Breeding question

Sstin

In the Brooder
Oct 5, 2022
3
12
19
Hi Fruends, I’m About as green as they come chicken wise, though my chicks are now pullets and I have a few laying, so I successfully have grown up sone chicks.

I’m looking to the future and have determined my Bielefelders are my favorite bird, but I would like to introduce more silver into there coloration and potentially a darker egg. I’d like to stay as true to there genetic make up as possible.

On first thought I figured I’d just breed my hens to a lavender marans Roo and be good to go but then I looked into this more and realized there is no way that would actually happen.

So help. What are some good barred silver birds with dark eggs.

How many generations would I be looking at to see change? Thoughts comments.

Oh and as of now this is a personal project so any bird purchases need to be less then 25 a chick.

Thanks.
 
Hi Fruends, I’m About as green as they come chicken wise, though my chicks are now pullets and I have a few laying, so I successfully have grown up sone chicks.

I’m looking to the future and have determined my Bielefelders are my favorite bird, but I would like to introduce more silver into there coloration and potentially a darker egg. I’d like to stay as true to there genetic make up as possible.

On first thought I figured I’d just breed my hens to a lavender marans Roo and be good to go but then I looked into this more and realized there is no way that would actually happen.

So help. What are some good barred silver birds with dark eggs.

How many generations would I be looking at to see change? Thoughts comments.

Oh and as of now this is a personal project so any bird purchases need to be less then 25 a chick.

Thanks.
Welcome to BYC!😊
Try posting your questions here and our resident genetics experts should be able to answer them. Good luck with your project.😊

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-ask-anything-to-nicalandia-thread.1509343/
 
Hi Fruends, I’m About as green as they come chicken wise, though my chicks are now pullets and I have a few laying, so I successfully have grown up sone chicks.

I’m looking to the future and have determined my Bielefelders are my favorite bird, but I would like to introduce more silver into there coloration and potentially a darker egg. I’d like to stay as true to there genetic make up as possible.

On first thought I figured I’d just breed my hens to a lavender marans Roo and be good to go but then I looked into this more and realized there is no way that would actually happen.

So help. What are some good barred silver birds with dark eggs.

How many generations would I be looking at to see change? Thoughts comments.

Oh and as of now this is a personal project so any bird purchases need to be less then 25 a chick.

Thanks.
For darker eggs breed to welsummer hens (preferably), or welsummer rooster(s). Could also do Cuckoo Marans. But we are taking years of breeding to maintain their auto sexing trait.
As for making them silver that would be a whole project on its own. They are not silver at all currently.
check out my auto sexing breeds tread. It's got some stuff on there.


I will look into making them silver. I personally like the red on mine.
I'm breeding for darker eggs and mixing them with cream legbar to get auto sexing olive egg layers.

what color are your bielefelder eggs currently?
 
For darker eggs breed to welsummer hens (preferably), or welsummer rooster(s). Could also do Cuckoo Marans. But we are taking years of breeding to maintain their auto sexing trait.
As for making them silver that would be a whole project on its own. They are not silver at all currently.
check out my auto sexing breeds tread. It's got some stuff on there.


I will look into making them silver. I personally like the red on mine.
I'm breeding for darker eggs and mixing them with cream legbar to get auto sexing olive egg layers.

what color are your bielefelder eggs currently?
So I'm pretty sure cuckoo Marans are silver. I read a thing about them, it said that there are gold cuckoo and silver, so if they don't have red or gold color on them they should be silver. Same as the barred rock.
You could possibly kill two birds with one stone. That said. I believe that the cuckoo marans a birchen and not black like a barred rock. As in they are (E^R/E^R), instead of (E/E). You would need to breed to keep the (e+/e+) wild type/duckwing of the Bielefelder for the birds to continue to be easy auto sexing.
This is harder, you can easily tell (E) from (e+). Birchen might look more similar to wild type color with barring on them.

Not that you could see either one with silver covering up all the red.....
I think the best solution is to find some silver welsummers.
They would have everything but the barring. Bielefelders are predominantly welsummer after all.
The problems is, they are rare. However it would be easier to breed. The silver and the barring are dominant. Nicer than playing with 3 or more alleles plus the hidden ones.
 
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Cuckoo marans could work, but not everyone breeds them for egg color so that might take some looking
Absolutely, same is true for welsummers.
Occasionally you can get dark egg laying offspring from mediocre parents. But simpler to start with good color from the beginning.
 

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