Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[ajayb]

I'm starting over with chickens this year (having given my previous flock to a keen young friend last year when we had other animal issues going on) and I thought I had learned from owning a mixture of hybrids and pure breeds, so that I would be able to choose my hens sensibly this time round.

 

I remember thinking that, given I keep hens for the pleasure of watching them free range as well as for the delicious eggs that make great gifts to friends & family, I really should stick with hybrids to avoid all the broody nonsense.

 

With this in mind, I got some Hylines (like a Calder Ranger) and some Columbines. I like to have a variety of egg colour, so I'm looking to add a very dark brown egg layer. Can anyone please tell me if Burford Browns or Speckeldys come close to the colour I'd get from a Welsummer or a Maran? Which is the darkest brown egg-laying hybrid and which is the darkest brown egg layer of any breed?

 

It really would be helpful to know as it looks as though the Burfords are going to be a very expensive choice for me because of the transport costs and I'd hate to 'invest' in them only to be disappointed in the eggs!

[Redwing]

Marans and Pendecencas lay the darkest eggs but the colour of eggs varies with different strains so anyone wanting to buy a chook which is virtually guaranteed to lay a dark egg needs to find a breeder that selectively breeds for that

 

This means that hybrid producers are unlikely to be that bothered about strains so it would be hard to predict which will lay dark eggs, some Speckeldy chickens lay a darker egg than others for example. The Burford brown seems to be a bit more small scale than others so may be a better bet as suppliers do claim they will lay a dark brown egg so you'd like to think they will.......

 

Looking at your location have you considered the good and sturdy original Black Rock? they really are the best bet of the hybrids being generally healthier and longer lived, they may not lay a very dark brown egg but the eggs are brown not tinted

[ajayb]

Thanks, Redwing.

 

I appreciate your advice and understand that there will be differences between breeders of the same type of hen (I remember being warned off choosing from 'show' stock as egg quality is often sacrificed for feather quality & I had a lovely silver-pencilled Wyandotte who laid the puniest, nondescript eggs and seemed to prove this rule!).

 

Burfords (if bought from the source breeder) or maybe black copper Marans from a dark-egg laying strain might be my best two options from hybrids and pure breeds. I have had Black Rocks in the past and not been hugely taken by them or their eggs ... maybe I'm too difficult to please? (Although I do love the bog-standard Hylines and their eggs are pretty much the same as the Black Rocks)

[Redwing]

You are quite correct about generally avoiding show strain birds, I have two strains of Welsummer bantams - show and dark egg laying and they are quite distinctly different looking with the dark egg laying strain being rather less well marked and the cockerel far less colourful which shows what each strain was engineered to produce!

[Sue]

The 2 breeds generally acknowledged to lay the best dark brown eggs are Marans and Welsummers

 

Here are links to the 2 Club sites

 

http://www.themaransclub.co.uk

 

http://www.welsummerclub.org/

 

So you can compare colour of eggs and numbers of eggs you might expect from each. The above poster is correct and choose someone with a utility strain rather than show strain, unless they specialize in showing eggs.

[ajayb]

Thank you for this post - the eggs in the picture are fantastic! (Might I ask where you originally sourced your marans ...?)

[Sue]

I got my first English Cuckoo Marans in the 1980's. I already had a few bog standard egg laying hybrids, and mooching round the poultry tent at my local agricultural show - The Three Counties at Malvern - I spotted the beautiful dark eggs laid by the Marans and I was smitten.

 

In those days there didnt seem to be many Marans about, and there were none in the show pens, but next year there was the most beautiful, huge but nice tempered cockerel who won first prize, and he became my foundation cockerel together with two pullets from a real old timer (now long gone - he was in his 70's then) who came from Bristol.

 

If you join The Marans Club they print a year book which contains the names of all the members of The Marans Club of Great Britain - and there is also a page on the web site listing birds and hatching eggs for sale.

 

This year for the first time I am trying some blue and olive green egg layers as I think they will make a nice colour contrast with the Marans eggs and my Higgledy Harriet eggs

 

Marans are a really nice breed to keep - if you decide on them I am sure you will enjoy them