I am wanting to create a dark brown egg layer that has either a pea or rose comb for frost bite prevention in the north. My Marans boys get nailed every winter. It would take a few generations of crossing back to Marans or Wellies to get the egg color darkened again but I have time. I just can't decide what breed to use for the comb donor. I would hope to end up with a bird that differs in coloration from Wellies or standard Marans coloration, Maybe crele, white, or another distinctive pattern. I already have Welsummers, Blue and Black Coppers, and gold and silver cuckoo Marans. I have a few ideas for the comb donor but I wanted to see if anyone else had a better idea. Foraging ability and a meaty carcass also are good things for us.
You might want to go through Henderson’s Breed Chart and look for characteristics that would suit you. What I’d look for with your criteria is pea, walnut, or rose comb, brown eggs, and body size. Pick your color pattern. Wyandotte, Buckeye, Chantecler, and Dominique are the ones that immediately come to mind. Buckeye and Chantecler were developed specifically for colder climates.
Quote:you cant go wrong with Rose Comb Leghorns(crele, barred, many colors) the Rose comb unlike Pea comb is completely Dominant over Single comb, meaning that even at back cross to single combed parent for the third time(BC3) you will not be able to see the difference between those back crosses and the homozygous rose comb parents. thats for good layers, if you want good size then chose Wandottes, but they are not as good layers... I will not suggest Ameraucana's as their blue egg shell is closely linked to their pea comb and all of you pea comb progeny will have 95% chance of inheriting the blue egg shell... Brahmas have also pea combs, but they mature slow and are not good egg layers. Chanteclers have very cool small combs. but dont know if they lay well
