blue laced red wyandotte

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mrbstephens

mrbstephens

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McMurray Hatchery has these for the first time this year. Their catalog just arrived and it has stunning photos! If I order the BLRs will I be disappointed? I've heard they always look really different from the hatcheries.
 
Just remember anyone trying to sell something is going to put the best pictures of the item in an ad. Hatcheries are no different, they are going to photograph their best birds and post them in their catalogs. The chicks they send out may not be from those birds.
 
They have actually carried these for the last couple of years as they have shown up at our fair and that is where the kids ordered them from. They were ok, but definitely hatchery birds and did not compare to the birds I have gotten from breeders.
 
They had them in their catalog last year as well. A man down the road had some from them and they were pretty birds but not like breeder stock.
 
One thing to remember with these birds also is they do not breed true you may end up with several color variations from one breeding.The ones I have seen from the hatcheries are not very impressive even when ordering from a breeder you may not get a great looking bird as this breed is still very erratic in it's color pattern in my opionin. With that said the BLRW are one of the prettiest birds out there just expect to get of a lot chicks to get one with real good lacing.
 
for a backyard flock they would be fine really but don't expect quality show birds. They tend to be more blue laced gold than red really when you compare pics of really nice blue laced reds to them. Even some breeders keep roos with bad traits such as golden hackles which is a big problem in them now. I've got some and although they aren't from a hatchery but from some top breeders mine still need work. My next birds will probably come from Jesse Paul and Jeff Foley which I already have 3 beautiful pullets from. You have to decide what you are willing to pay for them since quality wyandottes demand higher prices than a hatchery bird but well worth it when they really look like wyandottes not rocks!
 
Quote:
Go to blue laced red .com and look in the hatchery or breeders section and you will see the difference quite clearly.
wink.png
 
I ordered 15 BLRW in a total order of 25 chicks from McM last Spring. 5 were DOA, 3 more died within 24 hrs (53%). McM was good about it and refunded my card. It did take 3 days for arrival on Priority Mail. I felt that stressed them more - but of the other 10 chicks in other breeds, only 1 didn't make it (10%). So overall, it seems the BLRW were more fragile.

OK...so of the 7 that lived, all survived to maturity. ALL of them were also Splash, 3 pullets and 5 roos. (All splash was disappointing to me.)
I kept the 3 pullets and 2 of the roos. Here's a pic showing them, except for the spare roo:

blrw_group1.jpg


Regarding their color quality, one of the pullets (A) is a good mahogany red. The others are too gold. The roo's color is fairly decent, a little too gold in the hackles but good for hatchery stock.

I've since gotten some very nice blue pullets from a breeder. I'm going to breed those and the one better pullet from the McM stock. Then I'll cull hard to start improving the line - and will be buying hatching eggs from another breeder this season to add/improve.

Bottom line - I won't order anymore BLRW from McM.

Hope this is helpful.

edit: image wasn't working
 
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