Newbie!

[Rubyred1963]

Hi all, I'm debating buying fertilized eggs to hatch. They're from a lady who has Ameracauna and Marans. I believe that both Roosters have been with the hens. Would this be worth trying and what would the pullets produce for eggs? I have a couple Ameracauna hens and have also thought of getting a Rooster to breed them. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC. The pullets from these breeds and crosses should produce blue, olive, and dark brown eggs.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

It's always fun to experiment with breeds, I'm sure you will enjoy the hatching experience! Make sure to hatch enough eggs, you will get plenty of males too, so be prepared to make room for the cockerels or plan on rehoming them.

Make yourself at home here and welcome to our community!

 

[muddy75]

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

 

[Nomadicus]

Hello and Welcome to BYC. Glad to have you here in this fun and poultry community.

 

[Zenmonkey]

Pleased to meet you!

Whether it is worth it is a matter of your personal choice, IMO. Chickens are reportedly difficult to come by this year, and eggs are delicious. So if you want more birds, and have access to hatching eggs, have fun!

On the other hand if keeping a true breeding line is important to you, and you're not in a huge rush for more birds, it's perfectly acceptable to wait until you can source birds that are more in line with what you want to keep.

In some cases it might be acceptable to hatch the eggs and visual inspect them either at hatching or maturity to decide what to keep. That presumes that you've got something to do with the birds that you decide don't belong in your flock, and that you *can* identify those that don't belong.

In this case a Maran egg is quite different appearing from an Americauna egg, and so you could tell before hatching who the mother is. Identifying the rooster in this case might be tricky.

I've not raised Marans, but I know they've got a number of different patterns and colors that are accepted for the breed. Americaunas are, in my mind at least, selected mostly for egg color, and so I don't have a specific thing that I could use to distinguish the influence of each breed of the rooster. Someone else here might have a better idea.

But if all that is important to you is eggs, and perhaps varied colors, then as @janiedoe points out, a little Maran blood can be interesting.

 

[Jenbirdee]

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Raisin_The_Chicken]

hello and welcome!!