I have developed a semi thick skin knowing when you have this many birds there are expected losses, but thanks for your sympathy.
I can't respond on mixing the breeds since I don't normally do that. I have one cross I do purposely. I have 3 Blue Copper Marans hens that I hatched from Pinkchicks in Washington last year. They lay a very nice rounded Marans egg but they have very little copper on their hackles so I wouldn't breed them for Blue Coppers. I have no Blue Copper rooster. I have them in my B/B/S Ameraucana pen with a Blue AM & a Black AM rooster to cover them. When I collect eggs I know the brown eggs are f1 Olive Eggers for hatching & all the blue ones are pure Ameraucanas.
My Wheaten Marans lay a very nice dark egg that is well rounded actuallymuch better than some of my pure BCMs. They have not however been reliable layers this season. Last year they were great.
My 2 breeds for winter laying are the Heritage Delawares & the Dominiques. Last year I hatched out & sold dozens & dozens of Delawares & this year I have concentrated on the Light Sussex more. I don't hatch them together because they are too hard to tell apart when they are young. I was lucky enough to get a dozen hatching eggs from a SQ pair of Dominiques out of Aptos & had a good hatch on those so have high hopes. I put some Delawares in the incubaor on the 10th & no L/S this batch. I put some Salmon Faverolles & a bunch of splash AMs & a spattering of others to try.
I can't respond on mixing the breeds since I don't normally do that. I have one cross I do purposely. I have 3 Blue Copper Marans hens that I hatched from Pinkchicks in Washington last year. They lay a very nice rounded Marans egg but they have very little copper on their hackles so I wouldn't breed them for Blue Coppers. I have no Blue Copper rooster. I have them in my B/B/S Ameraucana pen with a Blue AM & a Black AM rooster to cover them. When I collect eggs I know the brown eggs are f1 Olive Eggers for hatching & all the blue ones are pure Ameraucanas.
My Wheaten Marans lay a very nice dark egg that is well rounded actuallymuch better than some of my pure BCMs. They have not however been reliable layers this season. Last year they were great.
My 2 breeds for winter laying are the Heritage Delawares & the Dominiques. Last year I hatched out & sold dozens & dozens of Delawares & this year I have concentrated on the Light Sussex more. I don't hatch them together because they are too hard to tell apart when they are young. I was lucky enough to get a dozen hatching eggs from a SQ pair of Dominiques out of Aptos & had a good hatch on those so have high hopes. I put some Delawares in the incubaor on the 10th & no L/S this batch. I put some Salmon Faverolles & a bunch of splash AMs & a spattering of others to try.
I'm in Redding. I think the last big city before you hit Oregon. 
