Barred Holland eggs

[herbsherbsflowers]

Hello,

This kind of goes along with the Breeder vs Show Birds thread. I got Barred Holland chicks from Ideal in May. They have started laying this week and we are getting ivory or light tan colored eggs. They are supposed to lay white eggs. I was wondering if any other Barred Holland owners have also gotten not so white eggs or if this is really what they are supposed to be. They look right. They also look just like Barred Plymouth to me. I'm not sure how you would tell the difference except for the color of the eggs. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[PassthePeace1]

Do you have a pic? If not what color are their earlobs? Does the comb have five or six points? Sorry, but the Devil is in the details...lol. Since they are from a large hatchery it possible that they could have some barred rocks in it's ancestry.

 

[speckledhen]

BHs are one of the few birds who are supposed to lay white eggs, yet have red earlobes. I've heard of someone else on here getting creamy tannish eggs from BHs, but they are not supposed to be that way.

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

The earlobes are red. But so are Barred Plymouths. Barred Plymouths are part of the heritage of BH's. I'll go out in the morning and count the points on the comb. Is it the same for roosters and hens? I've never seen any description of either bird that says how many points they are supposed to have on comb.

 

[PassthePeace1]

Quote:
The book I am looking at says...."Bright red single comb with six points" for the Hollands, and "Bright single comb with five serrated points", for the Barred Rocks.

 

[tadkerson]

I have had barred holland in the past. They layed a white egg and were about the size of minorca.

Tim

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
The book I am looking at says...."Bright red single comb with six points" for the Hollands, and "Bright single comb with five serrated points", for the Barred Rocks.

That's the standard of perfection, however, you cannot go by that to determine the difference. More often than not, BRs have an extra point or two on the comb. And I'm sure hatchery Hollands could have five points or seven.

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

Well,

I went out this morning to check on the comb and it is not so clear cut. On the rooster, the front point is kind of divided into two, then there are 4 clear distinct points and the last point is divided into three. On one of the hens has 5 distinct points and the last one toward the back is divided into three. So they have some serrated points and some distinct points. I wonder if they have not been crossed back with a Barred Plymouth and therefore we have gotten the light colored eggs. Here is a picture of the first egg. All of the others look the same. One is a little darker.
<a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e122/cdurusau/?action=view&current=IMG_0427.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e122/cdurusau/IMG_0427.jpg" border="0" alt="The first egg"></a>

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

I'll try again on the picture.

 

[speckledhen]

Could be a BH egg. It looks like others I've seen. I wouldn't exactly call it white, though, more cream colored.