Where are the new generation of Uber chickens?

[DarJones]

Here is the first pic in a sequence of 11 showing what I had in 2018. Roughly 60% of the 2018 hens laid blue eggs. This was a result of a happy accident of using a homozygous blue egg rooster on several decent looking hens. If you want to see the rest of the pics, just up the number from chickens1.jpg to chickens2.jpg etc.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/2018chickens1.jpg

These 4 pics are of my best hens in 2019. Note the straight combs and bits of brown and partridge markings. These hens were mated to a good looking rose comb rooster visible in the 2nd and 4th pics. I should mention that I cull hens that lay brown eggs so if you see it, it lays a blue egg.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/slw.blue1.jpg
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/slw.blue2.jpg
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/slw.blue3.jpg
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/slw.blue4.jpg

This is a pic from last year showing roughly 1/3 of the birds I had at that time. Note the number of golden laced still in the mix. Cross a golden laced X silver laced rooster and I get nice silver laced pullets.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/2020chickens.jpg

This is a picture from a few days ago with 8 inches of snow and ice on the ground. One of the hens from 2019 is in this pic with very few feathers on her back.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/Hens.jpg

These are the blue eggs they produce. Size varies from roughly 40 grams to about 55 grams. At some point in the future, I will hatch a few rounds of the largest eggs. The resulting chicks should boost egg traits quite a bit. Also, note many of the eggs have a slight tint from porphyrin. Enough lay sky blue eggs that I can use them for selection after I get the blue egg gene stable.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/Blueeggs.jpg

I'm due to ship off feather samples from about 20 of these later this week for DNA tests. I hope to identify at least 1 rooster and 2 or 3 hens homozygous for the blue egg gene. With a rooster and a couple of hens, I can produce pure blue egg layers and shift the focus to other traits like stabilizing rose comb and getting rid of the partridge gene's effects.

 

[Amer]

Here is the first pic in a sequence of 11 showing what I had in 2018. Roughly 60% of the 2018 hens laid blue eggs. This was a result of a happy accident of using a homozygous blue egg rooster on several decent looking hens. If you want to see the rest of the pics, just up the number from chickens1.jpg to chickens2.jpg etc.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/2018chickens1.jpg

These 4 pics are of my best hens in 2019. Note the straight combs and bits of brown and partridge markings. These hens were mated to a good looking rose comb rooster visible in the 2nd and 4th pics. I should mention that I cull hens that lay brown eggs so if you see it, it lays a blue egg.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/slw.blue1.jpg
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/slw.blue2.jpg
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/slw.blue3.jpg
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/slw.blue4.jpg

This is a pic from last year showing roughly 1/3 of the birds I had at that time. Note the number of golden laced still in the mix. Cross a golden laced X silver laced rooster and I get nice silver laced pullets.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/2020chickens.jpg

This is a picture from a few days ago with 8 inches of snow and ice on the ground. One of the hens from 2019 is in this pic with very few feathers on her back.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/Hens.jpg

These are the blue eggs they produce. Size varies from roughly 40 grams to about 55 grams. At some point in the future, I will hatch a few rounds of the largest eggs. The resulting chicks should boost egg traits quite a bit. Also, note many of the eggs have a slight tint from porphyrin. Enough lay sky blue eggs that I can use them for selection after I get the blue egg gene stable.
http://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/Blueeggs.jpg

I'm due to ship off feather samples from about 20 of these later this week for DNA tests. I hope to identify at least 1 rooster and 2 or 3 hens homozygous for the blue egg gene. With a rooster and a couple of hens, I can produce pure blue egg layers and shift the focus to other traits like stabilizing rose comb and getting rid of the partridge gene's effects.

Fascinating!

 

[Feathers of Eden]

A Blue egg layer of SLW trait not only is gorges, it will be in high demand.

Two bird with one stone comes to mind. SLW and blue egg

My hat off for your efforts and the so far result.

 

[Feathers of Eden]

--Commercial hybrids: this is where people get paid to breed chickens

--Private breeders: some want to preserve what exists, but some do set out to make now breeds.

--Some breeders work on new varieties for existing breeds. I keep reading about people working on new colors of Ameraucanas (examples: Cuckoo, Crele) or Orpingtons (Lavender, Chocolate, several Laced colors), and so forth.

--If someone creates a new breed, it dies out when they die or lose interest, unless they have spread it to other people. So we only hear about some of them. A few examples:

Some years ago, I was reading about a breed-in-development called "Maiden Rock Bantams." The guy developing them apparently quit, and that was the end of that.

Aloha chickens are currently being developed. I do not think they are available from any commercial hatchery yet, and not recognized by the American Poultry Association either. There's an article about them here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/reviews/aloha-chickens.11541/

McMurray Hatchery sells "Whiting True Blue" and "Whiting True Green" chickens that they describe as new breeds, developed by a Mr. Whiting to lay blue (or green) eggs. Commercially available, but not recognized by the American Poultry Association.

Seramas are relatively new, accepted by the American Poultry Association in 2011 (just one color at that time, other colors in progress.) You mostly can't buy them from hatcheries, apparently because the chicks are so small they cannot easily be shipped the way other chicks are.

--There's not much market for new breeds. Most people either choose the modern hybrids or high-production purebreds (best for efficient production of eggs or meat), or they select "heritage" breeds (preserve a good thing from the past), or they play around with barnyard mixes (fun and lots of variety, but usually don't get developed into a uniform flock of chickens that might qualify as a "breed.")

--At least in the USA, the people who would buy a "new" kind of chicken because it's new & exciting are mostly buying breeds that have existed in other places, but are newly imported to the USA. As an example, Greenfire Farms is a particular business that specializes in importing new breeds (expensive, tedious, and time-consuming to do it legally), then they raise chicks and sell them for high prices. Other people buy the chicks and breed their own, and a few years later the price has dropped, but Greenfire has imported a few more breeds by then. I'm sure it's faster & cheaper to import new breeds than to spend the time to develop them, and some people like having chicken breeds with a long history behind them.

Thank you so much for the great reply. Apparently I was missing a lot.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The main thing is that new varieties, let alone breeds, take years and years to perfect. Doesn't matter how scientificly good the technology is, it still takes time. There's possibly lots of breeds being created, but they're probably still close to a decade out

 

[NatJ]

Thank you so much for the great reply. Apparently I was missing a lot.

You haven't spent enough years browsing the internet for interesting chickens, at least not yet

 

[BlueBaby]

You haven't spent enough years browsing the internet for interesting chickens, at least not yet

Thank you for mentioning the Aloha's! I'm one of the one's that is helping out with the project.