Unfortunately, I know nothing about chicken breeding. I definitely purchased my MMM based off the name and the description on Hoover's website which says, "This breed will lay dark brown eggs and will lay a lot of them! You will truly enjoy this breed in your backyard flock and its dark eggs in your egg carton! These hybrids perform well in many different climates. Purpose: Egg Layer Production: 250 Large Dark Brown Eggs." My MMM is a beautiful and friendly bird. I'm happy to have her, but it does sound like Hoover's need to change the description of their egg color if they are going to lay tan eggs.
Well, since other people are posting pics now and the eggs are pretty dark, it’s entirely possible that I’m wrong in one or more ways. Like, maybe either MMMs aren’t all F1 crosses, or That Thing I Read Somewhere was less than accurate. I littered that post with question marks for a reason, and was a little alarmed when someone marked it as “informative.”
Just to reiterate so everyone knows, I am
very new to learning about chicken breeding, and my knowledge base consists almost entirely of Stuff I Read Somewhere But Can’t Quite Remember Where.
That said, if other people are getting acceptably dark eggs from their MMMs… I’m pretty sure I’ve read multiple sources that say brown egg coloration is controlled by more than one gene, so maybe it’s just the really dark, almost purple-y black shades that are more recessive, and not
all the brown-egg genes? Meaning if Hoover’s really
is back-crossing these guys, then lighter shelled genes could still be hiding out as recessives, and they’d still throw the occasional light layer like your girl.
Disclaimer: This is all theoretical logic puzzle to me! I’m playing with Punnet squares in my head.
(Unrelated, I was rather delighted to find out that the guy who invented the Punnet square also invented Cream Legbars. New hyperfixation plus high-school biology puzzles make brain go brrr.
)
Back on the original topic, our MMM still doesn’t appear to be laying yet. We have started getting some big, pretty, dark brown eggs, but I’ve confirmed they’re from Isa (our ISA Brown), not Blackberry. The suspense is. Suspenseful. Yes. Pics when it happens.
