INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[JanetMarie]

I remember reading that an Easter egger (specificially Ameraucana X Marans) X Ameraucana will produce an offspring that lays a lavender egg. Don't know if it makes a difference if one or the other is male or female.

I now do have an Ameraucana X Marans cockerel (he's adorable) and maybe will keep him if he's good and he'll have to be with another Ameraucana mix cockerel. I would love to try that experiment.

 

[Indyshent]

The Livestock Conservancy says they're supposed to lay "Plum" eggs, and I have seen breeders on Facebook claiming their Langshans lay lilac, purple or plum eggs. It's said that American breeders don't take egg color as seriously as Europeans, particularly as egg color is often a big factor as to which backyard birds to get for smaller flocks. This is the same reason I can't find a Cayuga duck that lays black eggs. At least you're honest about it, but so long as shows don't require it, it doesn't really make sense for breeders to spend so much effort into getting the egg color right.

This is me. Purple eggs is a myth.
Langshans lay medium to medium dark eggs, sometimes speckled. I often can't tell them apart from my Blue Splash Marans eggs. (NOT talking the dark chocolate of the BCMs. Other colors of Marans lay lighter eggs, more along Welsummer lines.)

Langshans will randomly deposit a whitish bloom on them which alters the color until the bloom wears off, sort of like the white coating on a plum. This will sometimes give them a rosy hue. Then the wishful thinkers will claim they are purple, and even more unscrupulous types will colorize their photos and list them online as purple layers.

From what I have read, in England and Europe, they actually judge egg color at poultry shows, so over there they breed to enhance this bloom. But even they will admit that it is a white coating on a brown egg, and only gives an illusion of a purple plum. Here in the U.S., the serious breeders pay no attention to egg color. I doubt hatcheries do either. My two hens that came from a show breeder sometimes put the bloom on. My hatchery hens never do.



Welcome!



I noticed the temps in Evansville are going to be a few degrees hotter than here.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Found another photo of the water drinking/wading pan without the clay in it. Depending on how many birds I have, I set several around during the summer. Only using one now since I'm down to a very small flock. This is an older photo.

 

[Indyshent]

https://m.facebook.com/Featherhillfancyfowls/posts/171131413065137

So, while trying to find more on egg colors in Croad Langshans, I ran across this post from a breeder. The conversation between the breeders is fascinating. One of the things they mention is that the Langshan when it was first imported from Asia laid brown eggs but that it was likely an odd rooster that carried this bloom gene. Croad apparently bred for the bloom because it proliferated in his line of birds.

Like with other birds, the longer the egg is in the oviduct, the deeper the color, which is why early eggs are darkest as the oviduct hasn't stretched out yet. Interestingly enough, what the breeders noticed was that birds with poor characteristics as show birds (particularly within regard to their hip width) often laid eggs with better color. These birds, however, are culled from breeding flocks due to faults as show birds and worries that said genes decrease fitness.

 

[Finnie]

https://m.facebook.com/Featherhillfancyfowls/posts/171131413065137

So, while trying to find more on egg colors in Croad Langshans, I ran across this post from a breeder. The conversation between the breeders is fascinating. One of the things they mention is that the Langshan when it was first imported from Asia laid brown eggs but that it was likely an odd rooster that carried this bloom gene. Croad apparently bred for the bloom because it proliferated in his line of birds.

Like with other birds, the longer the egg is in the oviduct, the deeper the color, which is why early eggs are darkest as the oviduct hasn't stretched out yet. Interestingly enough, what the breeders noticed was that birds with poor characteristics as show birds (particularly within regard to their hip width) often laid eggs with better color. These birds, however, are culled from breeding flocks due to faults as show birds and worries that said genes decrease fitness.

Yes, and I've been slowly reading through the Langshan thread here on BYC, and the serious breeders on there are strongly opposed to breeding for egg color because they are afraid it will ruin type and quality in the breed. They say this happened with the BCMs. Breeding for just dark chocolate eggs makes you end up with basically a black mutt looking chicken.

But honestly, it would be nice if there were really nice purple laying Langshans, because who doesn't love a colorful egg basket? It seems to me that there would be two separate targeted markets. Those who want to show and those who just want colored eggs. So why should it matter if two different types emerge? (For me, I don't show, but the distinctive silhouette was the draw.)

 

[nenebynature]

I'm down in

This is me. Purple eggs is a myth.
Langshans lay medium to medium dark eggs, sometimes speckled. I often can't tell them apart from my Blue Splash Marans eggs. (NOT talking the dark chocolate of the BCMs. Other colors of Marans lay lighter eggs, more along Welsummer lines.)

Langshans will randomly deposit a whitish bloom on them which alters the color until the bloom wears off, sort of like the white coating on a plum. This will sometimes give them a rosy hue. Then the wishful thinkers will claim they are purple, and even more unscrupulous types will colorize their photos and list them online as purple layers.

From what I have read, in England and Europe, they actually judge egg color at poultry shows, so over there they breed to enhance this bloom. But even they will admit that it is a white coating on a brown egg, and only gives an illusion of a purple plum. Here in the U.S., the serious breeders pay no attention to egg color. I doubt hatcheries do either. My two hens that came from a show breeder sometimes put the bloom on. My hatchery hens never do.



Welcome!



I noticed the temps in Evansville are going to be a few degrees hotter than here.

I'm down in Memphis and it is blazing hot and horribly humid! I've been letting the girls free range and find their own cool shade and leaving plenty of water for them. Does anyone do anything more for their chickens in the heat? This is my first summer with chickens and I'm curious what others are doing.

 

[Faraday40]

I never knew that there are a type of Quails that lay a blueish green colored egg!!! I found a website that sells the 100 eggs for $100 with $15 shipping!! They are called Celadon Eggs! So excited I can't wait to buy them Friday!

Aren't these eggs amazingly pretty?
View attachment 1082444 View attachment 1082445

Those eggs are very pretty.
I get a couple eggs like that every once in a while. Most of the time the blue eggs are speckled with a lot of brown, so the color is not noticed. But sometimes I get a rare egg minus the speckles, so it looks blue. I have 2 eggs like that in the incubator now, but I certainly don't get them on a reg basis.

DD is busy trying to finish building a quail cage. It's a 2 level cage 2'x4'. Instead of making a multi-level stacking quail cage, she chose to make only 2 levels - but taller. This way, it can be converted into a rabbit cage.

So far this summer, we've been keeping the quail in a rabbit cage at night & a baby play yard during the day. They like to burrow through the grass but it's a pain carrying them back & forth daily.

The quail are cute & all are tame. (ie- They don't run away & allow us to pick them up easily.) However, they don't come running up to us like chickens do. They don't go crazy for treats, so not fun & playful. For these reasons, we may decide to process the quail at the end of the season. Has anyone kept quail over the winter? Do they stop laying all together or just slow down?

Meanwhile DD's in love with her silkies. We think both are female. (I was nervous that her fav - black one - would be a male, so I bought a back up silkie on impulse - the splash one. Because the splash had a wider comb, I believed that one was male until recently.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@nenebynature

Yes...water pans to stand in. Placed in the shade. See previous posts.

 

[nenebynature]

The sun comes over my garage and shines directly into the nesting boxes for about an hour in the afternoon. I didn't realize how hot it was getting until I came home and found Esmeralda my black sex link in one of the boxes panting and gurgling. I freaked out and submerged her to the chest in cool water until she relaxed and cooled down. I have since hung a burlap shade curtain and put in a oscillating fan for the afternoon egg laying session I'm going to try some of the shallow dishes that @Leahs Mom mentioned.

 

[Finnie]

You can find all kinds of cooling off ideas by searching BYC. I've used the shallow pan idea, and frozen melon slices. Sometimes I put the frozen melon in the water to keep it cool longer. Other times I just put the melon on the grass, for a treat. And definitely in the shade! My presence in the yard causes them to come running from their resting places, so I try to lure them back to shade with the fruit.

Other ideas I've seen that sound like they would be great (but I have not invested in yet) are sprinkler/mist systems and fans.