Blue Egg Layers from University of Arkansas

[nicalandia]

So the timeline would be;
- Year 2014 Hatch both breeds.
- 2015 cross Jaerhon Male x Blue egger hen
- 2016 cross Blue Barred Hens x Jaerhon Male
- 2017 cull 75% of hens not laying blue eggs and cross remaing 25% with ??? male

Do I have the rocket part of the science yet?

Almost, that 75% culls includes Males and females, so its 50% of females(lacking the pea combs)

those females cross them with the other Jaerhons to keep the Jaerhon type,body and temperament in check.. the cross the pea comb males with pea comb females..

 

[CibolaChooks]

@enola
 I have to admit to raising neither breed yet but from reading a good deal about both, I have ordered hatching eggs from each breed.  I also in my reading have come to like the Jaehons better so I am thinking of a blue egg jaerhon.  Give me a year with the birds and my mind may change.  I may hate them both. 

My cream legbars lay pretty good its strange yours dont.

My jaerhon are just maturing now , one of my two hens gave me her first egg last week. Ill know how well they lay this summer.

Ive been wanting some of these UofA blues. Their awesome but i might like the other color variety better than the blues

 

[CibolaChooks]

Theres a battle in my mind over what breed to get next U of A birds or cubalaya

 

[nicalandia]

Theres a battle in my mind over what breed to get next U of A birds or cubalaya

Well since you already get blue eggs from you legbars, go wtih Cubalaya, they look exotic

 

[CibolaChooks]

Yeah i really like them

 

[ronott1]

My cream legbars lay pretty good its strange yours dont.

My jaerhon are just maturing now , one of my two hens gave me her first egg last week. Ill know how well they lay this summer.

Ive been wanting some of these UofA blues. Their awesome but i might like the other color variety better than the blues

Green Fire keeps importing CLs. They are getting ready to release, I think, the Fourth line. Aside for looks, they also seem to have different lay rates.

I hope you get some UofA Blues this year!

 

[CibolaChooks]

Man id love some. I might get them if things work out right. I need to sell some goats. I wonder if the u of a browns will be available this year

I know the first 2 or 3 lines laid great. Im real unsure about the newest line. A friend in the uk got hatching eggs from that breeder and didnt like them. With hatching eggs the breeder couldnt hide the culls and he didnt like the blood he got at all. A breeder only shows people the best of the best and only keeps a small % hopefully gff got some goid birds from her. I still think there might be some disappointment there

 

[farmhand]

So the timeline would be;
- Year 2014 Hatch both breeds.
- 2015 cross Jaerhon Male x Blue egger hen
- 2016 cross Blue Barred Hens x Jaerhon Male
- 2017 cull 75% of hens not laying blue eggs and cross remaing 25% with ??? male

Do I have the rocket part of the science yet?

Almost, that 75% culls includes Males and females, so its 50% of females(lacking the pea combs)

those females cross them with the other Jaerhons to keep the Jaerhon type,body and temperament in check.. the cross the pea comb males with pea comb females..

@nicalandia Would it make any difference on the outcome if I kept a U of A rooster to breed with a Jaerhon hen to start this project rather than a Jaerhons over a U of A blue hen?
My reasoning is at this time I only have two pens; one for a Marans Ro and the other for a blue egger Ro so I can play with olive egg crosses there. Then next year I can pick up some more Jaerhon eggs for a Ro for the following year.

 

[nicalandia]

@nicalandia Would it make any difference on the outcome if I kept a U of A rooster to breed with a Jaerhon hen to start this project rather than a Jaerhons over a U of A blue hen?
My reasoning is at this time I only have two pens; one for a Marans Ro and the other for a blue egger Ro so I can play with olive egg crosses there. Then next year I can pick up some more Jaerhon eggs for a Ro for the following year.

no difference, as long as you keep the pea comb roosters that are also barred... all you need to keep is barring and pea comb into a single bird and keep mating to Jaerhon

 

[farmhand]

So what might you expect if you crossed a Cream Legbar to a U of A Blue with the goal of increasing the egg production of an autosexing breed? One has a pea comb and the other single. This might be more interesting than the other projects I was thinking of trying since I already have the Cream legbar pair.