Eggs

[Robbie]

Just thought I'd share some egg pics. These are as they came out of the nests, no cleaning needed. I'm getting in the 60+ gram range.
The ladies doing most of the work are the mutts that I have, unknown ancestry but probably red sex link crosses. I want to breed my Buckeyes so that they produce eggs like this , starting at 20-22 weeks of age, 200 per year. Buckeyes are primarily a meat breed so 200 eggs a year would be good.
I have a long way to go.

[baronrenfrew]

So how many buckeyes have you got? Breeding plans? Importing plans? I want in!

[TomK]

Robbie...awesome...it never gets old for me...i have 13 girls here and its 11 eggs a day..all in the 60-65 g range...had a few in the 70s and one at 83...ouch...and that one wasn't a double yolker..but the eggs are clean...beautiful and of course, yummy...great looking dozen...grats... :running-chicken:

[WaupoosCowgirl]

Ok the topic is eggs so I thought I would share this here. Yesterday I collected frozen eggs...happens lots around here, anyway this is our first year with Marans. I know that the brown coating was laid on like paint but man does it ever look like peeling paint when it comes off after being froze.

Beautiful Looking dozen Robbie!

[Robbie]

Baronrenfrew, for now I only have 4 buckeye pullets and a rooster.
If all goes well,I'll be getting 4 dozen hatching eggs from Alberta, and if all goes even better, a trio from an American breeder with plans to import from another American breeder in 2017.
If you want in now, I'd recommend contacting Crystal McKinnon in Alberta for hatching eggs. http://www.lalallamas-chickendivision.com/

TomK, your eggs sound awesome! That's what I expect , 60-65 gram eggs. As I get more Buckeyes over time I will start hatching like crazy, and select for rapid growth, faster feathering (there's a very slow feathering gene amongst the Buckeyes that HAS to go!) decent carcass, (although Buckeyes are more of a thigh/dark meat - hence the cornish/buckeye cross I'm planning for meaties)and mostly for good egg shape, (the weight is already there) dark colour and frequency.
When I get to know my Buckeyes I'll be able to design a better breeding plan. For now, I'm still in observation mode. One thing I like about them very much is that they are totally mellow even though the weather is lousy- they are happy just to chill and never cause grief in the coop!

[TomK]

Wow!... Thats bizarre...this post made me go over and take a knife edge to the rock eggs..nada...now I'm perplexed...

[WaupoosCowgirl]

I know none of my other brown eggs have done this, but I have noticed if I have to wash the Maran eggs that I can't scrub very hard.

[Robbie]

Wow!... That's bizarre...this post made me go over and take a knife edge to the rock eggs..nada...now I'm perplexed...

Brown eggs are really white eggs that are coloured brown on the surface. If you don't believe me have a look at the inside of a brown egg after you break it. If you look closely at a brown egg, sometimes you can see scratches from bedding that mar the colour. I'ts easy to scratch the brown when the egg is just freshly laid. When it dries it's a lot tougher, you have to scrape hard or sand it off, especially for pale brown eggs, the colour really "sticks ".
Blue eggs, on the other hand, the pigment completely penetrates the shell so when you crack a blue egg it's blue on the inside too.

I've always wondered (no proof here, just a guess) if the metabolic "cost" of the brown protoporphyrin (what the brown mostly is) is why white egg layers produce more eggs.

The US Marans club has a good article about eggshell colour http://www.maranschickenclubusa.com/files/eggreview.pdf

[WLLady]

Wow, that egg must have frozen quickly after being laid. i've only seen it once with mine-she laid on the floor next to the water dish, and then the rooster stomped through the water dish, spilling water all over it, then it froze and the coating came off just like that. usually i end up washing off parts of the brown when cleaning eggs if they're dirty.....or the hen will roll them around the nesting box right after they're laid and leave scratches on them.

Robbie, they look amazing.

[Flat Rock Farm]

Eggs look great Robbie for not being washed. Unfortunately I have a couple of nest box ers Once I start collecting for hatching I block off the nests at night.