Are Blue Eggs Dominant?

[chickenmeadow]

I have a few Ameraucana/Salmon Faverolles crosses & expect to see greenish/blue eggs when they start to lay; as, blue & brown makes green. This flock is just now "coming of age" for laying & most of them should lay tinted/light brown eggs.

The funny thing is that the first & only hen right now to hang out in the nests showing egg laying behavior is one of the Am/Favs (as described above); the one & only egg layed has been tinted/light brown, like I would expect from the Faverolles. Of course, I must just have a "sneaky, sneaky" Faverolles hen laying her egg. They may just be playing tricks on me for their own amusement. Will post the outcome of my future findings, when I figure out what's going on out there.

So, my sweet hubby (who pretends to be uninterested in chickens) suggested that I pose the question on the BYC for fun. Are blue eggs dominant? Will the blue always mix "genetically" with the color of the other parents egg color? Or, can the brown just take over?

 

[hcammack]

Quote:
You make me miss my faverolles and want more they were one of my three favorite breeds I wish they were more widly available. I will have to get them when I have a farm! I think that the blue gene is dominant and should mix with color of the other birds eggs. Did you breed with an Easter Egger or a true ameraucana? My last faverolle got taken by a fox I was so upset I really loved those big fluffy ladies. Marans,Wellsummers, Faverolles, and true Ameraucana are my favorite breeds and now I have all but the Faverolles

I am getting a bator maybe I could just sneak a few in

Thanks,
Henry

 

[Kev]

Blue eggshell is dominant. There are only two eggshell colors: blue or white. The various shades of tans/browns are merely the coating over the egg- the insides of these remain solid white. And yes, blue + tan/brown= green shades.

What this sort of cross will produce depends on whether the blue egger parent is pure or not pure for the blue eggshell gene. If this parent is not pure, then expect half of the offspring to lack the blue eggshell gene.. in other words tan tinted eggs like your case.

If the blue eggshell parent was pure for the blue eggshell gene.. then yes all of the daughters are to lay "colored eggs" in various shades of green, blue/green and sometimes even a blue looking egg.

One extra bit of infromation: check the combs. In American birds, the blue eggshell gene is very closely linked to the pea comb, which as a result they very strongly tend to pass down "together". If you're seeing single combs on some of the crosses, it indicates the blue egger parent was likely not pure(and as above- possibly it is actually an easter egger instead). Also, if you are seeing single combs in some of the birds and peas on others, you have possibly a reliable way of telling which birds have the gene and those that don't.

However there's a case that muddles this case up, in easter eggers there are many birds that have pea comb gene without the blue eggshell gene linked to it.. so with these it is not always a foolproof way.

 

[chickenmeadow]

hcammack, hope you come across some favs to add to your lovely group of breeds.

kev, thanks for the insight on the blue egg, that's what I've always expected to be so. If it turns out that the Am/Favs in question is laying the tinted egg, then I will have to consider if the Blue Wheaton Ameraucana hens (that were crossed with the pure Blue Salmon Faverolles to make my Am/Favs) were really pure. I hadn't even considered that they may not have been pure as thought. Ahhh, a mystery to unfold.

The gal on the right is the first to hang in the nest & most likely to have layed the egg.

 

[Kev]

That's what makes breeding fun.. all these discoveries, thoughts, revelations etc..

That happens to be another method involved called "test breeding". Test breeding is often used to figure out if a particular bird(s) are pure for certain genes. You could regard this cross as test mating the Blue Wheaten Amers to see if they are pure or not pure for the blue eggshell.

Enjoy your experience!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If you put a few drops of food colouring in a hen's vent, it will mark her eggs for several days. Since you are concerned with the blue wheatens' egg colour, you could mark all of them to see what colour they are laying. In this case you probably don't (at least initially) care about a specific hen, so you could use the same colour on all of them, and use separate colours on your cross birds.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:
Oh my gosh- I never heard that before! Sounds strange- but a good idea. Does it make spots or lines on the eggs? Or maybe a splat of color? Interesting!