Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[pennyJo1960]

My little coop and run is coming along.......almost ready to move the babies into it.

super cute ... looks pretty solid

 

[Duck Drover]

Today I hatched my first 2nd generation Easter Egger (more due to hatch but only one so far) and it is not as striped as I expected. I took a picture of the chick with the egg shell but it was dark and the flash washed out the shell color a bit so I need to take better pictures later when it is fully dry and fluffed up.

I should probably grow out the first hatches until POL to verify that the egg color and bird characteristics are what I want before I sell chicks with any guarantees of expected outcome. My first generation lays bluer eggs than my second generation green egg layers, although I expected the Quechua to deepen the blue genetics in the second generation so I would get beautiful blue-green eggs. The green eggs are the pretty bright green I like rather than the light olive green I don't like as well so putting blue back in should result in some brighter blue-green eggs but I can't be sure until I see the egg color.

I can certainly sell the chicks and let egg color be a surprise as long as they breed true with beards, muffs, pea combs, and slate legs since that is the way it is with Easter Egger eggs but I need to know what I am hatching before I produce too many unknowns.

I am trusting that my Quechua rooster is purebred since I got him from a breeder but the hens are unknown since one came from the feed store and one from a mutt breeder who made false claims when he guaranteed colored eggs (some in the group of chicks I raised layed beige eggs so I sold all but the one I kept since she had a broken toe when I sold the rest and she was my favorite in regards to her appearance). I had lost my second blue egg layer from the feed store when she turned over a plastic feed bin on herself and suffocated to death so the two hens I started my Easter Egger project with have very different genetics. I originally just wanted them for layers, not breeders.

I liked the first generation hens from each of my two hens but I only kept my favorite from each hen to see what they produce breeding back to the Quechua. This chick is technically 3/4 Quechua so maybe that is why it is not as boldly striped as my first generation that was half Quechua. I expected the Quechua to keep the breed characteristics of the original Easter Eggers (not the mutts that are called Easter Eggers) and the chipmunk stripes are typical for the breed. I don't know why the stripes are not more pronounced so now I am not sure what to expect from the bird when it matures.

I don't usually crossbreed so this is a first for me. There are so many genetics involved that I hope I don't get some undesirable mutations I did not want. The only way to know for sure is to raise a smaller sample and keep a close eye on how they mature. I had no trouble selling my first generation test hatch so I suppose I can sell chicks and only keep a few to study if I decide to keep hatching my fertile eating eggs. I actually need to use them to test a cabinet incubator we built so if the incubator is a success I will have more chicks than I want to track.

 

[Leigti]

That is a very pretty egg. I like that color also. I think it would be very difficult to raise Easter Egger chickens the way you want because like you said the Easter Egger ones are usually just mats. I got three Easter Eggars from a hatchery and only one lays a green egg one lace a pink egg and the third one leas a beige egg.

 

[sparton]

My daughter is looking to expand her 4h silkie breeding project. She wants to get some really strong splashes along with Blues as well as blacks. Duckdrover was really kind and gave us some very stunning roosters last year but we are still on the hunt for a couple pretty true black bantams. Anyone have hatching eggs or even a straight run of chicks we can pick up a few from? We live in SW Washington.

 

[pennyJo1960]

My daughter is looking to expand her 4h silkie breeding project. She wants to get some really strong splashes along with Blues as well as blacks. Duckdrover was really kind and gave us some very stunning roosters last year but we are still on the hunt for a couple pretty true black bantams. Anyone have hatching eggs or even a straight run of chicks we can pick up a few from? We live in SW Washington.

you might go ahead and message @Hinotori she has the line on Silkies
and is in Graham

 

[Duck Drover]

My daughter is looking to expand her 4h silkie breeding project. She wants to get some really strong splashes along with Blues as well as blacks. Duckdrover was really kind and gave us some very stunning roosters last year but we are still on the hunt for a couple pretty true black bantams. Anyone have hatching eggs or even a straight run of chicks we can pick up a few from? We live in SW Washington. 

I have a couple more roosters leaving tomorrow but I am keeping the girls. We will be hatching chicks soon so I can let you know if we get any blacks. I only have one black hen and she is broody but we might have some of her eggs in the incubator. They would have the same father, though because the splash rooster would only have blue chicks with the black hen.

 

[Duck Drover]

That is a very pretty egg. I like that color also. I think it would be very difficult to raise Easter Egger chickens the way you want because like you said the Easter Egger ones are usually just mats. I got three Easter Eggars from a hatchery and only one lays a green egg one lace a pink egg and the third one leas a beige egg.

I love the bright green and blue eggs plus anything in between. The birds people call Easter Eggers now have been really diluted with crossbreeding so I am trying to get back to the original type.

 

[sparton]

Our roosters would love a couple more hens and I think our current hens would like a bit of respite. I need to go out and get updated pictures. My little lame one from last year is now a rather spirited runner (Lex says I fixed her knee too well) and turned into the prettiest little splash. We are loving the roosters and the ducks.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Quote: I was not aware you had any silkies

 

[Duck Drover]

Both hatched today!