Blue Copper Marans?

[bappl]

Last summer I incubated some chicken eggs. My roo is pure blue copper Marans. My hens are Cuckoo Marans, Rhode Island Red, and Easter Egger. I'm wondering if this young roo looks like purebred blue copper Marans? Is it possible for a blue copper Marans roo and Cuckoo Marans hen to make a blue copper Marans roo?

 

[donrae]

Nope. The Marans hen would give barring (cuckoo) to all her sons, so her male offspring would be barred.

someone else has got to be the momma. I can't see his comb, but my money is on the EE from what I can see.

 

[drumstick diva]

duplicate thread - sorry

 

[drumstick diva]

agree

 

[bappl]

Okay, I though the chicks would be sex linked! But after seeing this guy, I wasn't sure. I never would have thought the EE though! So if mama is EE and father is Marans, then is he first gen olive Egger? How does that cross work for roosters? I also have two hens that look just like this guy. I was definitely trying for first gen olive Eggers, but I added other eggs to the incubator and lost track of who was who after they all hatched! Lol

 

[bappl]

Okay, I though the chicks would be sex linked! But after seeing this guy, I wasn't sure. I never would have thought the EE though! So if mama is EE and father is Marans, then is he first gen olive Egger? How does that cross work for roosters? I also have two hens that look just like this guy. I was definitely trying for first gen olive Eggers, but I added other eggs to the incubator and lost track of who was who after they all hatched! Lol

 

[bappl]

Sorry about the duplicate thread. I'm not sure how to delete that

 

[bappl]

Can a chick from an Easter Egger mother and Marans father still have a single comb?

 

[donrae]

Yep. Pea combs are dominant, so the hen (assuming she shows a pea comb herself) could easily have one copy of the pea comb gene and one copy of the single comb gene. That would greatly decrease his chances of having a blue egg gene, though. blue egg genes and pea combs are closely linked. Not impossible to have one without the other, but chances go down a lot.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Okay, I though the chicks would be sex linked! But after seeing this guy, I wasn't sure. I never would have thought the EE though! So if mama is EE and father is Marans, then is he first gen olive Egger? How does that cross work for roosters? I also have two hens that look just like this guy. I was definitely trying for first gen olive Eggers, but I added other eggs to the incubator and lost track of who was who after they all hatched! Lol

Each progeny receives 1 egg color gene from each parent. Brown wash is a lot trickier and is thought to cover 13 genes.

If you have a parent with 2 blue genes, every chick will receive one blue gene. Blue is dominant, so blue eggs shells will express. With only 1 blue gene present, usually you get pastel blue as opposed to blue.

If your bird has the genetics (about 13) for brown wash, then brown wash over blue shell creates green. If the brown wash is dark, such as Marans, etc., then the color is a deeper green or olive.

If one parent has no brown wash (white or blue layer) and the other parent has brown wash, you get either tan or light green as typically the brown wash result is the middle color between the light egg and the darker egg as to brown coloring.

I've read that it is best to have the rooster the dark brown genes as somehow that expresses better. (I'm waiting to see that, although one daughter from a terra cotta laying RSL with a Barnevelder father is laying a lovely terra cotta egg, which I would have hoped if daddy has nice egg genetics).

The trouble with roosters is of course you can't see those egg color genetics. You've got to see the results from their daughters.

Back to your question...what happens with a F1 olive egger rooster.....and I just caught that the hen was an EE not an Ameraucana...that's going to make things a lot more difficult.

If he has a pea comb, as Donrae said, chances are he has 1 blue gene as they are closely linked on the allele....but there's no guarantee.

Let's suppose he does have 1 blue gene and hopefully some brown wash too....how that presents will depend upon the hen you pair him with.

Since we are presuming he has 1 blue gene, and the other the "white" or non-blue gene, 50% of his offspring will get 1 blue gene to present light blue egg shells. 50% will get no blue gene and will present white shells.

Now as to the brown wash, that's trickier. As said, it usually ends up a tone between the dark and the light. One trick is to put him over a white layer to see how dark his brown wash genetics are (and if you get any blue layers). If you get a daughter that lays white eggs, well, golly shucks, he doesn't have any/much brown wash, but he could still have 1 blue gene as remember it is 50/50 if his daughter gets the blue.

If however, you get a medium brown, chances are he's got some decent brown genetics. Put him over a medium, terra cotta layer mother, and see what happens. You can then somewhat determine what kind of genetics for brown he may be carrying.

Obviously that is not ideal as you've got to do a lot of careful mating and waiting for daughters (once you get them) to grow up and lay, keeping careful record of who's who.

If your goal is olive eggers, it is far, far, easier to buy a rooster from a well known, quality line of dark brown layers and put him over true blue layers with 2 blue genes like true Ameraucana or Cream Legbars or Isbars. That way you'll get 100% olive eggers for first generation. After that, you've got to deal with the 50/50 blue gene issue again as well as how much brown wash they may have received...then you're back to mating and waiting, choosing and culling.

Good luck with your olive eggers.

LofMc