys, just overdrive. I might not be able to keep the female if she ends up not taking confinement well. But honestly, I wasn't prepared to have any of them hatch .

 

[Ralph Moyer]

You may have two cockerels. Red or Gold Sex-link roosters are usually white.

 

[Pele]

You may have two cockerels. Red or Gold Sex-link roosters are usually white.

These are not SLs. In order to create SLs, you need to cross a red male over a female carrying the silver gene. In this case, the female would be red, and the male white.

Life would be so much easier if these really were SLs.

 

[kcaywood]

Here are my Dotties! Well, only one has a dot on its back - the others are solid pale yellow. Eleven developed to hatch, but only four actually did. I think it might be because my forced air incubator kept the air too dry ... I sold my still air "hatching" incubator last year. Anyway, I'm pleased. Hoping for at least one pullet.

 

[Pele]

Here are my Dotties! Well, only one has a dot on its back - the others are solid pale yellow. Eleven developed to hatch, but only four actually did. I think it might be because my forced air incubator kept the air too dry ... I sold my still air "hatching" incubator last year. Anyway, I'm pleased. Hoping for at least one pullet.

heehee, they are adorable, and look exactly like what I got from my Whole Foods hatch. Each and every day, my chicks look more and more like leghorns. They also zoom around like them too!

 

[dretd]

heehee, they are adorable, and look exactly like what I got from my Whole Foods hatch.  Each and every day, my chicks look more and more like leghorns.  They also zoom around like them too!

Please do keep us updated with photos!

I came across this paper regarding hybridization of White Leghorns and RIR vs the parent stock with regard to vigor and production and the male WL crossed over the RIR females had the best production, so you may want to keep that pullet if you can: http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/pubs/SB252.pdf it's kinda old (1930) but was pretty thorough.

 

[kcaywood]

Three weeks old! Two cockerels and two pullets. They are all white, but one pullet has a single dark gray feather on her back.

This was last weekend - one roo was definitely alpha, and was "starting stuff" all the time Now I've given both roos to our local feed store, where they sell them ... and the two girls are so mellow and sweet.

 

[dretd]

Three weeks old! Two cockerels and two pullets. They are all white, but one pullet has a single dark gray feather on her back. This was last weekend - one roo was definitely alpha, and was "starting stuff" all the time Now I've given both roos to our local feed store, where they sell them ... and the two girls are so mellow and sweet.

Thanks for the update!

 

[Pele]

Three weeks old! Two cockerels and two pullets. They are all white, but one pullet has a single dark gray feather on her back.

This was last weekend - one roo was definitely alpha, and was "starting stuff" all the time Now I've given both roos to our local feed store, where they sell them ... and the two girls are so mellow and sweet.

Heehee, they're adorable. It's interesting that their comb growth isn't quite as crazy as mine though. I wonder if you might have a couple of pure WRs in there.

 

[rachlore]

They are so cute