Breeding to get Silked EE

[NatJ]

Does the color of egg the chick hatches from have any bearing on what gene they carry?

Yes and no.

The color of the egg tells what color eggs are laid by the mother of that chick.

The chick inherits genes for eggshell color from both its father and its mother, and looking at what color eggs the mother lays will tell you a bit about the genes that mother has.

But that does not tell which genes the chick actually inherited, from the set of genes the mother has.

I thought I had read some where to use roosters that hatch from blue eggs?

If you are trying to breed for blue eggs, yes you want to use roosters that hatched out of blue eggs. If you use a rooster that hatched from a white or brown egg, you can be sure that he did NOT inherit the blue egg gene from his mother, because she does not have that gene (if she had the blue egg gene, she would be laying blue or green eggs.)

So using a rooster who hatched from a blue egg is a way to be sure he had a chance of inheriting the blue eggshell gene from his mother (some chance rather than no chance.)

 

[RememberTheWay]

Yes and no.

The color of the egg tells what color eggs are laid by the mother of that chick.

The chick inherits genes for eggshell color from both its father and its mother, and looking at what color eggs the mother lays will tell you a bit about the genes that mother has.

But that does not tell which genes the chick actually inherited, from the set of genes the mother has.


If you are trying to breed for blue eggs, yes you want to use roosters that hatched out of blue eggs. If you use a rooster that hatched from a white or brown egg, you can be sure that he did NOT inherit the blue egg gene from his mother, because she does not have that gene (if she had the blue egg gene, she would be laying blue or green eggs.)

So using a rooster who hatched from a blue egg is a way to be sure he had a chance of inheriting the blue eggshell gene from his mother (some chance rather than no chance.)

Are there breeds that you can use (male or female) that you can be certain they have the blue egg gene only? To use for projects such as EE?

 

[NatJ]

Are there breeds that you can use (male or female) that you can be certain they have the blue egg gene only? To use for projects such as EE?

In theory, yes.
In practice, not really.

There are breeds that are supposed to be pure for the blue egg gene (two copies in every bird.) They would include Araucana, Ameraucana, Cream Legbar, Silverudd's Blue (sometimes called Isbar), Whiting True Blue (according to what McMurray Hatchery says on their website.)

Unfortunately, chickens sometimes have one or no blue egg gene, even when they belong to a breed that is supposed to have two blue egg genes. This is about the same as when a chicken has the wrong foot color, or the wrong comb type, or slightly wrong feather color, or any other kind of not-quite-right. It just does happen sometimes.

If you buy Easter Eggers from a hatchery, many of them are also pure for the blue egg gene. The rate is higher in some flocks than others, and I don't know of a way to predict which ones are better choices.

For any of them, if you want to be entirely certain, I would suggest a genetic test or test-mating.

If you have a male/female pair, where each bird has two blue egg genes, then every one of their chicks will have two blue egg genes as well. So a person with one pair could raise themselves a bunch of pure-for-blue cockerels to use for breeding Easter Eggers.

 

[RememberTheWay]

And the only way to be certain is the hatch out babies and raise those babies to maturity to see what color the eggs that they lay are? Am I safe to assume if you have 100% on the hens for blue then your males should also be 100% or is that not always true? And how big of rest group would you need to be sure?

In theory, yes.
In practice, not really.

There are breeds that are supposed to be pure for the blue egg gene (two copies in every bird.) They would include Araucana, Ameraucana, Cream Legbar, Silverudd's Blue (sometimes called Isbar), Whiting True Blue (according to what McMurray Hatchery says on their website.)

Unfortunately, chickens sometimes have one or no blue egg gene, even when they belong to a breed that is supposed to have two blue egg genes. This is about the same as when a chicken has the wrong foot color, or the wrong comb type, or slightly wrong feather color, or any other kind of not-quite-right. It just does happen sometimes.

If you buy Easter Eggers from a hatchery, many of them are also pure for the blue egg gene. The rate is higher in some flocks than others, and I don't know of a way to predict which ones are better choices.

For any of them, if you want to be entirely certain, I would suggest a genetic test or test-mating.

If you have a male/female pair, where each bird has two blue egg genes, then every one of their chicks will have two blue egg genes as well. So a person with one pair could raise themselves a bunch of pure-for-blue cockerels to use for breeding Easter Eggers.

 

[NatJ]

And the only way to be certain is the hatch out babies and raise those babies to maturity to see what color the eggs that they lay are?

There is also a DNA test for the blue egg gene (new in the last few years).
https://iqbirdtesting.com/blueegg

It will tell whether a chicken has two blue egg genes, or one blue egg gene, or no blue egg genes.

The test is probably cheaper and definitely faster than raising a bunch of chicks to maturity to see what color eggs they lay.

And how big of rest group would you need to be sure?

If you are test-mating, you need to raise about 8-10 daughters that lay blue/green eggs, and see that none lay white/brown eggs, to be reasonably sure that their parent is pure for the blue egg gene. Even one daughter that lays brown or white eggs is enough to prove that the parent has the not-blue eggshell gene.

You have to be sure the other parent of those daughters has no blue egg gene. So test a rooster by using hens that lay white or brown eggs. Test a hen with a rooster that you know has the genes for white or brown, not any blue or green.

If you have a rooster with just one blue eggshell gene, and a flock of hens with two blue eggshell genes, then half of the chicks will have two blue egg genes and the other half will have one blue egg gene, but all daughters will lay blue or green eggs (because they all have at least one blue egg gene.) So this situation is not useful for testing which (if any) parent has not-blue egg genes. The same rooster with a flock of hens that lay brown eggs will produce about a 50/50 split of chicks that have one blue egg gene (lay blue or green) and chicks that have no blue egg gene (lay brown or white.)

If you have a rooster and a hen that each have one blue egg gene and one not-blue gene, the chicks should be about 1/4 with two blue egg genes (inherited from both parents), 1/2 with one blue egg gene (inherit blue from one parent and not from the other), and 1/4 with no blue egg genes (inherit not-blue from each parent.)

Am I safe to assume if you have 100% on the hens for blue then your males should also be 100% or is that not always true?

It's not safe to assume that in all cases.

If all of your hens are laying blue or green eggs, you cannot tell which hens are carrying a gene for not-blue eggshell color, unless you use a DNA test or test-mating to check, or unless you know for sure that both parents were pure for the blue eggshell gene. This is even more true for roosters: if all their sisters are laying blue or green eggs, you can't be sure whether the rooster has one or even two not-blue eggshell genes.

If all your hens have two blue egg genes, you still cannot be sure about the rooster unless you test him (DNA or test mating), or unless you know that both parents were pure for the blue egg gene.

But if you have a rooster that has two blue eggshell genes, and hens that have two blue eggshell genes, then all of their chicks are certain to have two blue eggshell genes. To get to this stage usually calls for some amount of DNA tests or test-mating, followed by keeping an eye on parentage (either the whole flock is pure for the blue eggshell gene and you no longer have to think about it, or you have to keep track which birds are from which parents so you know which chicks need testing and which are certain to be correct.)

A flock like that, where all birds are pure for the blue eggshell gene, is what people are trying to achieve with any of the breeds that lay blue or green eggs. Some of them manage it, some don't. Any time they cross in a bird from another source, they have to be careful about whether they are bringing in the not-blue eggshell gene again.

If it is very important for you to have a rooster with two blue egg genes, I would say it is worth testing him yourself, no matter what source he comes from. (Possible exceptions: if you raised him yourself and know that his parents are both pure for the blue egg gene, or if he comes from a source that you trust to be right about what genes their chickens have.)