I have 4 "olive eggers" that hatched..... They are mostly black chicks, but all seem to have white on the front of their neck, like a black dog with white trim! Very cute faces.
OK, now my Cockoo Marans are 6 months old and no eggs! They must be late bloomers. When I reach down to pet them, they don't seem to do that "getting ready for the roo" thing. So maybe they aren't ready. I am really looking forward to those dark eggs!
In the mean time, any info on the white egg layers? I am thinking about the Exchequer Leghorn. They are a lot prettier then the regular White Leghorns. Any thoughts?
Marans
My Ameraucanas are just starting to lay at six months and they are not considered slow to mature... As for white egg layers have you thought of Sebright, Minorca, Dorking, La Fleche, or Lakenvelder? All possibly hard to find but interesting birds, it seems. I've never had any of the white-laying breeds.
Yahoo, I got a great dark brown egg from one of my Marans! The others would not let her in the nesting boxes, so I put a small cat carrier in the coop area and sure enough she went in and laid an egg. (Now the other one needs to lay an egg!)
Very pretty egg assortment.
Thanks! I hatched some "olive eggers" from my BCM roo and my Americauna. They are just chicks.
And now you can see the need for a white egg layer!
Andalusians, which are in the same class as Leghorns, but much more attractive, lay white eggs.
Got me some of them Marians...Love the colors but still partial to my greens and blues...
My Cukoo Marans are laying as strong as ever and they are now 3 years old. They lay fairly well through the winter even without supplemental light and lay in the desert summers of 90+ degrees F. My Silver Laced Wyandottes lay almost as well during the summer but definately taper down for the winter. My EEs barely laid this year and stopped when it got hot. The Marans are very gentle - except when one goes broody. Then she will hiss and peck at you to protect "her" eggs.
This is a photo of my cukoo roo and cukoo hens eating some sunflower leaves.
Great to know Kmom, I think we are in the same neck of the woods.. I have buffs too which I hear do really good in our temps.