Comp,egg color genetics and other questions

[Aris]

Hi all , I was given a few weeks ago some green eggs to put under a broody .I was told that the eggs were from araucana hens ,I guess from European lines ,so basically they were Easter Eggers with APA standards ,and unknown father ,they are in a flock of a family friend who has about 100 chicken of various breeds all together.
Here are some photos of the eggs


Comparing with my flocks eggs ,with flash

without flash

first three are from my mutt hens ,4th is from a Black Sex Link pullet and 6th a white bantam egg

And now some of the chicks


2 pea combed chicks ?




and a single comb chick ,note it has foot feathers


9 chicks hatched from the 10 green eggs ,7 black and 2 buff/chipmunk , 4 of the black are single combed the rest are like the chicks of the above photos I call pea combed.
Unfortunately I haven't seen the parents to give you more information.

Finally my questions to you chicken experts :

1. The eggs I was given are considered green ? Is there a color chart to compare them ?

2. How I ended with 4/9 single comb chick? Isn't pea comb dominant ?

3. From pictures I saw european araucanas have muffs , only 2 of my chicks have muffs , aren't muffs also dominant ?

4. Will all my pea combed chicks lay variation of green eggs , or it's possible some to lay other colors ?

5. As you can see in the last pic the chick is feet feathered , so some of his other siblings ,but this is the most foot feathered, could the father be a Black Copper Maran ? And if yes what eggs should I get from the single combed and what from the pea combed ?

6. Am I correct about the 2 chicks I posted as pea combed ? Are they pea combed indeed ?


Thanks in advance for the replies

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

OK, I'm going to take a stab at this based on my knowledge. If I confuse something, I'll trust to other BYCers to correct me.

You have no way of knowing if the hens that laid those eggs are homozygous for the blue egg gene. You also don't know which rooster is the father at all. So, let's say that the hens were all heterozygous for the blue egg gene just as a guess, since you got so few pea combed chicks. Let's say that the hens each had the dominant blue egg gene and a recessive brown egg gene--they would lay green eggs. Then when they laid eggs, those eggs would have a 50-50 chance of getting a brown egg gene or a blue egg gene.

The rooster is unknown, so you could have all kinds of genes in there from the rooster. Let's say the rooster was an EE, with one dominant Blue egg gene and one brown egg gene. His sperm would have a 50-50 chance of having a Blue gene or brown gene.

Mate this EE rooster to the Araucana hen, each with a 50% chance of passing on the blue egg gene, and you have a 50% chance of having chicks with one copy of the Blue gene and one copy of the brown gene, therefore that 50% will lay green eggs. You also have a 25% chance of them getting two Blue genes, those birds will lay blue eggs. And finally, you have a 25% chance of the chicks getting only brown egg genes, they will lay brown eggs.

If the rooster was a Marans, then the equation changes. Your hen still has one Blue gene and one brown gene, but the rooster only carries chocolate brown egg genes and can only pass brown egg genes on to the offspring. The super dark chocolate color in Marans is recessive, and we have no way of knowing if he has one or two copies of that gene, but let's say he has two copies just to make it easier. So in that case, you would have a 50% chance of the chicks having one chocolate gene and one Blue gene--that 50% will be Olive Eggers. There's also a 50% chance that the chicks get one brown egg gene and one chocolate gene, in that case the chicks will lay brown eggs.

Hope that helps.

By the way, those are some of the loveliest green eggs I've ever seen.

edited because I misread and didn't realize these were Araucana not Ameraucana hens, so that changed the genetics somewhat.

 

[debid]

I'll add that it takes two single comb genes to make a single comb chick so at least some of the Araucanas weren't homozygous for pea combs as evidenced by the offspring. I think it's also likely they weren't pure for muffs (did you mean bearding and puffed cheeks or tufts?) and that's why you have so many clean faced chicks. The fact that the eggs given to you were a lovely green means they weren't pure for blue shell either.

SO, I believe you have a bunch of fuzzy cuties from a genetics grab bag and it will be great fun to see what you get!

 

[ramirezframing]

9 chicks hatched from the 10 green eggs ,7 black and 2 buff/chipmunk , 4 of the black are single combed the rest are like the chicks of the above photos I call pea combed.
Unfortunately I haven't seen the parents to give you more information.

Finally my questions to you chicken experts :

1. The eggs I was given are considered green ? Is there a color chart to compare them ?there might be a color chart as there is one for marans

2. How I ended with 4/9 single comb chick? Isn't pea comb dominant ? depends on how pure mom was (if she is a mix already and the chicks dad is single than its vary possible)

3. From pictures I saw european araucanas have muffs , only 2 of my chicks have muffs , aren't muffs also dominant ? they might come in as the chicks feather in, but if this is the case they wont be big muffs. even two muffed birds can make un-muffed babies

4. Will all my pea combed chicks lay variation of green eggs , or it's possible some to lay other colors ? pea combs in ee's have a higher chance of laying colored eggs, most single combed ee's don't lay a colored egg

5. As you can see in the last pic the chick is feet feathered , so some of his other siblings ,but this is the most foot feathered, could the father be a Black Copper Maran ? And if yes what eggs should I get from the single combed and what from the pea combed ? if any are a marans cross you could get olive green eggs, but if I remember right don't the euro line of araucanas have feathered legs?

6. Am I correct about the 2 chicks I posted as pea combed ? Are they pea combed indeed ?looks like it
does this chick have 5 toes???

 

[Aris]

Thanks for the replies ,you helped me a lot with my questions , so from what I've understand my euro araucana x chicks most likely are even more mixed than I though ,still I don't mind as my goal is to have a colorful egg basket ,which criteria will be fullfilled by my pea combed ,hopefully, girls .From what you've told me I think it would be better not to try to figure what breed the father is since they might have more in the mix.
About the european araucana standards I am not sure ,I though they were something like that (pic taken from Greek breeder's site) they look like a cross of an EE with an araucana .


@ ramirezframing I hadn't even noticed the extra toes !!! I went to check the chicks and 3 out of 9 ,2 pea combed and 1 single combed have 5th toes

Anyway I'll definitely update as they grow and specially when I'll get the first eggs

 

[ramirezframing]

thought the euro line had crest and tails (they kinda looked like silkie crosses to me)