Blue Laced Red Wyandotte Chicks

Three day old Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicks

This is my first batch of Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicks! I purchased 15 one day old straight run (males and females) chicks from Blue Poultry (very nice and helpful people).  They were shipped out of Missouri on May 10 and arrived at my post office on May 12.  I had no losses during shipping, and the breeder had three small cups taped in the corners filled with a type of gelled food.  Some of the chicks appeared to have splayed legs, which was a result of the shipping because they straightened on their own within a day or two. 

 I want to share a little bit of information about the Wyandotte breed.  Wyandottes are an American breed that originated in the early 1870's with the Silver Laced variety being the first. This dual purpose breed lays good sized brown eggs, and come in a variety of colors and patterns.  Their rose combs and hardiness make them suitable for cold weather.  Wyandottes are a slow maturing breed, as they mature around 18 months, and begin laying eggs at 7-9 months.  Hens weigh around 5-6 lbs and roosters 7-9 lbs.

I am becoming educated about this breed by reading the forums from respected BLRW breeders on Backyard Chickens (at backyardchickens.com). Other sites that have been educational is the Wyandotte Breeders of America (wyandottebreedersofamerica.net), bluelacedred.com, and feathersite.com, which has excellent pictures of the different varieties.

 BLRW are a fairly new variety that have yet to be recognized by the APA (American Poultry Association) .  They come in three types of colors: black laced, blue laced, and splash.  The black laced can be mistaken for the Gold Laced Wyandotte, but it is not, it is a different variety.  The blue color comes in different shades of dark to medium blue and the splash is a light blue to white. 

The red in the feathers should be a mahogany bay color, not gold.  Some chickens may have good mahogany color on their body, but are brassy on their hackles (neck feathers).  This is undesirable.

Well, I hope this was informative.  Check out the sites above for further information.  :)