Dark Egg Breeds Thread

[Illia]

Those are possibly the nicest Barnevelder eggs I've ever seen in the US!

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
X2!

X3 I love the colors of the Marans eggs!

 

[aceschix]

Quote:
Really!!!????!!!!

I did not put them up for auction because I thought they were not dark ENOUGH. Really???

Maybe I will put them up and see...

 

[aceschix]

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X2!

X3 I love the colors of the Marans eggs!

Thank you!.. I can not wait to get a roo for my 4 Welsummer girls so I can have all 3 shades.

 

[Illia]

Personally I've never seen many Barnevelder eggs go past the average brown lately. . . I think Barnevelder eggs in the US, at least what I've been seeing lately, are really, really sad in color. A hatchery Cuckoo Marans can do better.

Yours are quite nice!

 

[aceschix]

Quote:
Well I thank you very much for giving me the confidence to put them out there and see if others like them as much as I (and you

) do.

 

[seabreeze]

I have a question on the bloodlines of the Marans. Can anyone tell the bloodlines apart as you can do in horse, dog breeds? i.e., from a certain kennel or barn?

I emailed Beverly about adding new stock to the small flock of Marans I have, sent her my roo pic and she said too bad I wasn't closer to a place in Georgia where there is going to be an annual meet/show, she thought he was worth showing.

Anyway, I would like to add other bloodlines but hope someone can mentor me as to the distinctive traits or qualities from the bloodlines that are available, how certain lines cross, etc., etc.,

Thanks

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Here a pic of some of what my Welsummers are laying.

 

[ksf59]

The bottom left 5 are fom my barnies. I have 1 that consistantly lays the bottom 2 on the left

 

[marquisella]

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Its been my experience that when you cross lines, you do lose egg color.

I didn't believe it, so I did it. What I got were some really nice pullets, god awful cockerels, some pullets with mossiness, and lost egg color on the resulting crossed pullets. I still had some pure lines that I didn't cross.

What I did, was breed the nice pullets back to a rooster that wasn't crossed and was from my original line, Davis, and went from there. I culled all the mossy birds, and hoped for the best.

Now, 2 years later, I'm back with dark eggs, and no mossiness, and some of the best roosters I ever bred. Did the crossing help? I'm not sure. I didn't lose type or size, probably got a little more vigor. Was it worth it? I don't know. It wasn't worth the loss of egg color though, that was a big dissapointment for that time.

My advice would be, if you want to try to cross lines, just do it with a few of your birds, not all. Then see what you get. I thank my lucky stars that I had kept a few birds alone, and had a rooster that I could breed the crossed hens to to bring them back to again to the Davis line with just a little bit of the other line I crossed with.
Sue
http://rarechickens.blogspot.com/