Our Breeding Flock
Our Breeding Flock
Our breeding program is still growing, and that is part of the fun.
Rather than producing large numbers of one standardized bird, we are working with several carefully chosen genetics to develop chickens that lay eggs in a beautiful range of colors—from blues and greens to olives, speckles, chocolates, and other interesting shades and blooms.
We are also paying attention to the birds themselves. Temperament, health, vigor, appearance, and suitability for a small homestead flock matter just as much to us as what comes out of the nesting box.
Foundation Genetics
The first generation of our breeding flock began with hatching eggs from Henhouse Hues in Eldorado.
Those hatches gave us the foundation for several of the egg-color projects we are now developing at Willow & Branch.
Our current foundation genetics include:
Chocolate Layer Project
Hens and a rooster produced from a Black Copper Marans Olive Egger hen crossed with a Black Copper Marans rooster. These birds give us an interesting foundation for continuing to work toward deeper, richer egg colors.
Silverudd’s Blue
We have a pure Silverudd’s Blue rooster in our breeding program. Silverudd’s Blue genetics are especially exciting for our colored-egg projects because of their blue/green egg genetics and potential contribution to future olive and green laying lines.
Welsummers
Our Welsummer hens bring beautiful warm brown egg genetics into the flock and give us another avenue for working toward richly colored and potentially speckled eggs.
Silverudd’s Blue × Welsummer
We also have hens hatched from a Silverudd’s Blue hen crossed with a Welsummer rooster, combining two of the lines we are especially interested in for future colored-egg projects.
Multi-Generational Olive Eggers
Our Olive Eggers bring established colored-egg genetics into the breeding program and will be used selectively as we continue working toward different shades of olive, mossy green, and other complex egg colors.
Speckled Blue Project
Some of our birds originated from Henhouse Hues’ Speckled Blue Project—blue-laying hens bred to an Olive Egger rooster selected for heavy, splotchy speckling genetics.
We are excited to see how these genetics develop through future generations as we select for blue and green base colors along with increasingly interesting speckling.
Genetics We’ve Added
We’ve also added several birds outside our original foundation hatch to give us more possibilities as the breeding program develops.
Our flock currently includes an Ermine Ameraucana hen, a Zombie Splash hen believed to carry Ayam Cemani and Ermine genetics, an Ayam Cemani hen, and a Golden Laced Polish rooster.
We also have a Bielefelder rooster who may eventually be incorporated into selected projects.
Not every bird listed here will necessarily be bred into every line. Pairings will be intentional, and some are experimental.
That means you’ll occasionally see birds or hatching eggs offered as project genetics rather than as established breeds.
We believe in being transparent about that distinction.
Our Silkie Flock
Because apparently one chicken rabbit hole wasn’t enough.
Our Silkie group currently includes a Lavender Naked Neck Silkie hen, a Splash Silkie hen, and a Chocolate Silkie rooster with possible frizzle feathering.
We also plan to add a Satin Silkie hen when we find the right bird for the flock.
This group will give us opportunities to hatch some especially fun combinations of color, feather type, and appearance.
(Never breed two Frizzles together. Doing so passes on two copies of the gene, creating "frazzles" or "sizzles" which suffer from extreme, brittle, and broken feathers, bald spots, and severe health issues.)
As with our other experimental crosses, offspring will be clearly identified as projects or mixes whenever parentage does not represent an established pure breed or variety.