Blue Birchen/Black Copper Marans egg question

[MaryZoe]

Hello, I recently ordered 10 Blue Birchen Marans from Greenfire. They sent 14 beautiful, healthy chicks: ten are blue, 2 are splash, and 2 are black. So here's my question: are the black classified as Black Copper? And if so, will they have darker egg genes than the Blue Birchen? I can't figure how that would work. Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Feather color has nothing to do with egg shell color. That is totally different genetics. The only way to determine what color egg a hen will lay is to look at the egg she lays.

A rooster will contribute genetically just as much or maybe even more to egg shell color. One of the many genes that affect brown is sex linked. If he happens to have that gene he will pass it on to his daughters but if the hen has that she will not pass it on to her daughters. Since a rooster does not lay eggs you don't know what he is contributing to egg shell color genetics. If you know what color egg his mother and grandmothers laid you have a clue what he might contribute but you just cannot be sure.

 

[MaryZoe]

Okay, that makes sense, though I thought that the Black Copper Marans pretty consistently laid darker brown eggs than the other Marans varieties. I take it that's because they've bred the darkest layers to the darkest layers' sons. I understand the blue genetics issue and why I got blue, black, and splash, but are the black chicks I got considered Black Birchen Marans since they came from Blue Birchen parents? I assume that Splash is Splash...