Deerhen Project

[E flowers]

What do you think this girl is? She looks pretty close to what I was thinking and it looks like she has a black tail. She just needs the white tail and darker color.

 

[E flowers]

What do you think this girl is? She looks pretty close to what I was thinking and it looks like she has a black tail. She just needs the white tail and darker color.

This one looks like her but no info.

 

[troyer]

What do you think this girl is? She looks pretty close to what I was thinking and it looks like she has a black tail. She just needs the white tail and darker color.

Looks like a mixed breed.
Keep in mind that if you want a white tail, any place where there are normally black feathers, those would be white as well.

 

[NatJ]

Keep in mind that if you want a white tail, any place where there are normally black feathers, those would be white as well.

I agree. They might look more like deer with the black feathers, even though that means no white tail.

 

[E flowers]

I found some pretty brown/grey/gold EE's That I may go with. They seem to have that pretty mix of coloration in the feathers that I like. I may just not worry about the white tails after all.

So long as I can make them the right temperament and to where they can withstand my local temperatures and predators I thin they're the right way to go.

They'll need a decent sized comb that won't get frostbite but also helps with heat dispersion. Preferably no beard or muffs. Decent sized carcass for eating and good predator awareness. Along with good foraging capabilities.

I wonder if I might be able to breed in some of Florida Bullfrog's Florida cracker fowl. And definitely some brown leghorn.

 

[E flowers]

Here's some examples

 

[E flowers]

Here's some examples.

 

[E flowers]

I'm unsure on what to look for in the chicks. I've had a pair of brown Easter Eggers before but I don't have any pictures of them as chicks. I may have some of one of their chicks though. Her name's Barbara.

Here she is outside in their coop.

Unfortunately I can't find any of her when she was real young they all kinda looked the same back then. I think these screenshots I took from the brooder are probably of her before they went outside to the coop.

 

[NatJ]

I found some pretty brown/grey/gold EE's That I may go with. They seem to have that pretty mix of coloration in the feathers that I like. I may just not worry about the white tails after all.

So long as I can make them the right temperament and to where they can withstand my local temperatures and predators I thin they're the right way to go.

They'll need a decent sized comb that won't get frostbite but also helps with heat dispersion. Preferably no beard or muffs. Decent sized carcass for eating and good predator awareness. Along with good foraging capabilities.

I wonder if I might be able to breed in some of Florida Bullfrog's Florida cracker fowl. And definitely some brown leghorn.

Those do sound promising!

Muff/beard is a dominant gene, so once it is out of the flock, it will stay gone.

Regarding combs, there is a linkage between the pea comb gene and the blue egg gene. So if you want to keep the blue egg gene, you will have to keep the pea comb as well. Crossing with any kind of Leghorn may increase the comb size (some pea combs are larger than others.) Or if you wanted single combs and blue eggs, you would want to introduce something like Cream Legbar that has the linkage of blue egg with not-pea comb.

I'm unsure on what to look for in the chicks. I've had a pair of brown Easter Eggers before but I don't have any pictures of them as chicks.

I would look for chicks that show shades of brown (not grays or white, and not large amounts of black).

Chicks that are an even shade of buff or red all over, will more often grow up to have a fairly solid color at maturity (like Buff Orpingtons and Rhode Island Reds.)

Chicks that hatch with stripes like a chipmunk are more likely to grow up with the kind of patterning I see in the pictures of the EE hens. This is a common coloring in Easter Eggers, so you probably won't have much trouble finding chicks like that.
Brown Leghorn chicks are a good example of this color pattern.
Example from McMurray Hatchery:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/single_comb_brown_leghorns.html

The same pattern can also exist in silver (gold tones are replaced with white/gray tones.) McMurray's Silver Phoenix are an example of this color:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/phoenix.html
If you end up with some silver ones by mistake, just use them with a gold rooster and their daughters will have gold, so it won't really set your program back.

 

[E flowers]

Those do sound promising!

Muff/beard is a dominant gene, so once it is out of the flock, it will stay gone.

Regarding combs, there is a linkage between the pea comb gene and the blue egg gene. So if you want to keep the blue egg gene, you will have to keep the pea comb as well. Crossing with any kind of Leghorn may increase the comb size (some pea combs are larger than others.) Or if you wanted single combs and blue eggs, you would want to introduce something like Cream Legbar that has the linkage of blue egg with not-pea comb.


I would look for chicks that show shades of brown (not grays or white, and not large amounts of black).

Chicks that are an even shade of buff or red all over, will more often grow up to have a fairly solid color at maturity (like Buff Orpingtons and Rhode Island Reds.)

Chicks that hatch with stripes like a chipmunk are more likely to grow up with the kind of patterning I see in the pictures of the EE hens. This is a common coloring in Easter Eggers, so you probably won't have much trouble finding chicks like that.
Brown Leghorn chicks are a good example of this color pattern.
Example from McMurray Hatchery:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/single_comb_brown_leghorns.html

The same pattern can also exist in silver (gold tones are replaced with white/gray tones.) McMurray's Silver Phoenix are an example of this color:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/phoenix.html
If you end up with some silver ones by mistake, just use them with a gold rooster and their daughters will have gold, so it won't really set your program back.

I would rather they had brown eggs anyway so that's not a big problem. The eggs will be better hidden from predators that way.