Blue Egg Layers from University of Arkansas

[dretd]

So what might you expect if you crossed a Cream Legbar to a U of A Blue with the goal of increasing the egg production of an autosexing breed? One has a pea comb and the other single. This might be more interesting than the other projects I was thinking of trying since I already have the Cream legbar pair.

There is a Cream Legbar hybrid thread you could post on. Someone may have done a blue breed to a CL and could show you the outcome. Be careful if you are planning on selling chicks or eggs from either breed as after several generations, you could introduce some unwanted genetic into your lines if you don't tag your birds somehow. At first it will be easy to keep track becasue of the hybrid single/pea combs, but that will get lost after 2 generations, depending on how you breed forward. I know Steen has posted some of his hybrids on that thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/825092/cream-legbar-hybrid-thread

 

[nicalandia]

So what might you expect if you crossed a Cream Legbar to a U of A Blue with the goal of increasing the egg production of an autosexing breed? One has a pea comb and the other single. This might be more interesting than the other projects I was thinking of trying since I already have the Cream legbar pair.

that cross will produce birds having two copies of the blue egg shell gene, one in the pea comb and the other on the single comb, their blue egg should be blue... also if you use the U of A Blue rooster to a CL hen this will produce Autosexing chicks, laying good amount of blue eggs... nice cross by the way... I can see comercial value of such a cross... having two pens, one with CL and the other witht the U of A blue breed, then crossing them to produce sexlinks so you or the business man can separate the males from the laying pullets since hatch day... and they will produce large blue eggs..

 

[nicalandia]

There is a Cream Legbar hybrid thread you could post on. Someone may have done a blue breed to a CL and could show you the outcome. Be careful if you are planning on selling chicks or eggs from either breed as after several generations, you could introduce some unwanted genetic into your lines if you don't tag your birds somehow. At first it will be easy to keep track becasue of the hybrid single/pea combs, but that will get lost after 2 generations, depending on how you breed forward. I know Steen has posted some of his hybrids on that thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/825092/cream-legbar-hybrid-thread

for production purposes(Sex linked Blue eggers) this cross cant be beat..

 

[enola]

I get sex linked blue egg layers by crossing my black Araucana rooster on california grey hens.

 

[ronott1]

that cross will produce birds having two copies of the blue egg shell gene, one in the pea comb and the other on the single comb, their blue egg should be blue... also if you use the U of A Blue rooster to a CL hen this will produce Autosexing chicks, laying good amount of blue eggs... nice cross by the way... I can see comercial value of such a cross... having two pens, one with CL and the other witht the U of A blue breed, then crossing them to produce sexlinks so you or the business man can separate the males from the laying pullets since hatch day... and they will produce large blue eggs..

@DMRippy has something called a Super Blue egg layer. I wonder if this is it?

 

[farmhand]

that cross will produce birds having two copies of the blue egg shell gene, one in the pea comb and the other on the single comb, their blue egg should be blue... also if you use the U of A Blue rooster to a CL hen this will produce Autosexing chicks, laying good amount of blue eggs... nice cross by the way... I can see comercial value of such a cross... having two pens, one with CL and the other witht the U of A blue breed, then crossing them to produce sexlinks so you or the business man can separate the males from the laying pullets since hatch day... and they will produce large blue eggs..

I don't understand why not use a CL Ro over a U of A hen? (Not that I care at this point, just trying to learn.)
Also, then later generations keep breeding with CL?

 

[nicalandia]

@DMRippy has something called a Super Blue egg layer. I wonder if this is it?

this is it...

Hybrid Vigor, two different Blue egg shell genes(should have departed hundred years ago) working on the same egg, I call that SUPER

 

[nicalandia]

I don't understand why not use a CL Ro over a U of A hen? (Not that I care at this point, just trying to learn.)
Also, then later generations keep breeding with CL?

because they will not be Sex links.... and breeding CL and U of A separately will increase any chance of Hybrid vigor once you cross them to produce those Super Blue egg layers...

 

[nicalandia]

I get sex linked blue egg layers by crossing my black Araucana rooster on california grey hens.

YES... but they are not Homozygous for the Blue egg shell... SO you are only giving the pullets one copy of the blue egg shell gene and this will not produce super nice rich blue eggs as one would with the cross I mentioned

 

[farmhand]

YES... but they are not Homozygous for the Blue egg shell... SO you are only giving the pullets one copy of the blue egg shell gene and this will not produce super nice rich blue eggs as one would with the cross I mentioned

It sounds like this may be a good path but I need to understand more of how this works. And why?
-Year 2014 Hatch U of A Blue
-2015 U of A Blue over CL
-2016 F1 cross over CL???