Creating Chocolate Eggers? Q&A

[Weeg]

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!

 

[AmeraucanaHank]

maybe it's worth a shot.

 

[Weeg]

maybe it's worth a shot.

I'd definitely be interested in trying it. We were originally considering doing an Asian Black/Maran cross, but I think it will be easier to separate the EE's with him, granted we also only have one Asian Black hen.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

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!

If you breed him to OEs and EEs you’ll have to deal with the blue egg gene. It will probably be easier and less headache in the long run to skip having to breed that back out and just try and get some Marans hens.

 

[Weeg]

If you breed him to OEs and EEs you’ll have to deal with the blue egg gene. It will probably be easier and less headache in the long run to skip having to breed that back out and just try and get some Marans hens.

That was definitely something I was wondering about. The hardest part is sourcing the birds. Not interested in getting them from a feed store because of disease spread. Maybe hatching eggs, since shipping from a hatchery is also preferably avoided.
Just tying to look at all of our options.
What if we did end up doing the Asian Black/Maran cross. Would that be easier to breed for chocolate eggs than the EE's?
Thanks!

 

[EmmaRainboe]

That was definitely something I was wondering about. The hardest part is sourcing the birds. Not interested in getting them from a feed store because of disease spread. Maybe hatching eggs, since shipping from a hatchery is also preferably avoided.
Just tying to look at all of our options.
What if we did end up doing the Asian Black/Maran cross. Would that be easier to breed for chocolate eggs than the EE's?
Thanks!

Not too familiar with Asian blacks, sorry. But probably, you’d just have to be vdry selective with the eggs you incubate, slowly working your way back up to the dark color. Again though, that would probably take more time, headache, and money than just purchasing some marans hatching eggs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My Asian black does not lay chocolate eggs. She either lays a tan or a purplish egg, not certain beyond those two which exactly she lays.

Which means that you'll have to hatch dozens to find females that might make a shade or two darker for multiple generations

 

[Weeg]

My Asian black does not lay chocolate eggs. She either lays a tan or a purplish egg, not certain beyond those two which exactly she lays.

Which means that you'll have to hatch dozens to find females that might make a shade or two darker for multiple generations

Yes, her Asian Black lays tan eggs.

Good to know. I figured it would take a while, so thought I'd post about it before we got going so we knew what to expect. Seeing how much effort its going to take, going for Marans is looking like the best choice at this point. Thanks guys!

 

[AmeraucanaHank]

The hardest part is sourcing the birds

maybe craigslist?

 

[Weeg]

maybe craigslist?

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.