I put my Splash maran over my EE's. The EE hens are all colors. All the offspring where shades of blue or splash. Very pretty babies. I have a broody sitting on 15 mint green eggs right now from a Blue copper maran over EE's again the same hens as before all colors. I can't wait too see what hatches out! The hatch out should be the 18th of June. 5 long days lol. I'm thinking I will get dark blues and blacks out of it. The rooster is unproven so I'm a little concerned the hatch rate will be bad. If it is it wont be because of the broody. She is a fat fluffy BO who loves her eggs. She had 8 of 12 in March hatch out. I put 4 chicks in I had from an incubator in with her and took out the unhatched eggs. She protected her little flock till they where 4 weeks old. She chased the dog and the cat. She killed a snake and fed it to her babies. She walked them around the 5 acre area. Buffy even took them to the farm next door. They loved watching the chicks chasing bugs. They don't have chickens. My flock keeps the ticks down in our hollow. It is known my chickens own the dirt road and grass/woods on both sides. My corgi is the flock protector lol when she isn't chasing them! Now if I can just convince the hawk to leave the babies alone. We had a pair that picked off 16 this season. I built a new 10x20 grow out pen. It has a little coop off the ground with 2 nest boxes and room for 5 large birds. But works great as a broody grow out pen. I will be keeping them locked up in their till they are too big for the hawk around 8 weeks old. I will have too see how many hatch this time. If I get too many, a new mini coop will have to be made. CHICKEN MATH I hate it! Never know how many will come and go.
