MPC Super blue egg layer eggs

[Sea Wolf]

My SBEL birds are not laying yet .. but .. one turned out to be a roo. MPC did indeed refund for him so I am happy with that. Now .. I have a young Americauna roo that I was going to use for breeding to the SBEL hens for future hatching eggs. I think I understood that breeding a SBEL roo to the same hens will give a mix of birds that will lay blue and white eggs. I am thinking of keeping the Americauna roo for breeding and rehoming the SBEL roo. Would this be the best choice for getting the best blue egg layers for a second generation? Thinking that breeding the Americauna roo to the SBEL hens will give a hatch of more blue egg layers than white.

 

[Shezadandy]

I've got 11 eggs under a volunteer Australorp broody from our mostly brown-laying flock. We're on day 14 so many things can still go sideways, but so far they're all developing nicely. The chicks will either belong to our SBEL Gus (gray AM looking guy) or our Welsummer-- should be pretty obvious who's who with Gus' pea comb, ear tufts and beard and gray/black coloration vs. the Welsummer's straight comb.

3 of the 11 are our Black Australorps (straight comb, brown layers)
2 of the 11 are from a Barred Rock (straight comb, brown layers)
2 of the 11 are from a Buff Orp (straight comb, brown layers)
2 of the 11 are from an EE (pea comb/beard/ear tufts, light pinkish layer)
1 of the 11 is from an EE (pea comb/beard/ear tufts, green layer)
1 of the 11 is from one of the SBEL pullets (pea comb, no tufts/beard, from the better of the 2 blue layers)

Best case, all of Gus' pullets will lay green from our brown layers. This will be the first test for the SBEL roo to start building data on whether he's really heterozygous for the blue or homozygous. =) It won't be as difficult as waiting for that first SBEL pullet egg... or will it?? =)

 

[MiniHorses]

The VERY worst part of this is the waiting!! Wait to lay, wait to hatch and THEN wait until the hatchlings are old enough to lay...........to just see the COLOR of that egg.

We are nuts, that's all there is to it!!!

SO--- I have 8 MPC SBELs, laying light blue...very light. I have 3 TBWs that have colored up the combs & shanks, so I feel they will lay "any day" !! Maybe.....at least it's promising.

Now, I have a big ole BO who decided to go broody on me. Don'tcha know I am really wanting to put some eggs under her!? My SBELs have been free range with 2 nasty, hateful SBEL roos -- both straight combs -- and a BBS Americana. the TBWs are with a TBW roo, penned so no crosses. Some BCM hens are also running with the SBEL group, so green eggs possible.

If I set them now, I could have hens laying from that hatch in March. Like I need more chickens??? Well, chicken math rules....right?

By the way, those nasty white SBEL roos -- who look pure leghorn -- have calmed ever so slightly as they have matured. I feel that my efforts to stop some attacks have come from the water bath they got every time I could. A hose sprayer, or even my sprinkler can.....they got a real good bath! Seemed to slow them up. One still has to get a broom up along the side of the head now & them but, 75% better! The SBELs have always been "flighty" in both temperament and actual flying. After starting to lay, they have calmed a huge amount. Right now, my worse issue is that they like to lay much like a guinea hen -- anywhere & everywhere. Then move location once you collect their eggs. 4 are kinda stable, 4 are not, with that. Trying to train now....They're doing well, actually.

So --- fluffy chicks for you soon. Hope you get a LOT of hens.

 

[MiniHorses]

Shame we can't do blood testing for hetero/homo on the blue egg gene thing. The we KNOW

 

[Shezadandy]

Shame we can't do blood testing for hetero/homo on the blue egg gene thing. The we KNOW

That would be so nice - eliminating the guess work and waiting 6 months from the time we put that egg in the incubator and/or under a broody to when any pullets might finally give us that first egg....

 

[MyPetChicken]

Shame we can't do blood testing for hetero/homo on the blue egg gene thing. The we KNOW

Wouldn't that be wonderful! I would LOVE to not have to wait 2 years on some of my projects.


Alex
My Pet Chicken

 

[Shezadandy]

The VERY worst part of this is the waiting!! Wait to lay, wait to hatch and THEN wait until the hatchlings are old enough to lay...........to just see the COLOR of that egg.

We are nuts, that's all there is to it!!!

SO--- I have 8 MPC SBELs, laying light blue...very light. I have 3 TBWs that have colored up the combs & shanks, so I feel they will lay "any day" !! Maybe.....at least it's promising.

Now, I have a big ole BO who decided to go broody on me. Don'tcha know I am really wanting to put some eggs under her!? My SBELs have been free range with 2 nasty, hateful SBEL roos -- both straight combs -- and a BBS Americana. the TBWs are with a TBW roo, penned so no crosses. Some BCM hens are also running with the SBEL group, so green eggs possible.

If I set them now, I could have hens laying from that hatch in March. Like I need more chickens??? Well, chicken math rules....right?

By the way, those nasty white SBEL roos -- who look pure leghorn -- have calmed ever so slightly as they have matured. I feel that my efforts to stop some attacks have come from the water bath they got every time I could. A hose sprayer, or even my sprinkler can.....they got a real good bath! Seemed to slow them up. One still has to get a broom up along the side of the head now & them but, 75% better! The SBELs have always been "flighty" in both temperament and actual flying. After starting to lay, they have calmed a huge amount. Right now, my worse issue is that they like to lay much like a guinea hen -- anywhere & everywhere. Then move location once you collect their eggs. 4 are kinda stable, 4 are not, with that. Trying to train now....They're doing well, actually.

So --- fluffy chicks for you soon. Hope you get a LOT of hens.

Yes, laying, and in our case, putting them out with the older girls did calm the SBELs down-- but boy can they fly!! Lucy is our helicopter chicken. She went through a shell-less egg phase (was on flock raiser with oyster shells offered) so I brought her in and fed her layer instead for a few days. She came in alone, which I never do, but because those thin shelled and shell-less eggs got eaten, I didn't want to chance that it was her and have her teach another girl about their yummy eggs. After 3-4 days we got her back on track, and she didn't touch any eggs. Now, while she is still a flighty girl, she actually started following me around some. She's also the one that first wouldn't lay anywhere but the floor, now it's the roosting table. The other 15 layers use the 11 boxes available. Who am I to complain, as long as she's not leaving them outside in the rain.

Glad your SBEL boys are showing signs of easing up a little! Ours has been fine and took the top-rooster spot in the flock with the Welsummer stealing private moments whenever he can. The girls are not in the least bit loyal!!!!

Chicken math abounds! It's hard to keep eggs in the fridge- I guess as long as the eggs continue to sell and they're paying their own feed bill, DH won't freak out too much over the chicken math. Also having a "peep squad" running around is so much fun. My "L" shaped run is getting turned into a "C" both to keep a fence line weed-free, give even more space with the incoming chicks- the goat pen will be completely surrounded with chicken run. If we decide to look at selling fertile eggs for people looking for local eggs for their broody hens, it will also be nice to have some chicks on the ground as examples.

I have sworn off incubators though. It's one thing to have a broody now and again... if I had an incubator ... there would be a major population explosion. Last time I got 3 pullets and 2 cockerels from my broody's hatch. I'm sure I'll get 90% cockerels this time through.

Ethel laid a 2.4oz'er a couple days ago- here's a picture below. She shows a nice blue. When I chose an SBEL egg to set, I made sure it was hers. Lucy's are very washy- not even close.



Ethel:



Lucy, back, Ethel front


Lucy


SBEL trio:

 

[Shezadandy]

Gus the SBEL rooster's first batch of chicks is here!

From the looks of it, most appear to be his with those adorable muffs- in all we have 8 fluffybutts as of tonight.

All three of the EE's eggs hatched, at least 2 Australorps, and Ethel the SBEL's egg. These we know for sure hatched because the broody kindly left us the shells with ID's intact. The remaining two chicks may be from the other Barred Rock egg, the other Buff Orp's egg, or the third Australorp egg- we got 8 chicks from 11 eggs.

Here are some 1-2 day old shots- most hatched Tuesday, a couple hatched yesterday:

 

[MyPetChicken]

Gus the SBEL rooster's first batch of chicks is here!

From the looks of it, most appear to be his with those adorable muffs- in all we have 8 fluffybutts as of tonight.

All three of the EE's eggs hatched, at least 2 Australorps, and Ethel the SBEL's egg. These we know for sure hatched because the broody kindly left us the shells with ID's intact. The remaining two chicks may be from the other Barred Rock egg, the other Buff Orp's egg, or the third Australorp egg- we got 8 chicks from 11 eggs.

Here are some 1-2 day old shots- most hatched Tuesday, a couple hatched yesterday:

What a great hatch! Looks like there are lots of blues in there!


Alex
My Pet Chicken

 

[Shezadandy]

What a great hatch! Looks like there are lots of blues in there!


Alex
My Pet Chicken

Thanks! Yes, Gus the SBEL appears to have made his mark considering the variety of girls. In this hatch, all the hens whose eggs I put under the broody are also from MPC, so I guess this is the next generation. Now I have to cross fingers and everything else for the chance that whichever chick is the SBELxSBEL is a pullet!