Wheaten Marans Roo Covering Red Star (Sex Link) Hens - An Experiment

[keesmom]

All 3 are males.

 

[Bangarang64]

All 3 are males.

Naw,

Take a look at the comb and it's obvious that only #2 is a cockerel.
All my males have a definitive comb (like #2's) at that age. #1 and #3 are going to definitely be laying eggs. I just hope it's at 16 weeks like the Red Stars (their mommas) did. The Marans didn't lay until 7 months old.

 

[Bangarang64]

So glad to have stumbled on this thread! I just posted a thread about crossing welsumers and orps for a meat bird but trying to keep the dark egg for a more dual purpose bird. I had wondered about wheaten or cuckoo marans and orpingtons too!
Can you tell me, when they get that age, if the f1 pullet eggs are darker at all than the original red hen's or the barred rock eggs? Kinda hoping they will be!

Wouldn't it be a hoot if I stumbled upon some darker egg layers?
I really doubt it though. The Wheatens I'm hatching are laying some of the darkest eggs I've seen. I doubt they could go darker, but you never know!

 

[Lisa Harmon]

Wouldn't it be a hoot if I stumbled upon some darker egg layers?
I really doubt it though.  The Wheatens  I'm hatching are laying some of the darkest eggs I've seen.  I doubt they could go darker,  but you never know!

Come to mention it, a wheaten or black tailed buff marans and orp cross might just be the thing Im looking for: big, respectably fast growing... Marans roo x bo hens for (f1) hens, bo roo x marans hens for an (f1) split roo, then cross the f1 offspring... Hum. Thanks for the idea!

 

[Bangarang64]

I might have to find me a Buff Orp!

 

[Bangarang64]

12 Weeks

Chick #1

As you can see, our golden #1 is looking more and more like a chicken and less like a chick. She's very healthy, has wonderful white legs and pretty much a gold version of a red Sex Link/Red Star.

Chick #2

Finally, the roo of the bunch is starting to grow a bit of a tail. Our #2 is definitely a male, just compare his comb and waddles to the other birds. He is bigger than the two girls, as well as my two pure Wheaten boys hatched at about the same age. I wonder what I'm going to do with him?

Chick #3

My goodness is this bird a flighty and skiddish! You would think she's been mistreated all her life! I don't understand it it because both the Red Stars and the Wheatens are very docile chickens. #3 is getting a bit darker, but I don't think she's gonna be a "chocolate" color. Even so, she is a much darker shade than the Wheatens. Also, like the other two, she has the Maran's white legs.


Very hard to photograph!

 

[nicalandia]

as expected, a columbian Wheaten results, both parents were wheaten but only one had Columbian, but all of the chicks inherited the columbian gene, 50% of them also inherited the redstar dominant white gene

 

[Bangarang64]

as expected, a columbian Wheaten results, both parents were wheaten but only one had Columbian, but all of the chicks inherited the columbian gene, 50% of them also inherited the redstar dominant white gene

If you can,
could you explain in a bit more detail what you mean?

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
ok, so Wheaten Marans are Wheaten right? well Redstars are also Wheaten but they are Columbian restricted, thats what makes them Red/orange all over it, except in he tail, fly feathers and some feathers on the chackle, basically they would look like a Rhode island Red, but orange instead..but they also have dominant white which turns the black feathers in to white instead of black, Redstars seem to have only one copy of it boing by your results(some of your birds look to have black tips on the tails and hackle

 

[Bangarang64]

Quote:
Thank you so much for that reply! I guess this experiment boils down to simply what happens when Colombian Dominate meets Colombian restrictive?