Montana

[karlamaria]

http://www.ameraucana.org/scrapbook_files/lfsilverf.jpg

Ariel, is this what the silver amaracauna will look like! I saw it on the ameraucana breeders club. I love the colors!

Also please can you save a few lavender ameraucana as I find them beautiful! I look forward to seeing more pictures of how the chicks are looking!

 

[Azriel]

Karla, thats a silver hen, they are brown/gray with a salmon breast. I dont have the silvers, the only ones I have are the wheaten/blue wheaten. Some of my EE and OE's are lavender, but that is a very different color than silver.
There are several blue egg layers. All the colors of the Ameraucana lay some shade of blue, the Cream Legbar is a blue layer fairley new to the US, and the Arkansas Blue is a new breed of blue layer bred for production laying.
The blue color is kind of in the eye of the beholder, most of mine lay a light powder blue, some are a bit darker with just a hint of green, but I have seen some that I would call green and others call them blue.

 

[karlamaria]

I see well not really these all confuse me lol. I was reading on Craigslist about these. http://missoula.craigslist.org/grd/3485781308.html. Do these give the real dark eggs like they do on this site? http://www.creefarm.com/marans.htm. Those eggs are amazing !you have these also right? ( black copper marans) I can not believe mine was laying a real dark rich egg and it molted lost the copper color and is now laying a brown egg like the austerlorps lol. I would love a real nice chocolate egg layer.

 

[Chick N Haus]

I read that the Marans lay a really dark egg at first but get lighter as they get older. Sometimes they recover a little darker color after a molt but never as dark as when they first start to lay. Thanks for all the info on the blue eggs guys. Just chillin here-waiting out winter. Egg production is adequate, 12-15 eggs daily out of 18 hens, not bad for winter. We have a mixed flock, Buff orpingtons, Salmon faverolles, Americanas, Black stars, Rhode Island Reds, Marans, Barred Rocks.

 

[karlamaria]

I read that the Marans lay a really dark egg at first but get lighter as they get older. Sometimes they recover a little darker color after a molt but never as dark as when they first start to lay. Thanks for all the info on the blue eggs guys.  Just chillin here-waiting out winter.  Egg production is adequate, 12-15 eggs daily out of 18 hens, not bad for winter. We have a mixed flock, Buff orpingtons, Salmon faverolles, Americanas, Black stars, Rhode Island Reds, Marans, Barred Rocks.

my maran is only 9 months old, she laid some real nice dark eggs like maybe 20 times, then stopped completely .then a molt set in, she lost her orange and the eggs are now regular browns. I want a dark dark egg layer. Like the marans and blue wheaten marans in the link. Those eggs are seriously dark chocolate brown.

So what would you say was your best egg layer? I'm wanting a new buff orphington that is not hatchery breed, I want a farm born one. ( chicks) I miss my broody hen best broody girl and mommy. sounds like your getting awesome egg turn out! Are you using a light? Go figure 3 birds who were laying went onto a molt, now I have 2 or 3 laying.

 

[Chick N Haus]

Probably the Reds are the best, although I can't say that we have too many slackers. The Americanas are the least consistent, but again not bad. Yes we did start a heat lamp when it got into the single digits. It gets dark around 1700 and the heat is on a timer to come on at midnight and off when the sun is up. The idea is just to give them a little heat boost during the coldest period and make their light time more consistent year round. Our coop is insulated as is yours. We tried to choose breeds that were:
1. Friendly and docile with children
2. Cold hardy
3. Good egg layers
4. Dual purpose for meat
5. Interesting to look at with colorful eggs

in that order. We want our great grandchildren to enjoy our chickens, eggs, things we raise ourselves in our garden and small farm. They are big city kids, but during the summer they get to swim and boat in our lake, eat homemade bread and jam, go to the fair, bid on our market lamb and generally become country kids.

 

[RoyalT]

I thought only araucanas laid blue eggs. What other kinds of chickens lay blue eggs?

Lots of breeds lay blue eggs. CCLs are one. Araucana, Ameraucana, some Easter Eggers (off colored Ameraucanas and mutts alike) are the more common ones.

how you doing on eggs ? I'm down to 2 a day argh ! Spring can not get here fast enough! I want my chickens to get busy. I'm also looking forward to getting more chickens!

Oh we got 3 today. I turned off the light though- giving the girls a rest. We've had some funky weather!

 

[RoyalT]

Karla- no, Wheaten Marans will NOT lay eggs as dark as BCMs. If you're going for egg color, you'll want to get your Marans from a respectable breeder or hatch them yourself so you see the egg they come out of (though that's only half the genetics). I wouldn't trust most people on craigslist to have top notch stock- I've had issues with people advertising EEs as "Araucanas" -.- Ignorance runs rampant on craigslist.

 

[Azriel]

All of my Marans lay very dark eggs, I think it just depends on the lines you get. I've bought eggs that look very very dark in the photos, but when I got them they were OK, but not super dark like the photos show. I have Black Copper, Blue Copper, Wheaten and Cuckoo, and most of the time I couldn't tell you who layed which egg.
Karla, I think it is a little strange that your BCM lost her copper coloring, and they usually lay the darkest eggs when they 1st start laying, and at the start of each laying cycle after a molt. Are you sure she has started up laying again? Also 9 months seems a little young to have gone through a full blown molt, I know each bird is different, but mine don't normally do a full molt till their 2nd winter. Hope you start getting your dark egg again.
We got the tractor put back together, and now have the snow blade on it. I had some fun running it around and trying the blade out. Now we just need some snow. There is a 50% chance here tomorrow, we sure need the moisture.

 

[Azriel]

Karla, I just looked at the craigslist link, their birds are nice looking, I think the eggs are kind of light, and there is no way anyone is going to get 300 eggs a year from a Marans, I think they are just slightly less than average layers. I probably get 4 eggs a week from each of my hens.