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To a certain extent, eggs are either white or brown, blue or green. There can be a lot of variation in brown or green. There are a lot of different genes that contribute to the shade of brown. Some are dominant, some recessive. I believe some are what is called partially dominant and some...

I agree. The actual shade of brown a chicken lays depends on whether the breeder pays attention to egg shell color as a selection criteria when choosing the breeders but New Hampshire typically lay a relatively light brown egg so you will probably get a relatively light green egg from this mix...

I find that the differences in individuals is a much stronger factor in behaviors than breed. The differences between a Delaware and Sussex if often less than the differences between two Delaware. Another complicating factor is dominance. A dominant cockerel or rooster will often suppress the...

I only butcher dual purpose chicken, no Rangers or Cornish X. You are likely to get different opinions on this. In my opinion free ranging doesn't have that much of an effect. With the boys I think the biggest effect comes from their hormones. When puberty hits the flavor and texture...

Hit them with food coloring. It will last until they molt.

I use the colored zip ties. As with any leg band you need to regularly check to make sure they are still loose, you do not want them to get tight and cut the foot off. You need to decide what information is important to you and work out your marking system. I use the left leg to tell me...

It will be. I know how much fun it is to make these estimates, I do the same thing. You need to make plans. But don't be too surprised if you get a lot more eggs than you expect. You'll read that you should not hatch pullet eggs. There are reasons they say that, but your goals are...

One thing that is pretty certain is that something will not work out the way you plan. Could be good, could be bad. The more flexibility you build into it the better. Good luck!

Do a search on Chickshaw. It's not a coop where that magic 4 square feet per chicken covers everything from a tiny coop in the backyard for four hens to a mixed age and sex flock of dozens or more. The Chickshaw is meant to be a mobile tractor used with electric netting to provide a place to...

It seems like hatcheries just mass produce so these chicks are technically from the same genes as the breed but they haven't been kept up. They've only been mass produced, rinse, repeat. Not kept to a standard really. Each hatchery is different. They all have their own people selecting which...

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to go through the hens internal egg making factory. It can only be fertilized during the first few minutes of that journey. That means if a mating takes place on a Thursday, Thursday's egg will not be fertile from that mating. Friday's egg might be but don't...

I love it. My projects are mostly for fun too. I wanted a red or black mottled green or blue egg layer that was decent for meat. Part way through I decided I'd like them to go broody a lot too. These fit the bill.

That second link is pretty close to Spiral Breeding in chickens, though you don't do that one year of inbreeding. There are often two phases of a breeding program. The first is where you try to eliminate some genetic diversity. You determine your goals and select your breeders based on those...

We could have some long discussions on feather color/patterns. There are rules but it can get complicated pretty quickly. Most genes are either dominant or recessive, but some are partially dominant. That mans if you have only one partially dominant gene at a certain gene pair you get one...

Buy straight run. My first order was straight run. I got 7 Buff Orp pullets in an order of 7 straight run. After that I always ordered them sexed. This may not be an option for you. Choose best two roosters, eat the rest. Definitely the way to go. One time I got 18 Buff Rock cockerels...