Brother sister crosses Advice needed! ;)

jarcoo0153

Songster
14 Years
Mar 13, 2010
471
9
234
Levelland, Texas
I have started crossing my cuckoo maran rooster over my golden duckwing EE. So far I have had three chicks hatch out over the last three weeks. I kept the ones with the pea combs and sold the one rooster with the single comb. So I know for sure I have one rooster bc his comb is already has a bright red comb, and the other one hatched this evening.
I have a few questions:
1.) Is it ok to breed brother to sister (F1's) considering I don't know which EE hen is their mothers?
2.) Will the chicks (F2's) hatched from the siblings still be barred, or will other colors start to show up?
3.) If both chicks turn out to be roosters ( F1's) will I still get olive eggers if I breed one of them to thier mother or other EEs?
( I know that they may not be dark olive eggers since I am playing with hatchery stock.)
 
You can, but it's better to breed father/daughter or mother/son.
With EE's being crosses, you never know what genes they are contributing and what may pop up generations later.
If you want to darken the olive egg color, cross the babies with the pea combs back to a dark laying breed. So back to the Marans father and for the boys to a Marans hen. Breed them back to EE's and you'll be lightening the egg color.

ETA: My plans on this thread changed, but there is still a lot of great info here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=224917
 
2.) Will the chicks (F2's) hatched from the siblings still be barred, or will other colors start to show up?

Other colors will start to show up, but probably not a lot of diversity. All roosters in the F2 will be barred since all the F1 pullets are barred. Half the F2 pullets will be barred and half will not. Since the original hen is an EE, she is probably not a pure golden duckwing, so it is possible some strange colors could show up.

3.) If both chicks turn out to be roosters ( F1's) will I still get olive eggers if I breed one of them to thier mother or other EEs?

You will get some green egg layers. All may not be, depending if the EE is pure or split for the blue egg gene. The F1 rooster may be split for the blue egg gene or pure not-blue. With EE's you just don't know.

How dark will the green eggs be? Good question. It obviously depends on his genetics. Hers too to a certain extent. Since they are hatchery chicks, you are obviously aware that they may not be real chocolate dark. I think you will get a variety of "green" on the green eggs. Some will be darker than others.
 
Thanks for the help! I think that I will breed the rooster back to the maran hens, they lay a speckled eggs. So the outcome from that could be amazing. I'm just playing around with this. I have the chicken addiction, so I figure what is a few more. Like 91 chickens,10 ducks, and 6 guineas aren't enough. I'm just trying to get different shades of Brown, cream, green, blue, and olive color eggs. They are all the customers want! I can sell 4 doz. brown or green eggs and nobody wants white eggs. So I'm slowly getting rid of the Minorcas and leghorns to make more room for the others.
 

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