Arkansas Blue egg layers

[Manningjw]

I was outside working on the fence and the shed and I saw the little man doing his business. He is finally mating, hopefully with more than a few hens! In a week or so I will check fertility

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Hoping to do a test hatch when my girls that lay the largest blue eggs start showing they are fertile. I have two hens that are mixed Ameraucana/White Leghorn crossed back again to unrelated pure White Leghorn. These hens have produced black hens in the past (obviously only 50% of the time, the other 50% are dominant white). Crossing the U of A blues cockerel to them should yield 50% dominant white, split blue and black under this and 25% blue, 25% black. They should be 100% pea combed so long as the cockerel is homozygous, and 50% should have homozygous pea comb/blue egg genes from the cross. Future crosses can test for homozygous inheritance of blue egg/pea comb. I know my blue egg gene is still linked to the pea comb gene in my stock because of how many test hatches I have done.

 

[draye]

@ronott1

I think I may have misunderstood something that I said in my previous post on what I had heard about the Whiting birds.

It seens that Whiting was the original breeder of these birds, but that the birds they are now breeding are not the original line of the U of A birds.

I found this post from another thread that Jim Hall posted sometime last year.
Here's the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/757121/whiting-farms-in-co-what-do-you-know-about-them

Sorry for the misinformation. Trying to get it corrected.

 

[1muttsfan]

Thanks Draye for your input. Personally I would not outcross with any white bird, or call these outcrosses AB's. It will likely be many generations until those birds would breed to type, unless (like the U of A project likely did) you can breed hundreds to select the few that will be used for further breeding. My last rooster, who I liked very much, left because he carried recessive white. All-white birds often have both dominant and receive white, as well as barring and Columbian genes, to get that white color.

 

[caychris]

I was going to post that it would be hard to get them back to being a BBS Breed. They really are a breed since they breed true.

The eggs I have had from mine are as big as leghorn eggs already. It would be best to select for ones that lay bigger eggs--It wold be easier than breeding to leghorn.

Did any of those eggs hatch? Your boy looks like a couple that I had.

I need to get on your list for hatching eggs next year--Mine never did recover from moving out to a breeding pen in the country--The person I was working with let the flock die and then had them mixed up with other breeds--not very happy with the way it went...

I too need to get on a list I really want these birds

 

[Manningjw]

My one hen is 1.5 years old - maybe a wee bit older .... the rest are indeed pullets - but all the fertile eggs I used for hatching out were definately SMALL so I need to increase the size to make them a real viable "working" breed for me. I got eggs from 3 different AB people and they were all small - so it is nice to hear some of you have eggs in the large size category.

I had thought at first they were all just small .... end of story.

I don't know I would have classified mine as "small" when I received them but they definitely looked more pullet in size, so maybe medium to a smaller sized large egg. The larger ones would have been on the boarder of what I would feel comfortable selling to people to eat. Obviously hatching you want a fairly average sized egg, not too large or small. My little rooster is the smallest rooster I have ever owned, but I am grateful of that because his crow is pitifully quiet . Most of my hens are louder than he is which means I don't worry when/if he starts crowing at 4 am.

 

[1muttsfan]

his crow is pitifully quiet . Most of my hens are louder than he is which means I don't worry when/if he starts crowing at 4 am.

That's why I love these boys too. Plus I have not yet come across a mean boy.


The best way to size eggs is by weighing them - appearances can be deceptive

Large - 24 oz/dozen eggs (2 oz or at least 56 g each)
Med - 21 oz/doz (1.75 oz or at least 49 g each)
Small - 18 oz/doz (1.5 oz or at least 42 g each)

 

[Manningjw]

That's why I love these boys too. Plus I have not yet come across a mean boy.

I finally have a rooster that my girlfriend doesn't want me to cook

. I haven't had any mean roosters yet, but they were a lot bigger and thus louder. I think I lucked out that mostly the Ameraucana temperament was passed on in my project, my only 'mean' chicken was an Oliver Egger hen who was 1/2 red star. She would bite you and grip on trying to twist your skin off it seemed like.

 

[NOEL LUM]

Do the Arkansas Blues and the Whiting Blues lay the same amount of eggs ? how many per year ?

 

[Hangtown Farms]

I really liked mine but found they where a hard sell locally as no one knew about them here except for a handful of Bycers . is a shame though as they are great birds

 

[bamadude]

I really liked mine but found they where a hard sell locally as no one knew about them here except for a handful of Bycers . is a shame though as they are great birds

They are great looking