Blue Egg Layers from University of Arkansas

[OSUman]

Those are chickens that carry the featherless/ scaleless gene. From my understanding the birds came out of a line of research birds at the university, the gene is an incomplete dominant gene (like the blue gene) and you can tell the birds carrying the gene from the ones that aren't by a strip on their leg that has no scales on it. I think that there was a picture of one on the ad that was on ebay.

PS- There are another line of birds that are featherless, but I believe those were created in a lab in Israel.
PPS- Found the article on the Israeli ones http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2000003.stm

My granddaughter at the Arkansas State fair last year. I don't have a clue what they were but she was not happy. She thought they were homeless and thought someone was fixing to cook them up.

 

[banjoejoe4783]

jim just whant to let you know i have been reseving several emails with questions but i an NOT THE ONE SELLING THESE EGGS so i will pass them on to you

first--- " why are you using a pic for the UofA reserch pen as the cover for your ebay listing " this is a verry good question why??

secound - " if these birds are so newly developed how do we know what to expect when we hatch " this is a question YOU should answer BEFORE selling hatching eggs we know these birds where developed for prodution line birds we also know that production line birds carry ALL kinds of resesive traits for example white birds there is evadance to prove that they carry some sort of a resesive white gene because i have a white bird you youself hatched a white bird there is realy no way to tell what all may crop out of these

third - " what proff do you have that lay 300+ eggs a year " i would like to know the same answer ? " where did you hear they would lay 300+ eggs a year " again i would also like to know this ??

fourth- " would i hatch singel combed chicks " another great question i say YES we know they are out of singel comb leghorn typ birds due to the fact that singel comb is resesive i would say they are more than likly carrys so you may hatch up to 25% singel combed birds and i would also expect them to show up for severale ginerations as in breeding them we will be overlaping resive traits

fith- " will they all have slate/blue legs " the anwers in NO i have 2 with yelow legs again yelow leg is resive so they could all be carry this trait or not but you will not know till you hatch some for yourself and see what % has slate/blue and what % has yelow

this is just some of the questions i have been asked

i know that you own your birds and are free to do with them or there eggs as you see fit but without know any FACTS about what may or may not hatch or what traits they may or may not have ":?<>>"<:?>"":?><:"? %^*&?<>%^&*

i will stop myself there

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

jim just whant to let you know i have been reseving several emails with questions but i an NOT THE ONE SELLING THESE EGGS so i will pass them on to you

first--- " why are you using a pic for the UofA reserch pen as the cover for your ebay listing " this is a verry good question why??

secound - " if these birds are so newly developed how do we know what to expect when we hatch " this is a question YOU should answer BEFORE selling hatching eggs we know these birds where developed for prodution line birds we also know that production line birds carry ALL kinds of resesive traits for example white birds there is evadance to prove that they carry some sort of a resesive white gene because i have a white bird you youself hatched a white bird there is realy no way to tell what all may crop out of these

third - " what proff do you have that lay 300+ eggs a year " i would like to know the same answer ? " where did you hear they would lay 300+ eggs a year " again i would also like to know this ??

fourth- " would i hatch singel combed chicks " another great question i say YES we know they are out of singel comb leghorn typ birds due to the fact that singel comb is resesive i would say they are more than likly carrys so you may hatch up to 25% singel combed birds and i would also expect them to show up for severale ginerations as in breeding them we will be overlaping resive traits

fith- " will they all have slate/blue legs " the anwers in NO i have 2 with yelow legs again yelow leg is resive so they could all be carry this trait or not but you will not know till you hatch some for yourself and see what % has slate/blue and what % has yelow

this is just some of the questions i have been asked

i know that you own your birds and are free to do with them or there eggs as you see fit but without know any FACTS about what may or may not hatch or what traits they may or may not have ":?<>>"<:?>"":?><:"? %^*&?<>%^&*

i will stop myself there

Feel free to pass them my email address. If they have questions for me, they are free to ask. As you know, most of these questions have no answers. Perhaps I did not explain that enough. That is one reason I linked to this thread. So folks looking to buy hatching eggs would come here and read everyone's thoughts and comments.

I will try to answer each of these questions.



Quote:
This is a photo of the parent stock. I also used photos of my flock, including the culled single comb white cockerel.



Quote:
You gave a better answer than I could have given. So far no one has asked me any questions, outside the few on this thread.



Quote:
I had thought that I read this in one of the many emails with Dr. Bramwell. In any case, I should have typed the statement slightly different. I do plan on copying and pasting this post as an amendment to the listing.



Quote:

I believe the photo of the single comb would show that single combs are possible. Malformed pea combs are also possible. Not sure the percentage would be 25%. Of the chicks we hatched only one was white and only one had a single comb. It was the same bird. I also addressed this in the listing.



Quote:
This was also addressed in the listing. If this becomes an exhibition breed one day, a Standard would have to be drafted to decide if it should have slate or yellow shanks.


Many folks have emailed me asking when some of these hatching eggs would be made available. To be honest, I am not quite ready to sell any. We are testing fertility this week. Though the pullets are laying and the cockerels are dancing, we have no proof the eggs are fertile. I would also like to build my own flock up. Thus the presale. Fertility will be proved with new chicks in our brooder in a few weeks. The listing will also allow those with Arkansas Blues to see what the hatching eggs will sell for and what interest are in them. If no hatching eggs sell, I will most likely move the flock over to the laying coop and my wife will get a lot of pretty, large, blue eggs to cook.

Walt (fowlman01) has stated on another thread that few breeders sell hatching eggs. If I were rich, I would probably never sell or give away a single egg. Stock maybe, but not eggs. You never know if that egg you sold was your best bird ever. But, we are not rich. Chick starter is now over $20 per 50# bag. Our egg sales pays the feed bill most of the time. To be honest, the reserve on these is so high, I doubt they will sell. We will know after 7 days. Or sooner if the reserve is met. If they do not sell, I will relist at least once, but setting the reserve at the last highest bid. Last year we sold some Buff Wyandotte eggs for over $80 a dozen. This year some of our eggs went for $120 a dozen. I was shocked. Will these Arkansas Blue sell? No one knows yet. guess we will soon find out. With any new product, the market must be tested.

Who knows, next year the hatchery may have them listed and our eggs will be worthless or close to it.

Anyone wishing to email me questions may do so via Pm here on BYC or at [email protected]

 

[Criskin]

I've been following this thread off and on from the start and am so excited to see this project in my home state! I don't have the money (or the room, atm) to devote to a breeding project but I am eagerly following yours. I hope all goes well!

 

[nicalandia]

jim just whant to let you know i have been reseving several emails with questions but i an NOT THE ONE SELLING THESE EGGS so i will pass them on to you

first--- " why are you using a pic for the UofA reserch pen as the cover for your ebay listing " this is a verry good question why??

secound - " if these birds are so newly developed how do we know what to expect when we hatch " this is a question YOU should answer BEFORE selling hatching eggs we know these birds where developed for prodution line birds we also know that production line birds carry ALL kinds of resesive traits for example white birds there is evadance to prove that they carry some sort of a resesive white gene because i have a white bird you youself hatched a white bird there is realy no way to tell what all may crop out of these

third - " what proff do you have that lay 300+ eggs a year " i would like to know the same answer ? " where did you hear they would lay 300+ eggs a year " again i would also like to know this ??

fourth- " would i hatch singel combed chicks " another great question i say YES we know they are out of singel comb leghorn typ birds due to the fact that singel comb is resesive i would say they are more than likly carrys so you may hatch up to 25% singel combed birds and i would also expect them to show up for severale ginerations as in breeding them we will be overlaping resive traits

fith- " will they all have slate/blue legs " the anwers in NO i have 2 with yelow legs again yelow leg is resive so they could all be carry this trait or not but you will not know till you hatch some for yourself and see what % has slate/blue and what % has yelow

this is just some of the questions i have been asked

i know that you own your birds and are free to do with them or there eggs as you see fit but without know any FACTS about what may or may not hatch or what traits they may or may not have ":?<>>"<:?>"":?><:"? %^*&?<>%^&*

i will stop myself there

having worked with production type white leghorns(not from hatcheries but directly from the battery cages) I could answer some questions...

second question: there is only afew documented recessive traits found so far on the white leghorns, some white leghorns do carry recessive white, but the white bird that was hatch can also be obtain by homozygous blue (Splash), mottled birds can also be expected but hey blue mottle is cool too right? all of the other recessive mutations that results in the dilution of melanins(black feathers) that have been already documented like recessive gray, lavender, pink eye, Erminette, partial feather achromatosis, recessive chocolate have NOT been found on production type white leghorns so far and were originally found on other breeds(R.D Crawford PB/G)


third: these birds are mostly leghorn at this stage(does not take too long to get back at that stage) and their leghorn blood is not just any other leghorn you can find on even on the best backyard breeders that keep good egg laying records, heck not even hatchery type leghorns lay as much as the battery type leghorns, these birds are able to lay 300+ eggs but with the right settings, meaning if you wont give them 16+ of artificial day light, just dont expect them to break the 300 egg mark, but they will out lay anything you could possibly imagine

forth: you can also expect to hatch a single combed wyandotte from time to time, just cull them, thats all

fith: yellow shanks are NOT recessive to slate shanks, its the other way around, they are dominant, if you are hatching chicks with yellow shanks(clear shanks) its because the breeder is doing this on purpose, yellow shanked birds should be culled on the spot, or use only on grand parent lines(slate shank blue egg layer cross with a heterozygous yellow shank blue egg layer will yield 50% slate colored shank birds and 50% yellow shank colored birds) and only slate colored parents must be used on parent lines(birds that will lay the hatching eggs people will get on the mail)


thats it...

 

[banjoejoe4783]

having worked with production type white leghorns(not from hatcheries but directly from the battery cages) I could answer some questions...

second question: there is only afew documented recessive traits found so far on the white leghorns, some white leghorns do carry recessive white, but the white bird that was hatch can also be obtain by homozygous blue (Splash)


third: these birds are mostly leghorn at this stage(does not take too long to get back at that stage) and their leghorn blood is not just any other leghorn you can find on even on the best backyard breeders that keep good egg laying records, heck not even hatchery type leghorns lay as much as the battery type leghorns, these birds are able to lay 300+ eggs but with the right settings, meaning if you wont give them 16+ of artificial day light, just dont expect them to break the 300 egg mark, but they will out lay anything you could possibly imagine

forth: you can also expect to hatch a single combed wyandotte from time to time, just cull them, thats all

fith: yellow shanks are NOT recessive to slate shanks, its the other way around, they are dominant, if you are hatching chicks with yellow shanks(clear shanks) its because the breeder is doing this on purpose, yellow shanked birds should be culled on the spot, or use only on grand parent lines(slate shank blue egg layer cross with a heterozygous yellow shank blue egg layer will yield 50% slate colored shank birds and 50% yellow shank colored birds) and only slate colored parents must be used on parent lines(birds that will lay the hatching eggs people will get on the mail)


thats it...

after having many conversation with DR bramwell and others they tell me diferant infact they also say that the prodution line birds carry all kinds of ressive traits but most of them are hiden by the domanate white birds they breed them with if you have worked with ex batts dose not aply they are not ex batts or even a true production line but are instead a CROSS WITH A PRODUCTION LINE just because you asume that they "MAY" lay 300+ or because prodution leghorn is in there blood dose in no way mean that they will lay like a production leghorn yes they "may" lay 300+ but that has yet to be proven just an FYI even those that helped create this line says they don't think they will lay anywhere near 300+

on the leg color state blue /willow shake --v-- yelow shake this is debatable but there has been many recorded times in araucana breeding where yelow has been resesive to willow shank and because araucans was used to produce this line this is the case here here why

the parent stock all had willow-slate legs if the willow slate legs where ressesive then they would carry both coppys of the willow-slate gene and 100% of there offspring would have willow-slate legs but in this case the willow-slate must be domanate because parents had willow slate legs but produce yelow leg offspring and this is how i have 2 with yelow legs and jim also hatched some with yelow legs also

 

[nicalandia]

after having many conversation with DR bramwell and others they tell me diferant infact they also say that the prodution line birds carry all kinds of ressive traits but most of them are hiden by the domanate white birds they breed them with if you have worked with ex batts dose not aply they are not ex batts or even a true production line but are instead a CROSS WITH A PRODUCTION LINE just because you asume that they "MAY" lay 300+ or because prodution leghorn is in there blood dose in no way mean that they will lay like a production leghorn yes they "may" lay 300+ but that has yet to be proven just an FYI even those that helped create this line says they don't think they will lay anywhere near 300+

on the leg color state blue /willow shake --v-- yelow shake this is debatable but there has been many recorded times in araucana breeding where yelow has been resesive to willow shank and because araucans was used to produce this line this is the case here here why

the parent stock all had willow-slate legs if the willow slate legs where ressesive then they would carry both coppys of the willow-slate gene and 100% of there offspring would have willow-slate legs but in this case the willow-slate must be domanate because parents had willow slate legs but produce yelow leg offspring and this is how i have 2 with yelow legs and jim also hatched some with yelow legs also

I´m not going to even try to refute your arguments because they are based on hearsay and not on facts, how could someone say yellow shanks are recessive to willow/slate? I'm baffled

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Do we want yellow or willow shanks? At some point the breeders must decide. Is the Blue egg gene tied to the shank color. We know the egg color is tied to the pea comb.

Hey folks, lets stay friendly. Discussion is great, just needs to stay friendly. We do not want the thread closed over nonense.

Meanwhile, we are getting an egg a day from the Black pullet. Not sure of the ages of the others, or how they were raised. Not a bad thing, just different.

 

[nicalandia]

Do we want yellow or willow shanks? At some point the breeders must decide. Is the Blue egg gene tied to the shank color. We know the egg color is tied to the pea comb.

Hey folks, lets stay friendly. Discussion is great, just needs to stay friendly. We do not want the thread closed over nonense.

Meanwhile, we are getting an egg a day from the Black pullet. Not sure of the ages of the others, or how they were raised. Not a bad thing, just different.

I say stay with the willow/black shanks, its easier to keep them, yellow shanks can and will hide dark colored shanks, and most black bird also carry epidermal melanin

the blue egg gene is not tied to the shank color, what keeps dark shank color is a recessive sex linked id+(counterpart of dominant sex linked dermal inhibitor Id) the blue egg gene is tied to the pea comb by 4 centimorgan units, and won't segregate independently untill chromosomal cross over occurs, when that happens then the O gene is linked to the p+/p+ r+/r+ single comb trait

I would keep that black pullet as breeder, its always good to keep black birds, they are a fail safe way to keep your blues from fading to a too light blues(it will happen not if)

 

[OSUman]

I think the leg color doesnt matter, these are bred for the production of a lot of eggs. As I only have one pullet I am going to try and keep a record of how many eggs she lays. Then see what I can get from her offspring. I also have an idea for a separate project with the BBR ones, if they still have them, but that will stay with me for now.