Breeding questions

[bigspringshatchery]

Ive been reading up on ppls project chicks. And I have a couple cross breeding questions regarding breeding a BCM I really like the dark eggs.

1. What would you get if you breed a black copper maran with a rir and what color eggs would they lay?

2. What would you get if you breed a BCM to a barred rock or dominique and also what color egg?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Buckguy20]

The eggs would not be as dark as pure BCM's with any of these crosses.
The eggs would still be brown but in most cases be lighter.
Anytime you outcross a Marans ( except to maybe other dark egg layers like Welsummers or Penedesencas) you dilute the gene pool and will lose egg color.
To keep the darkest eggs, your best bet is to keep everything pure.

 

[bigspringshatchery]

I know the egg won't be as dark. I didn't know if I bred one to a br if I could get barring and still a darker egg.

 

[bargain]

You know I don't think anyone has done this project. At least I haven't seen it. If you're looking to see if you could get a trait to identify boy or girl, it might work. I agree that the egg color would dilute. Interesting..... I better get away from this thread, I have no more space for a new pen! and already one major project under way Have ablessed day. Nancy

 

[lauralou]

If I'm not mistaken, this is how a golden cuckoo Marans is made. Sort of. They use a cuckoo Marans rooster over a BC Marans hen. That's the first step anyway. At that point I'm not sure if you breed the offspring back together, or breed back to the BCM... Or maybe do both in successive generations. At any rate, it would work sort of the same way with your barred rocks or dominiques, only obviously the offspring wouldn't be golden cuckoo MARANS. They'd be mixed breeds. And yes, the egg color would most likely be much lighter than what your BCM's are laying.

I like the look of the golden cuckoos.