Marans X Wellsummer = ?

[elite8]

Any ideas as to what this crossbreed would result with?

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

What kind of variety of Marans? Who's the roo and who's the hen?

I hatched out a bunch of chicks from a BCM roo and some DARK egged Wellies. They were all black at hatch, and then have gotten varying degrees of brown on them as they age. I don't have any more as the one I kept was a roo. They almost all had feathered legs. My gut feeling is they will feather out like a "mossy" BCM, but should lay a nice dark egg, provided both parents were from dark egg lines.

I've always thought it would be fun to use a Wellie roo over a Cuckoo Marans hen to make dark egged sex links!

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

The one in the middle with the biggest comb was the BCM x Wellie at around 9 weeks. Slightly older BCM behind him for comparison.

 

[elite8]

Dark eggs is the question. This is my first flock and they are only 14 weeks old so i don't know how dark the eggs will be. A couple more months and I will know what kind of eggs the hens will lay. Wellsummer pullets and cuckoo marans cockerel. Most likely these came from a hatchery so I will have to wait and see. In the future i hope to find a breeder in the area with a good line. Not really sure what breed yet...I'm still experimenting with that to find the one i like the most. Thanks for the response

 

[elite8]

That would be a cool sex link. Unfortunately daddy is the barred one this time.

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

I hear occasional reports from hatchery Wellies with decent eggs, but not so for the Marans. Even good cuckoos don't lay a super dark egg.

There seem to be plenty of good Welsummers and Marans out there. It seems lots of people have both. Whitmore farm sells both, and I know they select for dark egg color.

 

[elite8]

Thanks for letting me know about the Whitmore Farm. As a beginner this is just what I need to know to get started in the right direction with good genes. They also have Ameraucanas which I am interested in. Right now I have a couple but most likely they are EE's. I'll post some pics later if you're curious about what they look like. Thanks again for helping me find good lines!

 

[Chickndaddy]

I accidentally hatched out two Welmarans (what I call the cross). The male was a Marans rooster. I believe he was Black x Birchin or full Birchin. The hens were the Welsummers. The first cross hatched out two pullets with a Birchin Coloration. They were gorgeous and layed a very dark egg. I crossed those two girls back to a Welsummer rooster and again got all pullets. These were colored like a Black Copper bird. These girls also layed a very dark egg.

I would certainly try duplicating the cross again if I could.