Colored Egg Genetics in Roo

[humblehillsfarm]

What do you mean?

Multiple genes affect egg color, not just one set (like X= blue and x=brown). In reality there's X, Y, Z, F, B, and so on.

Egg color isn't just a shell color. White eggs are white shells. Brown eggs are actually white shells with a brown pigment over them. Blue eggs are actually blue shells. Olive and green eggs are actually blue shells with brown pigment on them. Pinkish eggs are actually affected by the bloom, or protective coating over the egg. There are even genetics which effect the amount of brown pigment, for example welsummers and marans have a very dark pigment, but a barred rock has a light pigment.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

This chart isn't totally accurate either though, because usually an Easter egger is not created by breeding a blue layer to a light brown layer. Usually an easter egger has a long history of just breeding blue to blue, but may have ancestors that laid brown eggs and may still have the gene hiding.

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

View attachment 2458565

Thank you so much! I never knew all of that!

 

[aart]

Easter Egger mom would he have the EE colored egg genetics?

What color eggs does 'mom' lay?
If she lay blue/green eggs, you have a 50-50 chance her offspring will too.

I would breed him to a pure EE

No such thing. EE's are a cross, between many different breeds.

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

What color eggs does 'mom' lay?
If she lay blue/green eggs, you have a 50-50 chance her offspring will too.

No such thing. EE's are a cross, between many different breeds.

Yes, she lays a blue/green

 

[Mailaisefordays]

This thread is super interesting and helpful. Could y'all tell me what color egg layers I might get if I crossed my crested cream legbar with a silkie x EE mix roo? I'm told the EE hen actually laid light brown eggs but I'm guessing there's a blue gene in there somewhere seeing as she's an EE?

Pic of my silkie x EE cockerel for attention.

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

This thread is super interesting and helpful. Could y'all tell me what color egg layers I might get if I crossed my crested cream legbar with a silkie x EE mix roo? I'm told the EE hen actually laid light brown eggs but I'm guessing there's a blue gene in there somewhere seeing as she's an EE?

Pic of my silkie x EE cockerel for attention.
View attachment 2489325

If your hen really is an EE and lays blue eggs then she has the blue gene. If you bred her to a silkie/EE (1 white gene and 1 blue gene) you might have a 75% chance of getting a colored egg layer. I think that's how it goes. Hopefully someone else can clarify that for you.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm told the EE hen actually laid light brown eggs but I'm guessing there's a blue gene in there somewhere seeing as she's an EE?

Unfortunately "EE" doesn't mean anything. They are not a breed so there is no breed standard. We can't even agree on a definition of what an EE is. As you just pointed out, an EE hen doesn't even need to lay a blue or green egg to be called an EE.

The way the egg shell color genetics work one gene pair determines if the base color is going to be blue or white. The Blue gene is dominant so if either one or both of those genes at that gene pair is the Blue gene the egg shell base color will be blue. If neither is Blue it defaults to white. So that gene pair sets the base color.

There are many different gene pairs that affect the brown color. Some are dominant, some are recessive. Some only act if another certain gene is present. One bleaches brown so it disappears. One is sex linked. There are a whole lot of different possible combinations, that's why you can get so many different shades of brown. A white egg becomes brown if a hen deposits brome on a white egg. A blue egg becomes green if a hen deposits brown on blue. This might explain it.

Blue + no brown = blue
Blue + brown = green
White + no brown - white
White + brown = brown

Both parents contribute equally to those blue/white base color genetics. The genes at that gene pair are handed down randomly. I think graphics can help us understand. The symbol for the dominant Blue gene is uppercase "O". The non-dominant Not-Blue symbol is lower case "o". If either parent is O/O at that gene pair then one will hand down an "O" so the pullet will lay a base blue egg. If both parents are o/o the pullet will lay a base white egg. If one parent is o/o while the other is O/o, the pullet might lay a base blue egg or she might lay a base white egg. The odds are 50-50 each way. If both parents or O/o the odds are 75% that the pullet will lay a base blue egg and 25% that she will lay a base white egg.

Since your EE laid a brown egg she has no blue to contribute, she is o/o. But the Legbar rooster should be pure for the blue egg shell gene, or O/O. That means a pullet from that crossing should be O/o and lay a base blue egg. What shade of blue or green will depend on what brown gets contributed.

This is probably clear as mud. But then the definition of an EE is also clear as mud because it can mean different things to different people. But the pullets from your cross should lay a base blue egg. That will come from the father, not the mother.

 

[Mailaisefordays]

Unfortunately "EE" doesn't mean anything. They are not a breed so there is no breed standard. We can't even agree on a definition of what an EE is. As you just pointed out, an EE hen doesn't even need to lay a blue or green egg to be called an EE.

The way the egg shell color genetics work one gene pair determines if the base color is going to be blue or white. The Blue gene is dominant so if either one or both of those genes at that gene pair is the Blue gene the egg shell base color will be blue. If neither is Blue it defaults to white. So that gene pair sets the base color.

There are many different gene pairs that affect the brown color. Some are dominant, some are recessive. Some only act if another certain gene is present. One bleaches brown so it disappears. One is sex linked. There are a whole lot of different possible combinations, that's why you can get so many different shades of brown. A white egg becomes brown if a hen deposits brome on a white egg. A blue egg becomes green if a hen deposits brown on blue. This might explain it.

Blue + no brown = blue
Blue + brown = green
White + no brown - white
White + brown = brown

Both parents contribute equally to those blue/white base color genetics. The genes at that gene pair are handed down randomly. I think graphics can help us understand. The symbol for the dominant Blue gene is uppercase "O". The non-dominant Not-Blue symbol is lower case "o". If either parent is O/O at that gene pair then one will hand down an "O" so the pullet will lay a base blue egg. If both parents are o/o the pullet will lay a base white egg. If one parent is o/o while the other is O/o, the pullet might lay a base blue egg or she might lay a base white egg. The odds are 50-50 each way. If both parents or O/o the odds are 75% that the pullet will lay a base blue egg and 25% that she will lay a base white egg.

Since your EE laid a brown egg she has no blue to contribute, she is o/o. But the Legbar rooster should be pure for the blue egg shell gene, or O/O. That means a pullet from that crossing should be O/o and lay a base blue egg. What shade of blue or green will depend on what brown gets contributed.

This is probably clear as mud. But then the definition of an EE is also clear as mud because it can mean different things to different people. But the pullets from your cross should lay a base blue egg. That will come from the father, not the mother.

Wow! Thank you so much for all that info. So if the father is the EE x silkie mix and he's crossed with a CCL I would most likely get olive eggers?
I clearly need to order some books on chicken egg genetics. Any you recommend?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The Rooster hatched from a light brown egg. A Silkie typically lays a cream colored egg. A CCL might lay a blue or green egg, usually not very dark.

I would expect a light green egg, not a deep olive green egg. I do not see where the dark brown required for olive eggs would come from.