Whole Foods - Brand X

[kcaywood]

Well, it's been a while! Here are my two grocery girls now! They started laying creamy beige eggs (a couple of shades lighter than the ones they hatched from) three weeks ago. They've hardly missed a day - every morning, the two eggs are waiting. I can really tell they're from egg-laying stock, because my purebred hens were never able to crank out an egg every single day.

One is all white, and the other (she of the single dot)


has some reddish coloring around her head and chest, and a couple of gray back feathers. Both have white earlobes and yellow legs. They were very friendly when younger, but are a bit more skittish than my EE now. Still, they will eat from my hand.

They're not fancy, but they cost a lot less than purebred eggs, and are little egg-laying machines!

 

[NosiphoChooks]

Great update!

 

[bahamabanty]

I think they are leghorns. I have leghorns myself. They're are egg laying machines.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I think they are leghorns. I have leghorns myself. They're are egg laying machines.

Not with a cream colored egg, and definitely not with red leakage. I would bet they are one of the commercial hybrids sold to large egg producers. Here are some really common ones: http://www.isapoultry.com/en/products/

 

[aoxa]

Not with a cream colored egg, and definitely not with red leakage. I would bet they are one of the commercial hybrids sold to large egg producers. Here are some really common ones: http://www.isapoultry.com/en/products/

This is exactly what they are. Red sex links X who knows what. Red sex links carry dominant white. I get mostly white chicks out of them that lay like the dickens!





I love my second generation girls. They are super friendly and great layers..

All have Barred Rock as the father. The yellow with black dots is classic Dominant White expression in day olds.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

This is exactly what they are. Red sex links X who knows what. Red sex links carry dominant white. I get mostly white chicks out of them that lay like the dickens!

Hmm. My RSL crosses are all red. Red with barred tails when RSL x Lemon Blue Cuckoo Marans, and Production Red-looking when crossed with (hatchery) RIR.

 

[aoxa]

Hmm. My RSL crosses are all red. Red with barred tails when RSL x Lemon Blue Cuckoo Marans, and Production Red-looking when crossed with (hatchery) RIR.

Can I see a picture of your RSL hens?

That's so strange.. Barring is dominant when using a pure barred rock rooster over any hen. I should get 50% barred, 50% white (with ghost barring). I've hatched over 20, and had had mostly whites. A few barred.










One of Lydia's babies (hen above and bellow) The white continues...

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Can I see a picture of your RSL hens?

All the ones on the right of the photo are RSL.



Marans cross #1 (not the EE, obvs)



Marans cross #2 (with above bird in the background)


Lemon-blue cuckoo Marans roo:


I'm positive the above girls are out of the Marans because they have feathered feet and blue in their tails. At the time, my other rooster was a Wheaten Ameraucana.

If you can figure out my genetic mystery, have at it! FYI, the only white chickens that I've ever hatched were out of white Leghorn eggs. All the others have turned out red or blue.

 

[aoxa]

All the ones on the right of the photo are RSL.



Marans cross #1 (not the EE, obvs)



Marans cross #2 (with above bird in the background)


Lemon-blue cuckoo Marans roo:


I'm positive the above girls are out of the Marans because they have feathered feet and blue in their tails. At the time, my other rooster was a Wheaten Ameraucana.

If you can figure out my genetic mystery, have at it! FYI, the only white chickens that I've ever hatched were out of white Leghorn eggs. All the others have turned out red or blue.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/383956/isa-brown-page/40 Read post #50.

You may just not have had the luck of hatching white? By the way, your boy is GORGEOUS. I love him! That white hen in pic #1 and the two tails in the bottom picture with your boy look similar to my crosses.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/383956/isa-brown-page/40 Read post #50.

You may just not have had the luck of hatching white? By the way, your boy is GORGEOUS. I love him! That white hen in pic #1 and the two tails in the bottom picture with your boy look similar to my crosses.

Don't think that's it--we hatch under a broody hen, and usually get 100% hatch of all fertilized eggs. It's usually my Leghorn eggs that aren't fertile--those girls must be too fast for the roos. A mystery, I guess.

It is possible that one of those girls was from an ISA Brown. We have a couple in there somewhere. The white birds with the red leakage on the necks are Tetra Tints. They also could be some of my white Leghorn crosses. I've been wishing for a white Leghorn/Ameraucana cross, but clearly that big Marans roo is doing most of the fertilization. At least he's easy to ID as the father, with those feathered feet.

I love that rooster, too. He's a tad rough on hens (barely drops a wing, and we're losing feathers on the backs of heads) but I keep putting off getting rid of him because he's just so pretty.