Dad is Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, Mom is White Leghorn...

[AmeliaBedelia]

...any predictions about the temperament of resulting pullets? Do crosses usually pick a "parent breed" to act like, fall somewhere in the middle?

 

[Birdie mom]

That is a good question .

Leghorns are a flighty breed and, "Overall the Silver Laced Wyandotte has a calm and steady demeanor rarely getting excited or flustered about anything (https://www.chickensandmore.com/silver-laced-wyandotte/)

I have GLW's and I agree with this statement (I'm assuming that this applies to Wyandottes in general).

This can be an experiment! Tell me how it turns out!

 

[DarJones]

First cross between wyandotte and leghorn is mid-range, not as flighty as leghorn, not as calm as wyandotte. If you backcross to Wyandotte, the result is nearly as calm as Wyandotte. I'm at F7 repeatedly crossing and selecting for Wyandotte phenotype but laying large blue eggs. My birds are almost all extremely calm and easy to handle. They don't particularly like to be picked up, but will tolerate it where leghorns go bananas unless they have been trained as chicks.

 

[Winter Creek Coop]

First cross between wyandotte and leghorn is mid-range, not as flighty as leghorn, not as calm as wyandotte. If you backcross to Wyandotte, the result is nearly as calm as Wyandotte. I'm at F7 repeatedly crossing and selecting for Wyandotte phenotype but laying large blue eggs. My birds are almost all extremely calm and easy to handle. They don't particularly like to be picked up, but will tolerate it where leghorns go bananas unless they have been trained as chicks.

How soon in working this line were you seeing blue eggs. Good info

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

First cross between wyandotte and leghorn is mid-range, not as flighty as leghorn, not as calm as wyandotte. If you backcross to Wyandotte, the result is nearly as calm as Wyandotte. I'm at F7 repeatedly crossing and selecting for Wyandotte phenotype but laying large blue eggs. My birds are almost all extremely calm and easy to handle. They don't particularly like to be picked up, but will tolerate it where leghorns go bananas unless they have been trained as chicks.

That is amazing - had no idea you could do that! Do you sell your "blue egg wyandottes"? I bet they'd be in demand!

 

[DarJones]

I started in 2013 with a line of blue egg laying Brown Leghorns (straight comb) from Keith Bramwell at UARK. His birds were typical leghorns with all the plus and minus except that they laid large sky blue eggs. I still have quite a bit of genetics from the Brown Leghorns in my birds though that is changing gradually.

No, I don't sell them yet, but in another 2 generations should have them breeding pure enough to do so. My current issue is identifying roosters that are homozygous for the oocyanin gene (blue eggs) and also stable for Rose Comb. Barring incident, I will be sending starter chicks to Glenn Drowns at Sandhill Preservation this spring. He will have a backup flock just in case something happens to my birds.

The birds I am working with started from show quality SL Wyandotte stock from Foleyswaterfowl(dot)com. Current birds show a range of colors with some brown laced chicks, some silver laced chicks, some effects from the partridge gene (background gene in Brown Leghorn), some straight comb, and some rose comb. Fortunately, I can work on one trait at a time until it is breeding true. I only hatch blue eggs to increase chances of breeding more homozygous blue egg layers.

There are some detailed genetic reasons why I had to start with straight comb blue egg layers (can't get rose comb if I started with pea comb blue egg layers) and why I am working a backcross breeding program (have to stabilize the white egg trait from Brown Leghorn to keep the eggs sky blue). Long story short, I am 7 years into the breeding work and actually have some very good looking Silver Laced Wyandotte hens that lay large sky blue eggs. I am selecting for high egg laying traits too because I don't want these birds to be as limited as most Wyandottes to 200 eggs/year.

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

Wow, that is amazing! Getting into chickens has made me wish I'd paid more attention to the unit on genetics in biology class. I remember the basics of "dominant" and "recessive," but this goes wayyyy beyond that. Very impressive, and I look forward to hearing more about them in the future!!!

 

[ColtHandorf]

@The Moonshiner and @MIAMI LEGHORN you may find this interesting as it relates to Leghorns laying blue eggs.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

@The Moonshiner and @MIAMI LEGHORN you may find this interesting as it relates to Leghorns laying blue eggs.

I will defer to the Master, @The Moonshiner ,but none the less the project sounds interesting!

 

[Winter Creek Coop]

I started in 2013 with a line of blue egg laying Brown Leghorns (straight comb) from Keith Bramwell at UARK. His birds were typical leghorns with all the plus and minus except that they laid large sky blue eggs. I still have quite a bit of genetics from the Brown Leghorns in my birds though that is changing gradually.

No, I don't sell them yet, but in another 2 generations should have them breeding pure enough to do so. My current issue is identifying roosters that are homozygous for the oocyanin gene (blue eggs) and also stable for Rose Comb. Barring incident, I will be sending starter chicks to Glenn Drowns at Sandhill Preservation this spring. He will have a backup flock just in case something happens to my birds.

The birds I am working with started from show quality SL Wyandotte stock from Foleyswaterfowl(dot)com. Current birds show a range of colors with some brown laced chicks, some silver laced chicks, some effects from the partridge gene (background gene in Brown Leghorn), some straight comb, and some rose comb. Fortunately, I can work on one trait at a time until it is breeding true. I only hatch blue eggs to increase chances of breeding more homozygous blue egg layers.

There are some detailed genetic reasons why I had to start with straight comb blue egg layers (can't get rose comb if I started with pea comb blue egg layers) and why I am working a backcross breeding program (have to stabilize the white egg trait from Brown Leghorn to keep the eggs sky blue). Long story short, I am 7 years into the breeding work and actually have some very good looking Silver Laced Wyandotte hens that lay large sky blue eggs. I am selecting for high egg laying traits too because I don't want these birds to be as limited as most Wyandottes to 200 eggs/year.

This is really cool.