Creating Chocolate Eggers? Q&A

[AmeraucanaHank]

True, but when your starting a breeding business, getting birds from somewhere where your at least less likely to encounter disease transmission is best. Like a hatchery. Even getting from local breeders is a risk.

so you don't what any from craigslist?

 

[Weeg]

so you don't what any from craigslist?

Not really. Not because of the birds themselves, but because I have no way of knowing how they are kept. If the owner didn't practice biosecurity, than those birds could have an unknown disease. The risk of spreading that to our flock is much higher than a hatchery. If our breeding flock gets a disease, than we have to close the flock, and shut down the business. You can't sell sick birds.

 

[SheaLoner]

What exactly do you mean by chocolate egger? A mixed breed that lays a dark brown egg? Might be better to just work on a flock of marans.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Not really. Not because of the birds themselves, but because I have no way of knowing how they are kept. If the owner didn't practice biosecurity, than those birds could have an unknown disease. The risk of spreading that to our flock is much higher than a hatchery. If our breeding flock gets a disease, than we have to close the flock, and shut down the business. You can't sell sick birds.

Hatchery is the way to go never gotten sick ones from there but cl and "breeders" are know for dosing birds so they hide stmptoms until someone buys them, then weeks later they show symptoms same with fairs

 

[cherrynberry]

Hey everyone!
As you may know, me and a friend have been working on starting a breed business with her flock this Summer. So far so good, we have a few breeds up and going, but I'm getting excited to add more breeds to the list for next Summer. We really want a chocolate egg layer. We currently have Orpingtons, EE's, OE's, available, so the colored egg basket is looking pretty good from there. When we tried to hatch out Marans for this Summer last year, we ended up with all roo's. This got me thinking, we still have one, nicknamed Frostbite after the cold spell this year, could we breed her EE's and/or OE's to him and eventually create "Chocolate Eggers" that played chocolate colored eggs? If in F1 you didn't get any Chocolate egg layers, how would you choose which to breed back to Frostbite, just by characteristics, or egg "darkness" in general? I don't know much about breeding or genetics obviously, but I would like to hear what you think. If we decide its something we want to try, I'll turn this thread into a progress thread and post photos and updates. Thanks guys!

Just cross him with your brown egg layers. It will make things a lot easier. And you will definitely start seeing darker shades of brown once you get down the line. Sounds like it wouldn't be too difficult to me, especially if you hatch regularly already. Obviously buying a dark egg layer is easier, but you don't get much out of it, other than that. Hatching/crossing birds is a good learning experience and would be great for educational purposes (since you are wanting to become a vet). Its worth it in my book.

 

[Weeg]

Hatchery is the way to go never gotten sick ones from there but cl and "breeders" are know for dosing birds so they hide stmptoms until someone buys them, then weeks later they show symptoms same with fairs

Agreed, if we were going to purchase birds it would probably be from a hatchery. Either bite the bullet and order chicks, or get hatching eggs.

I do agree with everyone that guying Marans is the easiest option, I was just wondering what to expect if we wanted to use our own birds. Sounds like buying Marans is the easier option, though I would like to use the birds we already have.

 

[Weeg]

Just cross him with your brown egg layers. It will make things a lot easier. And you will definitely start seeing darker shades of brown once you get down the line. Sounds like it wouldn't be too difficult to me, especially if you hatch regularly already. Obviously buying a dark egg layer is easier, but you don't get much out of it, other than that. Hatching/crossing birds is a good learning experience and would be great for educational purposes (since you are wanting to become a vet). Its worth it in my book.

Awesome! Thank you!
She has plenty of space, and not opposed to buthcering the unnessary birds. I agree that hatching is a great experience, and we are not opposed to going through multiple generations.
Plus, we can use our own birds with no need to bring in new stock, and its way more fun that way. I love doing breeding projects, it gives me an opportunity to learn about genetics.
I'll update this thread when/if we decide to go this route, do the Asian Black/Maran cross.
Thanks for the help!