Whiting True Blue Chickens are fantastic layers of powder blue eggs, often starting at just 20 weeks of age. They are also very active with a pleasant and non-aggressive temperament.
Generally, Whitings are a wonderful addition to any flock thanks to their prolific egg-laying abilities, their unique blue eggs and their calm, docile nature. If you’re considering adding Whiting True Blue chickens to your bird flock, let’s get into everything you’ll need.
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Some Quick Facts about Whiting True Blue Chickens
- Type: Standard
- Primary Purpose: Egg Laying
- Average Size (hens): 4 to 5 pounds
- Average Size (roosters): 6 to 9 pounds
- Lifespan: 5 to 10 years
- Egg size: medium to large
- Egg color: Blue
- Annual egg production: 250 to 300
- Broody: unlikely to go broody
- Free range: yes
- Cold tolerance: good
- Heat tolerance: very good
- Comb: pea comb
- Skin color: white
- Leg colors: yellow legs/mixed colors
The Origin of the Whiting True Blue Chicken
A breeder and fisherman from Colorado named Dr. Tom Whiting developed the Whiting True Blue chicken breed by crossbreeding white Leghorns with Ameraucana chickens to create this blue egg-laying breed.
The aim was to develop a chicken breed with hackle feathers to assist in his fly-tying fishing hobby. While attempting to achieve this goal, this poultry geneticist decided to develop a chicken that could lay blue eggs, and a decade later, he produced the very first Whiting True Blue chicken.
The General Appearance of the Whiting True Blue Chicken
This chicken breed comes in a variety of feather colors and patterns. With their blue gene, you can expect colors such as blue whiten, blue red, silver blue, and lemon blue.
Their feather patterns also come in different colors including black, solid blue, and black breasted red.
Whiting True Blue Chicken Size and Weight
Whitings are medium-sized chickens. Full-grown roosters weigh approximately 9 pounds while hens can weigh up to 5.5 pounds.
Whiting True Blue Chicken Temperament
These prolific layers are naturally charismatic and have a good disposition, but are not the easiest chickens to tame because they enjoy freedom. They enjoy running around while foraging in gardens and backyards. Unfortunately, they also hate handling, so they don’t make good pets for young children.
However, Whiting True Blue chickens are friendly in nature and without any aggression, so you can often mix them with other chicken breeds. At the same time, you should not mix these chickens with aggressive birds because they are prone to bullying.
Since these chickens love freedom, aim provide them with a lot of space to run around in. These birds are great for free-range backyards and farms, but because they’re so active, they’ll need a lot of food and water available on a daily basis.
Whiting True Blue chickens are flighty in nature but rarely fly unless they sense danger.
Egg Production
Whiting True Blue chickens are prolific egg layers. As with some other chicken breeds, there’s no fixed egg size.
| Egg Production | 250 to 300 eggs per year (this is due to their Leghorn gene) |
| First Laying | 20 to 24 weeks |
| Laying Span | 3 years+ |
| Egg Color | Blue |
| Egg Size | Small to large |
| Lays in Winter? | Sometimes |
The blue color of their eggs is due to a pigment known as oocyanin. Oocyanin is a result of bile production.
Meat Production
While Whiting True Blue chickens are fantastic egg layers, they are not ideal for meat production. It’s only roosters that are sometimes used for meat because they are larger than hen, yet most owners simply keen the hens for their unique eggs.
Lifespan
Whiting True Blue chickens are healthy birds with a lifespan of around 5 to 10 years. With proper care and a good diet, these birds can live even longer than this. On the other hand, predators and diseases can reduce their lifespan.
While these free-range chickens are susceptible to predators, you can increase their lifespan by keeping them safe.
Caring for Whiting True Blue Chickens
Raising Whiting True Blue chickens is similar to many other chicken breeds when aiming to maintain their egg production capabilities.
Feeding and Diet
Whiting True Blue Chickens need proper nutrition and a regular supply of fresh food to maintain their high energy levels, with both chicks and pullets requiring a chicken starter.
Generally speaking, more food for them = more eggs for you. They also drink slightly more than the average chicken, so ensure their water supply remains topped up.
Housing
Whiting True Blue chickens are free-range chickens that love walking and running around, but they also need a safe place to roost and stay safe from predators. Creating a large chicken coop and large nest boxes will become one of your first tasks.
Without large nesting boxes, hens will lay anywhere (and almost on a daily basis) but you’ll find it hard to collect eggs. One nesting box is ideal for every 3 to 4 chickens in your flock.
Health Problems
Although Whiting True Blue chickens are generally hardy birds that adapt well to most climates, they are also prone to some health issues.
The most common diseases that affect these chickens include:
Always monitor your Whiting True Blue chickens for any signs of diseases. Some of the signs that need urgent vet intervention include diarrhea, sneezing, reduced appetite, and low egg production.
Cost
Whiting True Blue chickens are quite cheap:
| Type | Cost |
| Chicks | $3 |
| Hens | $8 to $12 |
| Roosters | $10 |
However, as they are a somewhat rare breed, finding local breeders is more challenging than most other chicken breeds.
Noise Levels
Whiting True Blue chickens aren’t the best for suburban blocks as they’re quite noisy, even when laying and eating. Hens are actually louder than than roosters, unless a rooster needs to alert his hens about danger nearby.
Conclusion
Whiting True Blue chickens are amazing and somewhat rare chickens, and are ideal for anyone looking for reliable for egg production.
They lay powder blue eggs unlike other breeds that lay brown eggs, white eggs or green eggs, and often live much longer than many other egg-laying chickens .