What are your breeding plans for next year?

[Chikyboy]

I have a feather footed EE project next year. Feathered feet are gonna come from my bantam cochin roo. My goal for the project is to have a chicken that lays blue/green eggs and have a pea comb, muffs, and beard. Also hoping to have lots of color variation. I have three EE hens: Goldilocks, Spurrling, and Bluey. Goldilocks is just mixed color, Spurrling is blue with what is either just random patterning or really messy barring, and I think Bluey might be a blue partridge. Spurrling and Bluey are old and barely lay (I haven't even gotten any eggs from them the past few weeks) but Goldilocks is younger and a much better layer. Spurrling does't have muffs, and she does have a pea comb, but it's one that looks like her ameraucana ancestors were bred to single combed chickens for many generations, so it's kinda raised. Bluey isn't doing the best and Idk if she will even make it through the winter. So Goldilocks is the most likely hen. Hopefully I can get some younger EE hens next year. I also have a chicken show in a few month where they also sell chickens, so maybe I can get an ameraucana hen from there too.

 

[thlayli]

I'm working on mauve easter eggers. I have a chocolate laced silver orpington rooster and 3 blue Ameraucana pullets I'll be separating out come spring. I also have some mottled splash Icelandics I might throw in with them and see what happens. The Icies were an experiment that didn't work out, but their big poofy crests and prolific laying has been pretty nifty this last year. I'll probably just end up eating the boys and all but the best girls. I'd like to get a second incubator since running one three months in a row was a big pain when it came to brooding and then integrating. If I can just hatch 40-odd chicks all at once and be done for the year, that would be ideal lol. I also have a Black Ameraucana cockerel who will be presiding over the rest of the flock while Harold has some quality time with the lucky ladies for my project, so I might hatch out some of his babies for funsies. Black Ams are gorgeous birds.

 

[Chikyboy]

I have a feather footed EE project next year. Feathered feet are gonna come from my bantam cochin roo. My goal for the project is to have a chicken that lays blue/green eggs and have a pea comb, muffs, and beard. Also hoping to have lots of color variation. I have three EE hens: Goldilocks, Spurrling, and Bluey. Goldilocks is just mixed color, Spurrling is blue with what is either just random patterning or really messy barring, and I think Bluey might be a blue partridge. Spurrling and Bluey are old and barely lay (I haven't even gotten any eggs from them the past few weeks) but Goldilocks is younger and a much better layer. Spurrling does't have muffs, and she does have a pea comb, but it's one that looks like her ameraucana ancestors were bred to single combed chickens for many generations, so it's kinda raised. Bluey isn't doing the best and Idk if she will even make it through the winter. So Goldilocks is the most likely hen. Hopefully I can get some younger EE hens next year. I also have a chicken show in a few month where they also sell chickens, so maybe I can get an ameraucana hen from there too.

So I might still end up doing this, but I'm more likely to end up breeding Goldilocks to my main breeding roo, Oliver. I will also be getting rid of Spurrling and Bluey, and two other hens, bc they are all really old.

 

[Chikyboy]

This is what I want to add to my mixed breeding flock next year: (all hens) Phoenix, Sultan, and either sapphire gem or blue andulusion. I also want to add EE genes, probably from my EE hen, Goldilocks. I'll add her to the flock long enough to mother chicks, then put her back in her own flock and put two or three of her female chicks in.

 

[Galaxy_rules]

I’m planning to get some VERY green shimmer on my aussie hens, as the Roos have it must not AS much the hens.

 

[Galaxy_rules]

I’m also adding some Cochin, Orpington, Blue Red Wyandotte, and salmon favorolle to my mixed Flock

 

[Chikyboy]

I’m planning to get some VERY green shimmer on my aussie hens, as the Roos have it must not AS much the hens.

Cool! Two of my three black hens have a good shimmer. The ones with the shimmer are banty cochin and marans faverolle mix. The one that doesn't have it is half partridge bantam cochin, 1/4 leghorn, and 1/4 game mix. She is also 4-5 months old, so she might gain it as she ages.

 

[Dough Hill]

I’m hoping to Hatch out some eggs from my Delaware Hens with this Rooster I hatched last Spring.

 

[Chikyboy]

I’m also adding some Cochin, Orpington, Blue Red Wyandotte, and salmon favorolle to my mixed Flock

You just reminded me I wanted to add gold laced wyandottes to my mixed flock. They can add some nice color, but I mainly want to mix them with my three breed rooster so I can get some rosecombs with new colors.

 

[Chikyboy]

The rooster (well technically cockerel) in the middle walking around like he owns the place is Oliver. He is half leghorn, 1/4 gold laced polish, and 1/4 mystery, although I think it was a longtail breed, like phoenix or yokohama.

He is special to me for two reasons:
A) He is the last chick I ever hatched from one of my favorite hens, Lemmy the leghorn.
B) I'm pretty sure this is the first time I'm keeping a rooster to breed that I've bred myself. Like, I've bred a LOT of other roos, and I've hatched some from eggs that I bought that I kept. But I've never kept one that I have bred to breed. He is real pretty too.
I hatched him out in April this year. This pic is from when he was a bit younger, he is bigger now and has a much longer tail. I aslo really love him because now, with the exception of my purebred bantam cochin coop, the entire next generation of chicks will have Lemmy's blood in their veins. I'm gonna put one hen from my mixed flock in with my bantam cochins because I did the same cross last year and got tons of cool colors but most of them were males so I want to do it again and try to get some of those colors in females. Even these ones will be from Lemmy's line, because it will be on of Lemmy's daughters.