Dark Egg Breeds Thread

[berkeleysprings]

i am kidding on the cute thing ,and i am sure they like chicken ,,, we are on a small 6 acre lot of trees and not many people around .thenearest people are 1/2 mile or so away but there are lots of fox and coons and worse dogs , i have to carry a 45kimber the hole time chickens free range but i am afraid a stray dog might be the most trouble .
people need to keep dogs on a rope , i would never want to shoot a dog unless i had to even then i would fire a roundin thew air but fox &coons are fair game ......
as for the napping chick of yours ,,,,,,
please send that sickly looking thing to berkeleysprings wva , just off timber lane ... i will take good care of it .... by the way what are u doing with wheaten ,,, or thats what it kinda looks like ???? i thought you were bc


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[drom]

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d

Well, they may be ratty, but they are our only marsupial. Blackdotte has all the charming, glamorous marsupials in his country.

I sound like it's 4:00 in the morning-

should I get up and go to the gym

or back to sleep

back to sleep

Oh, the little napper is from my BC flock from last year-I have to say she is one of my favorites. In a group of black pullets she really gets all the attention- very pretty girl

 

[berkeleysprings]

I just got back from Canada and up state in search of wheaten Marans stock(not canada) and to visit future family
in new York and loved the architecture it has such intricate carving its very cool . the churches in the small town of Albion are unreal stone work , I have visited there 6 times and marvel at many houses like this one for sale .i imagine in this towns hay day the place was a wonderland … every other house on this block is different but just so interesting in the framing, and the roofs must have been hard to do .i have been a carpenter 31 years and I would have a hard time with power tools and a calculator instead of hand saws and chisels
this was way off topic so we should get back to breeding possums
sorry ,sin randy
ps did a 5k walk for cancer at a nice orchard and they had a pet farm with chickens

 

[Kansaseq]

Berkley, is that an orloff in front?

 

[berkeleysprings]

i am not sure i have never heard of orloff but id like to learn

 

[shesaredroan]

All of my spangled russian orloffs have beards.
But the speckled bird in front looks alot like my speckled sussex. Course it could be a cross too.

 

[berkeleysprings]

another pic of the birds at watt,s farm in albian ny

 

[Kansaseq]

Didn't realize that SS's got that light.
On another note, does anyone on here have a dark egg layer crossed with a rock, and if so, do you have a pic of the eggs? I've got eggs hatching this weekend and wonder what color they will lay.

 

[pinkchick]

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Hi Kansas!

I have birds from that cross. I always test my Marans roosters for the dark egg gene over a Barred Rock or Buff Orp. My Rock x Marans is in full molt right now and not laying but I think that I have an egg photo around here somewhere, but can't guarantee as I had a computer crash not too long ago and lost tons of photos with it. I will try to find it for you.
I have downsized because I had too many chickens and was getting overwhelmed and these crossed birds were the some of the first to go, but I kept one of each.

I can tell you that the Rock x Marans were the worst layers.........EVER! They were not frequent layers. They laid a huge VERY round egg with stress fractures around the equitorial band, every egg. The eggs were so big they came out sometimes flatter on one side then the other. It was weird. These crosses also came out to have the body of the rocks and the fluffiness of the Marans. Their behind fluff was so fluffy and bothersome I had to keep their rears completely trimmed, infact the one Rock cross gal I kept still gets regular trims. Almost impossible to keep her clean. Her butt is so close to the ground and with all that fluf........A MESS, uffda! I think their eggs were so big it was very hard for them to lay.
The egg color is darker but not like that of a Marans and not shiny, but noticeably darker, enough to prove to me that my roos had that dark egg gene, I think the darkest egg I got from these crosses was about a 5 on the Marans chart. The eggs also do not come out fully painted, they are sorta blotchy, kinda like they didn't get all the paint jets they were suppose to.
Think of it this way:
IF.... paint jets were set up in the vent like a car wash, they were missing the undercarriage sprayer and possibly the wax sprayers and the final rinse spray, thus leaving you with a couple of missed spots.

The Buff x Marans had no issues with their eggs or their fluffy rears.

 

[Kansaseq]

Pinkchick,
Thank you very much for describing that cross for me. SO not what I was hoping to hear, but now I know not to keep very many of these babies

Didn't realize that the Marans laid such a large egg, either. I'm sorry to hear of your computer issues, but if you do happen upon a photo of the egg, I'd still like to see it.
Interesting that the orp x marans had no issues. What did those eggs and hens look like?
Also, did you ever cross your Welsummers with anything? Someone was selling a Wel x ? this summer, said the offspring laid very well and nice dark eggs. Of course I didn't buy any then, and now can't remember who she was!
I may just give up and get a couple of red sex links in the spring

. Some of them lay a nice, darker egg, and really, I just want a few of them to go with my blue eggs.