Dual-Purpose White Egg Layer

[mistyfeather]

i also think that conserving heratege breeds is extreamly important but i like the idea of usin those old lines to creat new lines better sited to fit personal needs. take for example my love of the heretage RIR. they are the DEEP DARK MAHOGANY RED that a true RIR should be, hatchery birds leave much to be desired as far as color goes they are more suited for egg quantity not color i would like to devlope the breed to hold true to origional body type and color AND be an excellent egg layer. with their color and gene capabilities just think of the buitifull breed posibilities ! mabie a future breed using black copper marans(sp) and the dark RIR to end up with a DARK MAHOGANY bird that lays DARK eggs! their may bee already existing breeds that fit the bill but it would still make a fun project! i just wish i could have a roo!

 

[3littlebirds]

Just found this out and thought it would be interesting to note-
the Lamona was a breed that recently went extinct and also fit the description of dual-purpose, white-feathered, yellow-skinned, white egg layer. It says on the ALBC website that a couple breeders do still exist that breed Lamonas, but I don't know if I believe this.
Why did both the Holland and the Lamona have to go extinct!!!

Well hopefully those Lamona breeders will come out of hiding soon (if they do exist). I want some!

 

[Tannubyky]

It is SOOOO Funny to me that I came across this post!!! I have been searching and searching for what turns out was the WHITE holland chicken... I want a white, white-egg laying, broody, dual-purpose bird. It was sometime last week I decided I was going to start a breeding program to create a breed that fits what I wanted and have been doing TONS of research along those lines (all the way from where to get breeds I'd like to use to taking crash courses in general genetics and specifically chicken genetics, mapping out probabilities, numbers of generations before breeding would be true, desirable gene pool size, ideal traits vs undesirable etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.!!!!) Then today while continuing my research I came across information on the White holland available at a couple of hatcheries. Turns out it was just the barred variety the hatcheries carried but thinking the white existed I searched more until I finally came across a number of posts with the 'believed to be extinct' information

*cry*

That's also when I found this post and thought as a BYC member also I couldn't help but join in the conversation! I do not have plans to revive the Holland so much as to (TRY to) create a similar purpose breed since I've already done so much work planning "my" breed out lol I also wanted to make a couple of points...

Why "another" white bird? For me it's a double reason 1st Aesthetically I think white birds are gorgeous. It seems so rare in most breeds that despite the prolific numbers of white chickens it still holds that almost mystical, regal quality (like a white unicorn, or a white mammoth for anyone who's read the clan of the cave bear series.) 2nd I live in Arizona which is a VERY hot place and it is a dire necessity to find ways to keep our birds cool. White is a very "heat resistant" color and so is a very logical choice of plumage for birds being raised here.

Why not a White Game? Because White game hens are 2lbs smaller on average than a White Leghorn which is not considered a heavy bird to begin with, they lay fewer eggs on average, they are not able to bear confinement as well, and they are as a breed considered as more aggressive birds. Dorkings may not lay WHITE eggs, although "cream to light tint" might be passable, and they are docile, and adapt to confinement well and are very broody... they are also on the fragile & slow maturing side. Leghorns are flighty, they're a little on the light side and usually not considered dual-purpose (although it differs from breed list to breed list on that...) and... well, the list just goes on. Try doing a search here on the 'chicken breed selection tool' For a standard sized, dual purpose, med-high frequency layer, medium to large white egg laying bird. Only two appear, one is the dorking and the other is the Russian Orloff which when further researched has conflicting accounts of traits (such as light brown eggs rather than white and also called a "non-setter") and it is also on the slow-maturing side. Now repeat the SAME search only replace "WHITE egg" with "BROWN egg" and FOURTEEN breeds appear. (Fifteen, but one's a duplicate.)

That is why despite my currently very small poultry experience I've decided to give a breeding program a go: To fill that gap. Besides, I don't live in a city, just at the edge of a county, I have the time, the land and the desire. At the very worst my experiment won't pan out but I should have a very interesting flock

If anyone IS INTERESTED in reviving the Holland though I'm definitely amiable to going in that route instead just to increase the genetic pool. I already have some Rhode Island Reds and White Leghorns (none of which at this time are of breeding age though LOL as I said... it's a new idea for me!)

 

[Mahonri]

It seems that all white egg layers are on the smallish side.

 

[3littlebirds]

Quote:
Oh that's fantastic! It's great to be able to find like-minded people. I have actually found quite a few people looking for a white dual-purpose white-egg layer, so I'm sure any chicks you produce will find homes (such as with me

) I wish you the best of luck on your breeding project- please do update me with any results!

 

[Tannubyky]

I'm sure I'll end up making a page all about it LOL and will definitely keep you posted!!! And again, if anyone else is interested, don't hesitate to let me know... I think it'd be FUN fun FUN!

Oh, and P.S. I will very quickly be able to breed chicks to match the desired criteria (perhaps not the broodiness though) but they will NOT breed true themselves... so if you're just looking for chicks and not breeders, that'll be much easier HAHAHA although again for my personal goal I do cling to my PURE-true breeding "Arizona Leghorn" that I'm aiming for

 

[3littlebirds]

Of course, the early crosses won't breed true, but I'd still be interested in having one or two to add to my layer flock

But I do hope you eventually get a purebred population going!

 

[Tannubyky]

Quote:
Me too!

 

[Chickanmanfromarkansas]

White Hollands--- Lamonas----How neat, I'd love to help recreate both, but right now my resourses are not very good. Just getting back into chickens after a 12 year break. All mine are still baby chicks, will be 6 to 7 months before they even start to lay.

Just an idea. If you crossed say a white egg laying chicken breed (say Leghorn)over a brown egg layer (White Rock) would the offspring of the cross be white egg layer?

 

[Tannubyky]

Quote:
To put it very simply: No. You would have white chickens laying light brown eggs. BUT if the offspring mated together, they would "theoretically - super simplified" have a 25% chance of producing white chickens laying white eggs. a 25% chance of white chickens laying brown eggs. and a 50% chance of white chickens laying light brown eggs.

The real genetics behind the color of chicken eggs has not been fully mapped out yet and there are lots of complications to the whole thing. But basically what I've found so far indicates that once you introduce color into a white egg-layer it is much harder to breed that color back out than it is for the breeding of other traits. It's all very complicated, very fascinating and I will ramble on about it if allowed to LOL Google "Punnett square" to see how I arrived at the percentages I did... but realize that it's based off of only 1 gene controlling egg color (o,o for white and B,B for brown.) When in reality there are an unknown (but definitely multiple) numbers of genes controlling egg color, size, shape, spots, dots, speckles, tints, thickness, hardness etc. etc. etc.!!!!