Blue Egg Layers from University of Arkansas

[HallFamilyFarm]

This thread is intended for the discussion of the two new developments of Blue Egg layers from the University of Arkansas. This is not for discussion on Easter Eggers, Ameraucanas etc. Photos and updates will be added as available to post #1.

From an email ....


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We have a few of the B eggs set in our incubator. Does anyone have photos of these? We are actually looking forward to seeing what these look like and how well they lay. These are not an Easter Egger, per se. But a new breed developed in cooperation with the Unversity of Arkansas.

The commercial leghorn blood is not hatchery lines, but research lines from the commercial industry.

The egg is similar in color to his Auracana eggs and vary from medium to large in size.

We plan on keeping a breeding pen of these and seew hat they reproduce.

Can you imagine a Blue Egg layer that lays like a factory, battery layer


The actual "Blue" eggs from U/A in our incubator:




Photo below is of the Research Farm and Poultry Science Department.

 

[Mahonri]

Production blue egg mutts. works for me.

 

[checoukan]

Happy mtn---Why would I go out and get purebred eggs to hatch and give to kids to raise that do not meet the SOP???? You can't tell me that what you have in your backyard has not been crossed with something in the past to come up with what you have!!!! When you get right down to it, most chicken breed have been crossed with something else to become what they are today. So someone is wanting to help the kids. Why make such a big deal of it. You say Poor kids. That is right., most can not afford to buy a chicken, so why not let them raise something that will help them eat. Sounds like you have a problem with someone trying to help people!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

Wow, I'm surprised at the vitriol I see on this site sometimes. The pictures provided are meant to show the birds, not the facilities. Obviously, the close ups of the birds do not show the entire housing unit. If I took a camera and zoomed in on a dust bunny under my couch, would you assume my whole house is covered in filth? There are going to be more plops, feathers, etc. where the birds congregate, like near the water source and nest boxes as the pictures show. I think this is a unique opportunity for young people to see agricultural research in action. It's a good example of how selective breeding is still a viable option in a time when a good proportion of the public thinks animal research is completely absorbed in nothing but interspecies genetic modification. I applaud the good professor in opening his hard work to the public.

 

[mschlumb]

Just a thought here. If someone wanted a bird that lays a blue egg only, which seems to be the case, why not breed a line of pure Ameraucanas that lays a blue egg? The standard does say under the economic qualities that ". . . [the egggs] having a distictive blue coloration"( Standard of Perfection p. 200). So maybe cross the AR blues with some blue or black Ameraucanas? They would already be recognized and within the standard description, and there would be a line of birds thats lays the desired blue eggs.
These AR blues already have pea combs, and they have mostly slate shank color. the only thing you would have to get rid of would be the yellow skin, and yellow bottoms of the feet. then its just selection for type, beards, ect. Maybe more people would be interested in these blue egg birds if they can show them right away instead of going through the process neccesary to get them recognized. I dont think it would take more time to work for Ameracauna type than what it would take to try and get a set type for these AR blues.
For that matter you could even do the same thing with black Aracaunana

 

[ronott1]

Hi farmhand,

First thing I noticed was some head twitching among the birds. I read up on the potential causes and it looked like it might be mites. I inspected the birds and didn't find anything. Their combs were very pale but since most of the birds in that coop were young I just took a watch and wait approach. When some of my adult birds started showing signs (combs turned pale and started drooping) I started thinking that they definitely had mites. I checked them again but didn't see any of the telltales signs... in fact I've never seen a single mite even to this day. By this time the birds seemed like they weren't growing as well as expected and I started some spot treatments with poultry spray and regular pen cleanings. I started noticing that I would get itching when entering the coop and the birds didn't really seem to be improving very much. I stepped up the chemical treatments as follows, first permethrin spray, then garden and poultry powder sprinkled throughout the litter and coop. No real success. I used some flea and tick bombs with nylar, sevin powder, etc. slowed them down but no real lasting effect. I sprayed the entire inside of the coop with sevin, used poultry and garden powder, equine spray.... still no real lasting effect. I was also now tracking them into the house each time I came back from the coop. (Still dealing with that problem but seems to be resolving.... slowly). Finally after a lot more research I decided to use a long lasting pour on treatment. I chose cydectin (moxidectin) since it came in a pour on form, has 30 day control and mites have not shown resistance (at least in what literature I could find) to the active ingredient. The dosing seemed to be forgiving as well. I tested it out on several birds of different sizes using 1 ml per kg of bird. I applied it with a 3 ml syringe (without the needle) to the skin under the wings. No ill effects were noticed so I treated all my birds. While not labeled for chickens I found some literature suggesting a 5 day withholding period but decided on holding eggs for 2 weeks. There is no withholding period for sale of meat in cattle and other animals but I figured better safe than sorry. This treatment has the added benefit of deworming as well. This treatment has shown great promise but didn't solve the problem completely. I plan on spraying them with poultry protector every other night going forward while treating their litter with alternating applications of garden and poultry powder and sevin. I will do this for the next few weeks and then follow-up with a treatment of Revolution as suggested by Ron. I am also going to install dust boxes in each pen filled with wood ashes and treated with sevin. I need to get to a vet so I can get a prescription though as you cant buy it without one. Not sure what the control period is for Revolution but I will continue to spray with poultry protector and treat the litter. I will then follow-up with one more round of cydectin if required. You ask what I would do differently..... Get on the problem immediately don't wait a day. Provide you birds with a way to give themselves dust baths. These breeding pens do not give the birds access to the outside and I think the lack of access to dust baths is a major contributor to the problem. I would look into a systemic control early on. Revolution seems to work well and if the weather is warm should be able to knock down successive generations of mites... which is necessary for total control. Finally, make sure your cloths, house, car etc don't act as a reservoir for mites. They will live for an extended time off the birds and can (and will bite humans). I take my clothes off immediately after going into the coop and treat with insecticide on a regular basis. I shower immediately after coming into the house as well. These things are insidious and shouldn't be taken lightly. The past 4 months have been really stressful and taken away a lot of the enjoyment of owning chickens. I don't even let my family go into this coop at this time. I am feeling optimistic that I've got a solution now but there are still no guaranties.

It is very hard to see mites. I had regular mites and I had to use glasses, a head lamp and look for them later in the evening. I saw very small brown specks moving around the vent.

I treat the coops now every two weeks with liquid sevin type spray.

This might help with Withdrawal information:

 

[farmhand]

Crested cream legbars are auto-sexing blue egg layers........

Why should the world have only one auto-sexing blue egg laying chicken breed? And in the short time I have had Cream Legbars, I have not been very impressed with their laying production. And it might give me something to talk to my son about who's in Med school and is too busy to talk to his dad but used to love our chickens together. Do I need more reasons?

 

[Ridgerunner]

From rankings I've seen, the University of Arkansas has one of the top three Poultry Science departments in the USA. Tyson headquarters are located in this area. The Poultry Science building on campus is named after a Tyson. A lot of the research done in poultry science is done by students at universities and funded by industry. That is standard at any university in any field. They are always after grants, donations, and scholarships. If an industry is willing to sink a lot of money into grants, donations, and scholarships at a specific university, they can strongly influence which departments at various universities become tops in their field.

Dr. Bramwell is one of the professors teaching poultry science at the U of A. Part of the research done at U of A involves genetics of commercial laying chickens, so Dr. Bramwell has access to the commercial chicken lines.

The way I read this, this is not a research project paid for by the commercial chicken industry. If it were, the hatching eggs would not be available to 4-H and FFA students or anyone else. There would be contracts in place to keep this research top secret, so these are also far enough removed genetically that this is contractually OK. If this were for the commercial chicken interests, I would expect there would be two lines developed to be crossed so you would have sex links, not just one line not sexable at hatch.

This very much sounds like a fun little project Dr. Bramwell is doing on the side. I only met Dr. Bramwell once at a "Keeping Backyard Chickens" seminar. I don't know his background. I do know another U of A poultry science professor that now breeds chickens for fun and has shown chickens in the past and won ribbons. It is not unusual for any college professor to have a passion for what he teaches and to have little projects on the side related to his field.

Dr. Bramwell and others in the Poultry Science department give speeches and participate in seminars for backyards chicken enthusiasts, as well as for breeders of show chickens. When I call my county extension agent with a chicken related question, the agent puts me in touch with a professor at the U of A. These are some of the people that participate in the task force that investigates any chicken disease outbreaks in this region.

I assure you Dr. Bramwell and the other professionals in the U of A Poultry Science department know the difference in Ameraucanas and Araucanas. I did not see where Dr. Bramwell provided any of those photos.

I'll subscribe to this thread and hope that Jim keeps up with photos as they hatch grow. Since these chickens are for eggs and I raise mine mostly for meat, I will not get any of these eggs, as much fun as it sounds. They just don't fit my goals and I don't have the money or space for side projects.

Jim, you know Dr. Bramwell and the others at the U of a better than I do. Please let me know if I got something wrong.

 

[quibs]

My EE's are all hatchery/very game bird looking. They are also some of my best layers of medium to large pale blue eggs. I got them from the local Agway, but they are definitely as good as my breeder RIRs. Out of a flock of a dozen birds (11 hens 1 roo), I get 7-9 eggs most days of the year.

That being said, I could see how introducing commercial bloodlines would produce a thoroughly reliable blue egg layer. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

DOS DR. B KNOW YOU ARE OPENLY discusing his progects ??? DR. B is the professor of poultry sice at the UofA i consider him a friend and do not like to hear some of what has been said about him on this thread he is a professor of poultry genetics so to asome that he dose not know his birds is crazzy i love to talk chickens with him and always learn somthing new every time DR. B is allways donating eggs to 4H clubs and shares a wealth on info to alot of pepole

Here is some of what he emailed me today:


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He is reading this thread and seems to be enjoying it. Thanks for standing up for him.