MPC Super blue egg layer eggs

[Shezadandy]

X2 ... green eggs after paying $24/pullet for SBELs... would be

... love green eggs, but the cost of the bird along with those 5-6 months raising her to point of lay is a commitment, and starting over with another chick is another 5-6 months down the road. As I understand egg genetics, a green egg is the result of a blue shell with a brown overlay-- so the blue gene is there- but so is the brown gene, so 50/50 on what the progeny get. Hopefully LilChickens2 is the exception with the green egg.

Alex covered the F1xF1 SBELs a little while ago.


I'm looking for confirmation about the below with crossing on brown, white and green layers, this is what I think I know-- (not distinguishing shades of green):

Homozygous SBEL roo (2 copies of blue)

with a white layer: all would be lighter blue
with a green layer: 1/2 green 1/2 'bluer'
with a homozygous brown layer: all green
with heterozygous (1 copy brown, 1 copy white) brown layer: 1/2 green 1/2 blue

Heterozygous SBEL roo (1 copy blue, 1 copy white)

with a white layer, 1/2 white, 1/2 lighter blue
with a green layer, 1/4 'bluer', 1/4 light blue, 1/2 lighter brown
with a homozygous brown layer: 1/2 green, 1/2 lighter brown
with a heterozygous (1 copy brown, 1 copy white) brown layer: 1/4 green, 1/4 light blue, 1/2 lighter brown

 

[Choco Maran]

Okay what about Blue layer to blue layer. I have BlueBar and True Blue hens and Roosters. I should get all blue eggs or at least 75-80 % right. I really am not good on genetics.

 

[Shezadandy]

Okay what about Blue layer to blue layer. I have BlueBar and True Blue hens and Roosters. I should get all blue eggs or at least 75-80 % right. I really am not good on genetics.

Qualifying with "this is my understanding":

There are two egg shell colors, blue and white.

Brown eggs are white eggs with brown pigment.
Green eggs are blue eggs with brown pigment.

Blue layers have to have one copy of a blue gene to make blue eggs- the second copy (one from mom, one from dad) can be white or blue. If it's white, the egg is a lighter color of blue. If it's blue (in theory), the egg should be .... bluer. Of course, only the pullets eventually lay eggs and show us the color of that egg, so figuring out the rooster's genes is more a practice in observation or close selection over many generations.

So, for any one mating with your blue layers, say your True Blue Rooster and a True Blue Hen.

There are four scenarios.

First: The easiest is True Blue Rooster has two copies of the blue gene (so, he can only pass on a blue egg gene), and True Blue Hen has two copies of the blue gene. That dream scenario means ALL blue eggs for that pair and they should be 'bluer' and can only pass blue to offspring.

Second: Now say the rooster has one blue egg gene and one white egg gene. Now he can give his offspring either copy. If the hen has two copies of the blue egg gene, all your eggs will still be blue. (the result is the same regardless of which parent is which) However, some of those blue eggs might be lighter. (think of mixing white paint with blue paint- you'll always get lighter blue). See below for the basic Punnett Square. The hen's gene is bold and the rooster's is in italic. Each chick can either get Blue+Blue or Blue+White. So, all the eggs will be blue, but the pullet has a 50% chance of the lighter blue and 50% of the 'bluer'


Hen Blue Blue

Rooster
Blue Blue+Blue Blue+Blue

White Blue+White Blue+White


Third: Now let's say both parents have a copy of each gene, one blue and one white. Now each chick has a 25% chance of being a double copy for blue, a 50% chance for a carrier of each, and a 25% chance of carrying only white. Of the pullets, 25% lay 'bluer' eggs, 50% lay lighter blue, and 25% lay white eggs.


Hen Blue White

Rooster
Blue Blue+Blue White+Blue

White Blue+White White+White


Fourth: This scenario would apply to a blue laying hen with a copy of white and blue, and the rooster that is 100% white egg genes. Of course the rooster doesn't lay eggs so maybe somewhere along the lines he was the result of scenario #3 above and only carries white egg genes. In this case, 50% of the pullets would lay lighter blue eggs, carrying a copy of blue and white, and 50% would lay white eggs, carrying only white egg genes.


Hen Blue White

Rooster
White Blue+White White+White

White Blue+White White+White

 

[Jujubara]

Yes that does help Alex, thank you! My SBEL chicks arrived healthy and happy today in Alaska! I'm very excited to have them

Yay! So glad to hear and wow, what a trip! Keep us updated.

 

[Jujubara]

My SBEL pullet in the above picture started laying last week. She lays every other day...a green egg!!! I thought she'd lay blue eggs, but I'm fine with green too! She's very loud and talkative now as well. Comparable to my light brown leghorn in talk-a-tiveness. If I'm near the coop she'll tell me stories until I leave.

Awe man, that's quite the bummer. Any chance you can get a good photo of the egg(s)?

My girl is only about 6 or 7 weeks old still, but the struggle to stay patient is real!

 

[dekel18042]

I bought several of the SBELs and to be honest, I would be very upset if they laid green eggs. These were very expensive birds.

Alex, if I can ask ... it appears that the SBELs are a first generation then? So, if you had a SBEL rooster and allowed it to breed with the hens and try to hatch the resulting eggs ... your chances of getting hens that also lay blue eggs would not be very good then? Would the eggs be a mix of white, brown, blue and green?

Some of us were working out the genetics of the SBEL. Like making olive eggers, there is a formula that can be used although you can use different adults to achieve it. If you have adult birds that conform to the color eggs you want, you should never be introducing the brown egg gene.I have a feeling that green may have come about by using Easter eggers or even some cream legbars lay a green egg.
Mine are very young (7 weeks old today), but I used an Ameraucana rooster that is from a line where the hens lay very blue eggs. So I'm hoping. Only another four or five months to find out.,

 

[Sea Wolf]

This is true. but I was specifically asking about blue eggs and the SBEL cross. If you use a SBEL rooster with SBEL hens ... will you get blue eggs from the resulting hatch? Or a mix of colors? I am also referring to the SBEL chicks being sold from MPC. Not chicks from home from hens that were crossed with something else. My understanding from the post about the green egg was that the chicks were purchased from MPC. If so, you should not be getting green eggs. These birds should be laying blue eggs. Not brown or any shade of green (which is a blue egg with a brown overlay).

 

[Shezadandy]

The F1 X F1 or F1 X AM have a much much lower chance of not carrying the blue egg gene and again should be distinguished by a straight comb. There will be a greater than 1/64 chance of the F2 not carrying the blue egg gene.

I hope this helps.

Alex
My Pet Chicken

This is true. but I was specifically asking about blue eggs and the SBEL cross. If you use a SBEL rooster with SBEL hens ... will you get blue eggs from the resulting hatch? Or a mix of colors? I am also referring to the SBEL chicks being sold from MPC. Not chicks from home from hens that were crossed with something else. My understanding from the post about the green egg was that the chicks were purchased from MPC. If so, you should not be getting green eggs. These birds should be laying blue eggs. Not brown or any shade of green (which is a blue egg with a brown overlay).

Using a hen in the SBEL program that lays anything other than a white or blue egg would be counter productive to say the least. The most likely source of the green egg would be a heterozygous rooster (blue/brown) in their program. If the problem lies with a stock rooster harboring a brown gene, there should be reports of green and probably brown (based on the white/near white eggs the SBELs are hatching from) along with blue. It's also possible the egg was mis-marked at the hatchery.

This is first year they're offered, so within the next few months there should be a whole lot of feedback, especially if we're not seeing all blue eggs.

 

[Choco Maran]

Thank You shezadandy That helps a lot explaines everything for me. I understand now.

 

[Sea Wolf]

Yep. Me too. I did also order a couple of male chicks. For a rooster, I would also be looking for one that developed a pea comb .... correct?