BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[LindaB220]

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I do every time. Six bantam hens and 4 large fowl are currently finishing their broods within 21 days. One hen got 12 eggs today. I have chicks hatching today and tomorrow.

I like this idea!!

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Hi all, new to the thread.

I am working on year 2 of a project to get the darkest eggs I can using pure BCM roosters and red sex-link hens. I got an explosion of color in Gen 1, and it continues now that I am breeding Gen 1 hens with their fathers.

My question is, is there any reason to correlate the color of the chicks to the potential egg shell color later on? IOWs, do white or yellow chicks have as much potential to produce dark eggs as black or dark brown chicks?

It's my understanding that there's no correlation between feather, or ear lobe colour, and eggshell colour. Egg colour is not a sex linked trait, except for a brown egg inhibition gene (pr) which is sex linked recessive. Eggshell colour is polygenic and varies depending on the hen, stage of laying, etc.
Poor egg quality or shape is an inherited characteristic, as is broodiness.
So to answer your question directly, yes white or yellow chicks have the potential to produce dark eggs. As long as you select the parents for dark egg colour (ie rooster should be the son of a dark egg laying hen and ditto for the hen, the daughter of dark egg laying hens) you should be able to achieve your goal regardless of the feather colour.

 

[Beekissed]

I notice that when my hens were starting to lay, I got weak shelled eggs, even shell less eggs, and mishapen ones from time to time, but they cleared up and I've got good shells now. Might just be a new pullet thing?

Most definitely. Just working the kinks out of a new system. Happens later on also when a hen goes back to laying after brooding, after molt, after winter.

For those thinking it's a nutritional deficit, it's really nothing to do with diet if you are giving a balanced ration, so no need to do any supplements or this or that...just wait a bit and it should all go back to normal all on its own. If one has to bring out fancy additions to a normal diet to get a bird to lay normally, that bird should be culled....no sense in having chickens that need that much pampering when chickens all over the world can lay an egg without all that hoohaw.

 

[NTBugtraq]

It's my understanding that there's no correlation between feather, or ear lobe colour and eggshell colour. Egg colour is not a sex linked trait, except for a brown egg inhibition gene (pr) which is sex linked recessive. Eggshell colour is polygenic and varies depending on the hen, stage of laying, etc.
Poor egg quality or shape is an inherited characteristic, as is broodiness.
So to answer your question directly, yes white or yellow chicks have the potential to produce dark eggs. As long as you select the parents for dark egg colour (ie rooster should be the son of a dark egg laying hen) you should be able to achieve your goal regardless of the feather colour.

Thanks. I am currently selecting egg sets based on egg color, but right now only ~30% of my eggs are dark (and not yet BCM dark). I thought maybe if I didn't rear some pullets to laying age, I could save some money and get to my goal faster...oh well, no biggy.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Most definitely. Just working the kinks out of a new system. Happens later on also when a hen goes back to laying after brooding, after molt, after winter.

For those thinking it's a nutritional deficit, it's really nothing to do with diet if you are giving a balanced ration, so no need to do any supplements or this or that...just wait a bit and it should all go back to normal all on its own. If one has to bring out fancy additions to a normal diet to get a bird to lay normally, that bird should be culled....no sense in having chickens that need that much pampering when chickens all over the world can lay an egg without all that hoohaw.

I got a real appreciation for the breeding work that went into the red sex links, when I compared their eggs to the heritage dual purpose type hens that I have- nice size, shape and colour, and good shells! Good girls, they are!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I notice that when my hens were starting to lay, I got weak shelled eggs, even shell less eggs, and mishapen ones from time to time, but they cleared up and I've got good shells now. Might just be a new pullet thing?

lolz, and 95g eggs too...pullets lay all sorts of things...;-]

Yeah, I think it must be a new-to-lay thing.

Got a double yolker the other day as well - hoping that was also just a "I'm a pullet and I don't know any better" thing...

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Thanks. I am currently selecting egg sets based on egg color, but right now only ~30% of my eggs are dark (and not yet BCM dark). I thought maybe if I didn't rear some pullets to laying age, I could save some money and get to my goal faster...oh well, no biggy.

Those are nice eggs!

Are you selecting for internal quality too? (Kind of tough to find out if you don't break a few though! Those extra meaty bits/blood spots are an inherited trait too.....hopefully your hens don't package in extras)

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

NTBugtraq- ghost and habanero peppers? You are VERY brave!

This year I'd like to try Poblanos, but the only peppers I ever have luck with are the chilies, and the chickens eat those.

(Must be very hot over there in Hell's half acre!!! we're on a north slope, peppers and tomatoes hate us. )

 

[NTBugtraq]

Those are nice eggs!

Are you selecting for internal quality too? (Kind of tough to find out if you don't break a few though! Those extra meaty bits/blood spots are an inherited trait too.....hopefully your hens don't package in extras)

Those eggs are the eggs from Gen 1 crosses. I got absolutely none of the darker eggs from the initial cross. So for this generation, I am trying to set as many darker eggs as I can, even setting dark eggs up to 15 days old. My hope is that I will be able to only set darker eggs from Gen 2 pullets. At that point, I will start to look for other traits, but since none of my layers are going to get much older than 40 weeks, and none of the cockerels are going to be kept until I get to Gen 4...

 

[NTBugtraq]

NTBugtraq- ghost and habanero peppers? You are VERY brave!

This year I'd like to try Poblanos, but the only peppers I ever have luck with are the chilies, and the chickens eat those.

(Must be very hot over there in Hell's half acre!!! we're on a north slope, peppers and tomatoes hate us. )

I'm in the middle of a deciduous forest, and have made myself 3000 sq. ft. of raised beds that get full sun in the summer...just lucky I guess. Since I got 3 dogs that were 8 before they ever met a chicken, my birds stay inside their runs (big runs), not to mention the red tail hawks, owls, foxes, wolves, and fishers...;-]