Whiting true blue crossed with marans

[RaisingGr8t]

I’m incubating eggs from a WTB rooster who is yellow duck wing (I have no idea how to ID chicken colors) crossed with my cuckoo marans hen. I’m crossing my fingers that the chicks will be sexlinked. I have no idea what to expect using a rooster that isn’t black with a barred hen. Anyone else know?

 

[NatJ]

I’m incubating eggs from a WTB rooster who is yellow duck wing (I have no idea how to ID chicken colors) crossed with my cuckoo marans hen. I’m crossing my fingers that the chicks will be sexlinked. I have no idea what to expect using a rooster that isn’t black with a barred hen. Anyone else know?

As long as the rooster does not have barring, yes you will get sexlinked chicks.

The chicks should look like black chicks, with yellow dots on the heads of the males but not the females. They should grow up to be mostly black, with white barring in the males but not the females. Both genders may have some amount of silver or gold color leaking through in places.

If you post a photo of the rooster, someone here can probably double-check whether he has barring.

 

[Jordanmw96]

I’m going to be breeding my WTB to a splash maran in a few months. Hoping for splash Easter/Oliver eggers!

 

[Poodlemum]

So exciting! I’ve got a few WTB x BCM or Welsummer incubating now. Probably should have waited a few more months, butttttt that’s harddddddd

 

[NatJ]

I’m going to be breeding my WTB to a splash maran in a few months. Hoping for splash Easter/Oliver eggers!

Is the WTB splash or blue?

To get splash chicks, they need to inherit the blue gene from both parents, so both parents need to be splash or blue.

 

[mittyaroo]

I’m jumping in years later to answer that YES, breeding purebred Whiting True Blues (2 blue egg genes) to purebred dark laying Marans does produce 100% Olive laying offspring with all offspring having pea combs. I’ve been breeding this cross myself. The highly unique and variable feather colors of the Whitings results in beautiful chicks. Most hatch blue/black/splash when using a Blue Copper Marans and they sell quickly, almost as soon as they are dry. If you use fluffy faced Whiting True Blues, the chicks can inherit beards, which people seem to really like. It adds a lot of interest to Olive Egger breeding pens!

Can a WTB x BCM (both purebred) chick be crested?

 

[NatJ]

Can a WTB x BCM (both purebred) chick be crested?

Probably not.

Black (or blue) Copper Marans have no crests.
I've never read of a Whiting True Blue having a crest either.

If neither parent has a crest, then no chicks will have crests.

 

[Jordanmw96]

Can a WTB x BCM (both purebred) chick be crested?

I don’t think so no

 

[bigsurfwaves]

Hi. I'm a rookie. I found this thread because I just raised several dark and blue laying pullets... Marans hens (Wheaten, Splash, and Golden Cuckoo), Welsummer, and Splash Ameraucana. I also have a couple pretty Wyandottes and Speckled Sussex. I have no roosters and I need some! So - I have a chance to pick from several Whiting True Blue cockerels. Their mother is almost pure white which I don't like. How dominant will this be in the offspring ? Also available are cockerels from crosses between WTB and a pretty Olive egger who lays dark olive eggs. She does not have feathered feet, she has more of a welsummer look but no idea whether she is F1 or F2. The OE/WTB crosses are actually the prettiest and I am going to take one of those boys for sure. But the Whiting True Blue has me interested in creating prolific f1 olive Eggers with my dark layers. As a rookie- I hadn't expected to enter halfway through someone else's breeding project - but these OE cockerels are the result of back breeding to pure WTB... so they are a wild card but pretty darn likely to pass blue on... right? In that Olive egger chart - these guys fall into the 'spearmint' category if they were female. Would I be foolish to breed them into my pure dark layer flock or breed to my Ameraucana? What might happen? Oh - should I select a WTB cockerel with a beard or no? I feel this hunch that white leghorn coming through in these chickens makes them lay more eggs but maybe my Splash Ameraucana could be bred back to them in order to mitigate the white with blue or black and also reinforce the blue gene. Am I thinking about this correctly? Or am I just going to make a mess? lol. Thanks y'all.

 

[NatJ]

Hi. I'm a rookie. I found this thread because I just raised several dark and blue laying pullets... Marans hens (Wheaten, Splash, and Golden Cuckoo), Welsummer, and Splash Ameraucana. I also have a couple pretty Wyandottes and Speckled Sussex. I have no roosters and I need some! So - I have a chance to pick from several Whiting True Blue cockerels. Their mother is almost pure white which I don't like. How dominant will this be in the offspring ?

There are several genes or combinations of genes that can make a chicken look white, so it can be a bit hard to predict. But if you choose a cockerel who shows little or no white, he will probably not produce chicks with large amounts of white either.

If you post photos of the specific cockerels in question, asuming they have grown most of their feathers, I can make a guess about which ones are more likely or less likely to give you a bunch of white chicks.

these OE cockerels are the result of back breeding to pure WTB... so they are a wild card but pretty darn likely to pass blue on... right?

Yes, they should pass the blue egg gene to at least half their chicks, and maybe all of their chicks.

A genetic test does exist:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/blueegg
If you want to know whether a rooster has one, two, or no copies of the blue egg gene, the test can tell you that. If he has two copies of the blue egg gene, every one of his chicks will get one copy, so all his daughters will lay blue eggs (or green or olive ones, depending on what genes she gets for brown on the outside of the egg.)

In that Olive egger chart - these guys fall into the 'spearmint' category if they were female. Would I be foolish to breed them into my pure dark layer flock or breed to my Ameraucana? What might happen?

What might happen: the daughters might lay egg colors you like, or they might lay egg colors you do not like. It is up to you whether that is a big problem, or just a mildly interesting thing to have.

should I select a WTB cockerel with a beard or no?

That depends on whether you want chicks with beards or chicks without beards. Beard has nothing to do with what color eggs a chicken lays, or how many eggs she lays, so you can go either way and get chicks that will be equally good layers of the egg colors you want.

If you select a cockerel with a beard, many of his chicks will have beards, from all of your hens.

If you select a cockerel with no beard, then you will get non-bearded chicks from your non-bearded hens, but you will probably get some bearded chicks from your bearded hens.

I feel this hunch that white leghorn coming through in these chickens makes them lay more eggs but maybe my Splash Ameraucana could be bred back to them in order to mitigate the white with blue or black and also reinforce the blue gene. Am I thinking about this correctly?

That is more or less what was done to create the Whiting True Blue in the first place, except that apparently the person creating them did not care about feather color.

Yes, you could breed for the not-white colors that way.
And yes, you could get chicks who are pure for the blue egg gene (two copies of the gene, one inherited from each parent.)

Or am I just going to make a mess? lol.

Not too big of a mess. Any way you mix the chicken breeds, you will still get chickens. They will be fluffy and cute as chicks, grow up into adults who either look pretty or not to you (different people have different preferences), and lay eggs (probably including many blue or green eggs.)

Note for the future: it often works better to start your own thread for things like this, so people don't get confused about which breeding project is being discussed in which replies. For now, I've made sure to quote your post, so hopefully it is clear which questions I am answering.