To Make An Olive Egger......Legbar?????

[Kev]

The reason I asked is I already have Legbar roosters and I know many have said the pea comb is linked to the blue egg gene.

Pea comb doesn't do anything for the blue eggs, the linkage only exists because by coincidence the two separate genes happen to be located very close together on the same chromosome so they strongly tend to inherit together. They can inherit separately on occasion with the result either being a pea combed lacking the blue egg gene or vice versa.

The pro to using the blue egg- pea comb linkage are in programs where one wants the pea combs.. colored egg pullets can be selected as soon as they hatch or are identifiable as to their sex by comb type- simply pick and keep the pea combed ones as those have a 90+ chance of laying colored or in this case, olive eggs Using legbars or any single combed colored egg layer onto Marans. you don't have that option, have to raise all pullets until laying age and then identifying which ones lay olive eggs or not. But the egg color ranges will be the same.

 

[Chris09]

Just keep in mid that ONLY the Creasted Cream Leg bars lay Blue eggs, regular Legbars do not lay Blue eggs.

Chris

 

[hipeatall]

"...the recent development in the US of production-laying single combed blue egg layers, so, it is possible."
Please do tell me more Illia!!! I hadn't heard of these and I'm intrigued!

It is, but not by titanium chains or anything

Legbars themselves have single combs and lay blue eggs, plus there's a strain of Dorking in the UK who lay blue eggs, and then there's the recent development in the US of production-laying single combed blue egg layers, so, it is possible.

 

[Illia]

There was a thread on it just a little while ago, look back a couple pages. JimsFarmStand started it. I believe a professor at a university started the project? He used true Araucanas and commercial (not hatchery) strain Leghorns.

 

[nicalandia]

The reason I asked is I already have Legbar roosters and I know many have said the pea comb is linked to the blue egg gene.

it is... but they have overcome that issue. now on legbar the O and the p+ are linked as close as it was O(blue egg gene) to P(pea comb, p+ is single comb)....

you would have to breed about 100 to get 3 or 4 recombinants(O/p+)

 

[hipeatall]

Thank you Illia! I'm off to check it out right now
Edited to add link below... just in case anyone else is interested in following this...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/624359/blue-egg-layers-from-unversity-of-arkansas

There was a thread on it just a little while ago, look back a couple pages. JimsFarmStand started it. I believe a professor at a university started the project? He used true Araucanas and commercial (not hatchery) strain Leghorns.

 

[madamwlf]

So what you are saying is I would have to hatch 100 eggs to get 3 or 4 OEs??

it is... but they have overcome that issue. now on legbar the O and the p+ are linked as close as it was O(blue egg gene) to P(pea comb, p+ is single comb)....

you would have to breed about 100 to get 3 or 4 recombinants(O/p+)

 

[cjwaldon]

I would think if you crossed a single comb blue egg layer (crested cream legbar) to a single comb brown egg layer, you would get single comb olive eggers, as the link between comb and egg color has already been broken in the crested cream legbar.

 

[madamwlf]

Well, I plan to give it a go.

 

[Kev]

I would think if you crossed a single comb blue egg layer (crested cream legbar) to a single comb brown egg layer, you would get single comb olive eggers, as the link between comb and egg color has already been broken in the crested cream legbar.

Correct.