Roosters

[Jodeekep]

Hi , i have 4 different types of roosters ( Welsummer, silverudd blue , BCM and true whiting true blue) and I’m not trying to breed for SOP. I want to breed for egg color personally but I need help. I already have mainly BCM and Oliver eggers. I wasn’t sure if I could put. Silverudd blue in there is would help with different type of color for the Oliver eggers. The wellsummer put in with the Marans for speckled eggs. Anyone have an advice or options ? It just a project and something fun to do.


*If anyone has also breed silverudd blues I wasn’t sure which one I should keep. The lighter one or the darker one of the two*

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

Sorry nobody's gotten back to you.

As for which rooster, between the two, personality would play a part for sure as they're both beautiful! I'd keep the nicer one.

As for breeding for egg color, not sure. Perhaps @NatJ can help with that.

 

[NatJ]

I want to breed for egg color

What egg color do you want?

If your current hens are BCM and Olive Eggers, they should mostly be laying dark colored eggs (dark brown from the BCM, dark green from the Olive Eggers.)

Using a rooster from a dark egg breed will likely produce daughters that lay dark eggs (olive or dark brown). The Marans would be the obvious choice if you want this.

If you want lighter eggs, the Whiting True Blue will probably be the best choice, and will probably produce daughters that lay lighter color eggs than their mothers. The Silverudds might also have this effect. Since each of those rooster has the genes for blue eggs, all daughters should have the blue egg gene, so they should lay eggs in shades of green.

If you want pullets that lay brown eggs, not just green ones, you should use a brown-egg rooster (Marans or Welsummer). Daughters that hatch from brown eggs would lay brown eggs, and daughters that hatch from olive eggs might lay olive or might lay brown, depending on exactly what genes they inherit from their olive egger mother.

I don't really know about the genetics of speckles. Since Welsummers are more known for producing speckled eggs, yes it is likely that the Welsummer rooster would produce more daughters that lay speckled eggs, as compared with daughters of the other roosters.

If you want actual white eggs for variety, or light brown colored eggs, or eggs that are genuinely blue and not green, I do not think it is possible with the set of breeds you listed.