blue egg blues

[fl_deb]

I'm not even sure this is the right place for this question, and I do not want arguement about depth of commitment to a breed standard, but I really do not want to invest in birds, that if I wanted to breed them later that they and their offspring would be a disgrace to the breed either. However, if you wanted a sky blue, large egg, laying hen, in your small flock, that would consistantly produce offspring that would lay a pretty sky blue large egg, what/where would you spend your money on???? And why????

This has become problematic for me because I have read that some pure bred hens do not meet the blue egg requirements of their own breed, laying green eggs instead. I have also read that some EE hens lay absolutely beautiful blue eggs. Also, some pullets with blue egg gene grow up and lay olive green eggs. So, I was wondering, where would you invest your money????

Am I missing something here or does the premises of this question sound about right?


Thank you for you time in setting me straight here, I really appreciate it.

 

[dichotomymom]

Are you asking if it is worth it to buy true Ameracaunas or take your chance with ee's? I thought I was buying Ameracaunas (still not sure) from Ideal and ended up with true blue eggs, some olive green and some pink. Take that for what's it worth.

 

[pixie74943]

I would start with buying only blue and white egg laying pullets (whites mixed in with blue make blue. Brown egg layers mixed with blue make green).

Of those, you would want to isolate who lays the biggest eggs, and who lays most often.

Purchase a rooster with the blue egg laying gene.

From there, try and only hatch eggs that are up to your standards (big and blue). Mix in some of the whites, for genetic variability, I would use Leghorns as my white layers.

You can mate the rooster to his daughters for a few generations until flaws start showing up. The important thing is to only hatch eggs from good-laying hens, and after a few generations, invest in a new rooster.




The above is a very vague plan by the way. It's roughly what I intend to do with my flock.

 

[pattypenny]

I think the ameracaunas standard has to do with the color of the bird and the color of the egg is a crap shot. some EE's lay blue eggs and some don't . true blue would be The araucana chicken which has no tail,and has feathers growing out the ears. no beard. this is the way I understand the problem. The owners of the ameracunas will talk and talk about the color standard but are silent about egg color. I saw where some one sold eggs as blue and they were a washed out green and when some one called her on it she maintaned they were blue, perhaps she was color blind.
The ameracuna have a club and you can go and see what color birds are classed as true Ameracauna. so as to the question is it worth the money? I don't know perhaps it depends on how much money you have and how much you are willing to spend.
If you could fine Araucana to buy you have problems with them too because since they have no tail they are hard to breed, I guess you could learn how to artifical breed them. I am not positive about this but I think the Araucana has a gene that cause some chicks to die in the shell like the Japanese Bantamn chickens.

 

[pixie74943]

Quote:
The gene that carries the ear tufts is a lethal gene

 

[hcammack]

It is a crap shoot with any breed. To breed true blue egg laying ameraucana every male would have to be test mated with white egg laying hens and also with blue egg laying ameraucana hens to make sure that he doesn't carry the brown or green egg gene. It requires tons of space to breed for true blue eggs! I am not sure what your best bet would be some Ameraucana have beautiful blue eggs mine did but you have to by from a reputable breeder who breeds for blue eggs. The black and wheaten varieties have blue eggs in my opinion. EE's could possibly carry the blue egg gene but I find that to be rarer for a variety of egg color just get some EE's.

Henry

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Start with pure ameraucana hens. You must purchase from a breeder, not a hatchery. Starting with eggs might be even better as you will be able to ascertain the egg size and colour. You could use araucanas, but they do not lay as frequently, as well as having the fatal tuft gene. Taillessness does increase breeding difficulty.

Blue vs green? Well in some cases it is a pretty easy call, but many blue eggs look green to me. Even a robins egg looks more green than blue to me--turquoise, actually. The colours merge into each other--look at the colours you can change your font to or use for a background on a computer--where does blue become green? It is a matter of perception, and no two people see that fine line in exactly the same place.

Realize that depth of colour changes as the laying cycles progresses, starting with more colour, lightening as the cycle ends. As the bird gets older, the depth also lightens. Liver health issues can throw the colour off.

Serious Ameraucana breeders DO make an issue out of egg colour. I would suggest not crossbreeding unless you absolutely must--bringing in the white eggshell isn't likely to add anything if your eggs are already the correct hue. I would suggest using egg colour as a reason to hatch/not hatch, and keep track of which bird lays which eggs so that you can remove any birds whose eggs aren't blue enough for your tasts. Also keep track of the fathers, so that if one male fathers too many girls whose egg colour doesn't pass muster, you can exchange him also.

 

[mediazeal]

Here is a thread where I was trying to find out about how blue to expect my blue eggs to be

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=313330

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Is this blue or green?
How about this?
And this?
OK, how about now?
And now?




Only one of these has blue in its name--the others are green or aquamarine or turquoise. The colour of this text is the only one that looks visually blue to me.

 

[hcammack]

Quote:
I agree whole heartedly that everyone sees colors different!