Finnie- Finally A Journal

[Finnie]

Didn't you end up with a purple egg layer out of your breeding a couple years back?

I did. But she was the only one. All of her sisters laid lighter brown eggs. I never even figured out which one of them was the Purple Egger. As I needed to reduce my rooster numbers, I didn’t keep their father. (Black Copper Marans) Now the only “Purple Egger” I have left is their mother. I think she is 5 or 6 years old. I still get a really dark brown egg from her a few times a week.

Last year I hatched out a bunch of chicks from her eggs, the good purple eggs (before I sold that one) and some Buff Brahma eggs that were lighter in color but did exhibit the plum type cast. But the roosters in that pen at the time were not dark laying breeds. They were Swedish Flower Hen, Lavender Orpington and I think a mixed breed. So not surprisingly none of those daughters lay purple eggs. There are 2 or 3 light eggs that look like they have a purple hue to them when I’m getting them out of the nest box, but when I look at them in the house, they are just regular brown eggs.

I decided to put the purple egger project on hold for now because I have too many other breeds to work with. I do like to keep Langshans, so maybe some day if I find myself with some good candidates to work with I will try again. But the Langshans I ordered from MMM last year either aren’t laying yet or their eggs are light brown.

 

[Finnie]

I would love to see them!

I’m sure I will post photos if I have any luck with that project. Looking at the one-week-old chicks, I think I can see a couple with frizzle feathers. It usually takes a couple of weeks to know for sure.

 

[farmerjan]

Langshans lay a light brown egg... all the standards and bantams I have had laid a light brown egg... and for their size, the large fowl lay what I would call a small sized egg.... compared to the overall size of the bird. The bantams lay a decent sized egg for their size, but I was disappointed by the size eggs of the large fowl. Still love their stature... Just got a pair of black langshan bantams this past weekend with the large fowl buff leghorns I got...

 

[Finnie]

Langshans lay a light brown egg... all the standards and bantams I have had laid a light brown egg... and for their size, the large fowl lay what I would call a small sized egg.... compared to the overall size of the bird. The bantams lay a decent sized egg for their size, but I was disappointed by the size eggs of the large fowl. Still love their stature... Just got a pair of black langshan bantams this past weekend with the large fowl buff leghorns I got...

I’m glad you have Langshans again! I know you like them. From my past Langshans, I’ve had some that laid light and some that laid dark. Quite dark, but not as dark as a Marans. I’ve noticed the same thing that their eggs are not as large as say a barred rock.

Most of my Langshans have come from Murray McMurray except for my first two who came from a show breeder. Those two lived the longest- just shy of their 9th birthday. But, I could never get their eggs to hatch. Sometimes infertile and the ones that were fertile just quit at different points.

The ones I got from MMM a long time ago bred well and I had their offspring for 8 years. But the new chicks I ordered last year just don’t look as nice. I will probably look for exhibition birds some day.

 

[fuzzi]

... Just got a pair of black langshan bantams this past weekend with the large fowl buff leghorns I got...

They were pretty, as well.