Whiting True Blue Chicken

Whiting True Blue Chicken

Want a chicken that lays like a Leghorn but produces a blue egg? Well check out the Whiting True Blue. Wonderful prolific and consistent layers of large blue eggs, they are named after Dr. Tom Whiting a poultry geneticist who developed the breed. He developed the breed for the fly-fishing industry. The roosters’ feathers are designed for that purpose.

Whiting True Blues generally, begin laying a little earlier around 5 months of age. Their feed to egg conversion is higher than most breeds. This means that they eat less feed in turn lower costs for you. Lower feed costs, beautiful colored eggs, consistent layers, great foragers. They are active chickens, with typically friendly, non-aggressive temperament. We find their temperament is in the middle for the flock hierarchy. Ours love to roost as high as possible in their chicken house, all the way up in the rafters.

One of Sugar Feather Farm’s line have black, yellow and white color combinations with flecks of gold/orange. As seen in the photos, those can be what we call our American Line. However, they can come in a wide spectrum of feather patterns including solid blue, black, black breasted red, and many other variants. Some have puffy cheeks, some don’t. There is no breed standard for this bird.  They generally have yellow legs, and a pea comb, but a single comb shows up occasionally due to the Leghorn genetics. This chicken is not a rare or heritage breed but a breed we feel is worth investing in. Our blue egg sometimes tends to go to the green side so sometimes a blue-green. We are on the third generation of our American Line breeding program and integrating different colorations. Their feathers are wonderful for crafting and fly-fishing! This is a very hardy bird, does well in all climates and an excellent layer. All our birds are Non-GMO raised and vaccinated for Marek’s Disease.

Feed Recommendations: we recommend starting baby chicks out with Sugar Feather Farm chick starter for the first 3 weeks, then switch to our Chicken Grower. Use the Grower Feed until they hit maturation (which is when they start to lay) then switch to Sugar Feather Farm Adult Feed. 

We highly recommend using the Oil of Oregano in their water daily as a supplement to aid with digestion and overall health.

History

These chickens were created by Tom Whiting of Whiting Farms in Delta, Colorado. They were developed over more than a decade of breeding by crossing Ameraucana chickens with commercial lines of white Leghorns. Tom Whiting is a poultry geneticist that received his Ph.D. in Poultry Genetics from the University of Arkansas. Since that time, he has been the leading producer of fly-tying feathers, developing the best quality feathers available on the market. Now he has set to develop new, improved lines of the popular breeds, along with developing new breeds and crosses to fill new niches and markets. Some of them are the Whiting True Blue, Whiting Green, and the Welsummer Cross.