California - Northern

[Hangtown Farms]

Hi everyone,
I am new to chickens and have been following this thread, since I live in the Sierra foothills.
So my question is: do I need to move my broody Silkie if she is sitting on eggs out of the coop? She seems to be just fine in her spot. She is only with the daddy a lavendar ameracauna and April an Ameracauna, who's eggs she keeps confiscating. I am super excited to see what this cross will look like.
Just wanted to get some expert opinions on this one.
Also, I have 2 roosters living together in one coop with 5 hens. Am I gonna have to remove one of them? They have been raised together since day olds. So far they have gotten along, but they have begun crowing now. Can they live together in harmony?
Thanks for any info you can give.

welcome. where in the foothills do you live?
I am by Placerville.
I am going to keep a few roosters with 8-10 hens.
If they grow up together it is usually ok. One will be the big guy and one will stay in the shadows somewhat.
If you have a rare breed I recommend keeping a spare.

 

[lawatt]

gorgeous photos, Nikon! is the smoke coming from the Rim Fire near Yosemite? if so, i'm following that one closely -- it's caused a large number of evacuations, but so far has "only" burned two houses -- both literally next-door to my mom's sierra place (she's an avid backpacker, and so she & her partner took early retirement years ago and bought a place up there to use as a "staging area" for their trips). she's at her regular home on the peninsula, so she's safe -- but not clear yet whether/what extent of damage there might be. and they were nearly missed by the Pilot Ridge fire about 15 years ago, which burned part of their property but narrowly missed the house. very scary.

 

[Nikon]

gorgeous photos, Nikon! is the smoke coming from the Rim Fire near Yosemite? if so, i'm following that one closely -- it's caused a large number of evacuations, but so far has "only" burned two houses -- both literally next-door to my mom's sierra place (she's an avid backpacker, and so she & her partner took early retirement years ago and bought a place up there to use as a "staging area" for their trips). she's at her regular home on the peninsula, so she's safe -- but not clear yet whether/what extent of damage there might be. and they were nearly missed by the Pilot Ridge fire about 15 years ago, which burned part of their property but narrowly missed the house. very scary.

Thanks!!!!

No, it's coming mostly from the American Fire http://yubanet.com/nevada/American.php which is neari-ish Foresthill. The fire is only a few miles away from our beloved backpacking spot where we just were a month ago. Nope, we def didn't start it.
The other fire that's getting us on and off smoke-wise is the Swedes fire. http://yubanet.com/nevada/Swedes.php up in Oroville. The plume was so big a few days ago it looked like it was in Penn Valley!

Shoot, I didn't know about the Rim fire that sucks! My hubby was in the USFS for years and misses being out there.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

On olive eggers:

The only way to get a repeatable olive egger is to get ones that have an egg that is a little darker then you would like it and breed them back to a blue egg rooster that has 2 blue genes. 75% of the resulting hens would be olive eggers. But only 50% would have the double blue gene needed to keep all of the offspring true.

Have to test the genetics to know. That should be available at a reasonable ( about 20 per bird) soonish. You can sex a chicken now for 15.

This uncertinty that comes with the blue egg gene being dominant is why ee's can lay different egg colours an araucanas and amerecaunas must lay a blue egg to be considered a pure breed chicken.

what are you using to breed? This will give you more olive eggers but not as dark of olive down the road?

 

[windandraine]

Hi Hangtown farms. I am between cool and Coloma, not far from you. :0)
Thanks for the advice. I think I will put broody in her own little spot inside the run, just separate from the other two, safe from predators of course.

 

[chiqita]

Yea jason. The goal is to get hens and roos with the double blue egg gene at as dark as you'd like it, then breed them together. At that point you'll be at 100% olive eggs and you can breed for other characteristics.

This way we can create an " pure" breed that has olive eggs. Are the cl/ Penn crossed auto sexing in f2 and f3?

 

[chiqita]

Ohh also my original ones came from vonnie my ee who lays HUGE blue eggs and a fcbm roo. They are very cute buggers.

 

[Chickengirl1304]

Yea jason. The goal is to get hens and roos with the double blue egg gene at as dark as you'd like it, then breed them together. At that point you'll be at 100% olive eggs and you can breed for other characteristics.

This way we can create an " pure" breed that has olive eggs. Are the cl/ Penn crossed auto sexing in f2 and f3?

Is it better to breed a Marans hen to a blue egg gene roo? Or a Marans roo to a blue egg gene hen? To make olive eggers?

 

[chiqita]

Doesn't matter. F1's are always olive eggs either way. Its the f etc that are the problem.

 

[ronott1]

Doesn't matter. F1's are always olive eggs either way. Its the f etc that are the problem.

I have heard an old time theory that the egg color came from the Hen. Modern Poultry Science shows otherwise.