Silver Laced Wyandottes that lay blue eggs

[3KillerBs]

This is so interesting to follow!

 

[picklestheduck]

This is so interesting to follow!

Agreed!

 

[nicalandia]

Still, this is the first time I've had a hen laying eggs that are more intense blue than the original blue egg laying Brown Leghorns.

Leghorns have many egg color inhibitors, I suspect that the hen you are referring to has none of those

 

[SunriseChickers]

Watching! This is a really fascinating journey that you've been so kind to take us on!

 

[DarJones]

I'm getting ready for another year of selection and breeding. My SLW's are laying about 8 eggs per day and should ramp up quite a bit in early February. One desirable trait in SLW is laying even in the coldest weather so long as they have plenty of food.

I have a two year old rooster tested homozygous for oocyanin. I have 6 young roosters which will be culled after oocyanin tests keeping only homozygous roosters. Based on egg laying results, half of these roosters should be homozygous. Did I mention that all hens this year should lay blue eggs? I had 3 homozygous roosters from tests comleted 3/25/2022. I removed all older hens laying brown eggs (given to a neighbor for layers), and kept only blue egg layers. Chicks raised last year are now laying with all producing blue eggs so far.

I have 32 hens of which 4 are golden laced and the rest silver laced. About 6 of the hens have very good colors with rose comb. The rest have various flaws such as poor pattern, single comb, etc. I focus on roosters culling heavily for SLW traits combined with homozygous oocyanin. The six retained roosters have already been culled removing all poor colors and single comb. When I have them tested, I can then keep only the roosters that will stabilize blue egg color in my chickens. I'll take a few pictures to post in a few days.

 

[SourRoses]

I'll take a few pictures to post in a few days.

How's it going this spring?

My own project hatches are all waiting on immature cockerels to be ready.

 

[aquila]

What an exciting project. I've thought about breeding EE barnyard mixes back towards some Wyandotte traits but am nowhere near as well versed as you on chicken breeding and genetics. I'll be watching this with interest for future updates!