Your opinion wanted: white eggs.

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:31 pm

Oooooh, silvers...so tempted...

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:14 pm

Ha haa you and me both WWW I was thinking since I'm getting Anconas, what's the harm in adding a dozen silvers?

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 12:02 am

Well, I don't know about you, Robbie, I think you live fairly close to Coonhound? My issue would be a loooong , expensive roadtrip, and no way to add to the bloodlines later on. But...but...SILVERS!!!!

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:20 am

I don't know where coonhound lives- LOL maybe I should have asked first and then ordered?

Worth the drive, wherever, I say!

Pollo Caballo · Post by **Pollo Caballo** » Mon Feb 15, 2016 11:12 pm

I did not have any white eggers for the first few years I had my own chickens. Then my children started asking why we did not have any white eggs....so I ended up getting two Ancona pullet chicks. They are now almost three years old and still lay well and the matt white egg color does showcase the dark brown marans and pink and blue eggs nicely as many others have noted. I like them overall...they are more flighty or nervous than most of my other hens but they have been good layers even through most of the winters and they are good sentinels for when the flocks are free roaming. If I cannot get more anconas in the future I would probably go with exchequer leghorns also.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:04 am

Nice to hear that someone else has Anconas!

Cuttlefish · Post by **Cuttlefish** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:13 am

Apparently white leghorns carry a rare gene that suppresses brown egg shell colour... so they can be used to lighten other colours.... of course then you're dealing with dominant white birds, but if a "tint" can become white with a boost...... hmmmm... I smell another breeding project. : )

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:00 pm

Cuttlefish wrote:QR_BBPOST Apparently white leghorns carry a rare gene that suppresses brown egg shell colour... so they can be used to lighten other colours.... of course then you're dealing with dominant white birds, but if a "tint" can become white with a boost...... hmmmm... I smell another breeding project. : )

I tried very hard to track down that elusive " pr" gene- seems to be in a line of research leghorns, but there are just hints of it mentioned in the literature and if it's out there in chickens that are available to us, I'd like to find it, myself. Getting the tint out is very tricky.
It's unfortunate that barred hollands are now hit and miss for egg colour, a lot lay a tinted egg (probably crossed with barred rocks). We'll see how the ones I ordered from Performance do, but I'll have to wait a long time to find out and since I ordered only 10 straight run (no other option) there's probably a good chance they will all be cockerels anyway.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 2:27 pm

Robbie: what about your standard cornish, and your bantam cornish "meat bird" program?

Where will you find the room for everything?

Don't forget you need a grain bin so you can buy it by the ton and save a few bucks!
Either that or we have to found a group: chicken keepers anonymous. "Hi I'm Robbie... and I'm a compulsive chicken keeper...."

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 2:36 pm

baronrenfrew wrote:QR_BBPOST Robbie: what about your standard cornish, and your bantam cornish "meat bird" program?

Where will you find the room for everything?

Don't forget you need a grain bin so you can buy it by the ton and save a few bucks!
Either that or we have to found a group: chicken keepers anonymous. "Hi I'm Robbie... and I'm a compulsive chicken keeper...."

I'm in the process of designing the mobile coop/tractor combos as we speak........ So far I need 9.

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