Blue Egg Layers from University of Arkansas

[ronott1]

It is possible to get a SC laying blue eggs, but the pea comb gene and the blue egg gene are linked so they are not irrelevant to each other.
Quote: Cream Legbars have straight combs. Crossing them with Crele Penedesenca gets an speckled olive colored egg. I hatched 7 and they are 4 weeks old now.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Cream Legbars have straight combs. Crossing them with Crele Penedesenca gets an speckled olive colored egg. I hatched 7 and they are 4 weeks old now.

Hey Ron I hatched 7 too. They are 1 week old.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

As interesting as all this is, lets try to get back on track. Even if you took the best Ideal Poultry Farms White Leghorn and mated to a tufted rumpless Arauacana, you still would not have this same bird. One similar, yes. But not the same. This was developed using a line of commercial White Leghorns that are NOT available to the general public and the retail hatcheries (Ideal, McMurray, Cackle etc).

Here is Post #1 and below photos of Arkansas Blue chickens and their eggs.

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This thread is intended for the discussion of the two new developments of Blue Egg layers from the University of Arkansas. This is not for discussion on Easter Eggers, Ameraucanas etc. Photos and updates will be added as available to post #1.

From an email ....


Quote:

We have a few of the B eggs set in our incubator. Does anyone have photos of these? We are actually looking forward to seeing what these look like and how well they lay. These are not an Easter Egger, per se. But a new breed developed in cooperation with the Unversity of Arkansas.

The commercial leghorn blood is not hatchery lines, but research lines from the commercial industry.

The egg is similar in color to his Auracana eggs and vary from medium to large in size.

We plan on keeping a breeding pen of these and seew hat they reproduce.

Can you imagine a Blue Egg layer that lays like a factory, battery layer.

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The actual "Blue" eggs from U/A in our incubator:

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[Hangtown Farms]

One thing you should remember though is that the Blue Egg gene and the Pea Comb gene are linked genes so it would be easier to keep the Blue eggs if you would keep the pea combed birds, though you can get a SC bird laying blue eggs. Also, it might be easier and cheaper if you find a tailed Araucana to use.

That is not necessarily the case

 

[OSUman]

Jim, the majority of the leghorns from the hatcheries are commercial leghorns...

 

[OSUman]

What?

That is not necessarily the case

 

[Hangtown Farms]

What?

just because the cross does not have a pea comb does not mean it will not lay a blue or blueish tinted egg.
Meaning it may be worth waiting to see if they do lay a blue egg if you are only after the egg color and not breeding for the pea comb specifically . Just my opinion.
I have had numerous olive eggers with straight combs that where not supposed to lay olive eggs but they did. Seen Leghorn x Ameraucana crosses with straight combs that laid a blue tinted egg. That is all.

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Yes, that is why I posted about the Cream Legbars. They get their blue egg gene from Aracauna but do not have a pea comb. The Blue egg gene is associated with the pea comb, not directly connected. Even with EEs you can have blue egg layers with a straight comb.

Like Jim said though, he and others here will have U of A Blue Egg Layers hatching eggs available in a month or sooner. The work has already been done!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Yes, that is why I posted about the Cream Legbars. They get their blue egg gene from Aracauna but do not have a pea comb. The Blue egg gene is associated with the pea comb, not directly connected. Even with EEs you can have blue egg layers with a straight comb.

Like Jim said though, he and others here will have U of A Blue Egg Layers hatching eggs available in a month or sooner. The work has already been done!

agreed. Much easier to go that route.

 

[OSUman]

I was just stating that there is a linkage there, which will mess up the projected results of the cross.