Cross Breeding Cream Legbar rooster & French Black Copper Maran hen for GREEN eggs?

[aart]

will the same hen and rooster together every time produce offspring that make the same color?

Yes.

 

[phoenix-silkie]

hey everyone,
I'm glad I found this page! haven't had chickens in a very long time, but have always had the dream to try and make a pretty cool breed and learn all about the bar genes! if there is anyone with more photos of the parent stock and F1 generations that would be so cool!

 

[enggass]

So I’ve crossed a CL Sire over my RIRs and Wheaten Marans. It’s clear from the offspring coloration which pullets are from which mother. What’s weird is that some of the Wheaten offspring have yellow legs and some have slate/greenish colored legs. Why is this? Also, none of the wheaten offspring pullets got feathered legs. Can an expert in n breeding here give me some feedback on this? I’m sure all pullets will give me some sort of ‘green’ egg. F1 OEs... thanks.

 

[GaryDean26]

So I’ve crossed a CL Sire over my RIRs and Wheaten Marans. It’s clear from the offspring coloration which pullets are from which mother. What’s weird is that some of the Wheaten offspring have yellow legs and some have slate/greenish colored legs. Why is this? Also, none of the wheaten offspring pullets got feathered legs. Can an expert in n breeding here give me some feedback on this? I’m sure all pullets will give me some sort of ‘green’ egg. F1 OEs... thanks.

There are two sets of gene that make up the the leg color. One is for the top layer of skid and one for the tissue under the skid.

For the top layer skin color you will get either a yellow skin of white skin.

For the under color you get either Melonized (dark coloring) or clear.

Yellow Skin + clear undercolor = yellow legs
Yellow Skin + dark undercolor = green/willow legs
white skin + clear undercolor = White Legs
White skin + dark undercolor= grey blue eggs

Also if you have an extended black primary color pattern the leg color will get darker and be a black/slate color.

If you have the barring gene the leg color will lighten.

The yellow skin color is recessive and sex-linked. So a hen is either going to be be yellow or white and will pass that color to 100% of her offspring.

A cock will yellow legs has inherited the yellow skin gene from both parents and will pass on the yellow skin gene to 100% of his offspring.

A cock with white skin could be either carrying two white skin genes and pass the white skin to 100% of his offspring or be an "incomplete" carrying a yellow and a white skin gene and then he would pass yellow to 50% of his offspring and white to 50% of his offspring.

The clear undercolor is dominant. It is no sex-linked so both the hen and the cock that have the clear undercolor can be "complete" and pass the clear to 100% of their offspring or be "incomplete" and pass clear to 50% of their offspring and dark colored to 50% of their offspring.

The CLB cock has yellow legs and will pass yellow skin and clear or dark undercolor. If breed to a hen with yellow legs she will pass yellow skin and clear or dark undercolor. if you are getting green legs is means that one of the parents are incomplete for the clear undercolor. Since you are not seeing green legs from the RIR the Legar is probably complete. The Weaten hen is the problem. She is not pure breed for her leg color. No too surprising to me. We have 4-5 Wheaten Marans eggs from a breeding in Texas in 2010 and had 3-4 hatch. They were a really mixed batch. They were incomplete for the dark brown/Columbian color genes so they got a lot of red coloring on the legs and body of the cockerels where they should have been black. I know there were a few other color problems. I don't remember all of them, but we would have had to work with the line for at least 5 years to get them pure bred. They were a few breeders that knew what they were doing in 2010 but there were a ton more that would get sport wheatens from their Black Copper flocks and then breed them into their wheaten flock to improve egg color not knowing that they make the splitting things like the columbian/dark brown genes, and other genes. I don't think the yellow skin isn't even part of the Marans breed. I think all the varieties have white skin, so the yellow/green skin of the wheaten indicated crossed to non-marans breeds. I know that on of the first Black Copper Marans breeders in the USA crossed his line to RIR to try to increase production that ruins egg color brought in green legs, etc.

So...you wheaten is probably not a pure as you thing she is.

 

[JDShaver]

There are two sets of gene that make up the the leg color. One is for the top layer of skid and one for the tissue under the skid.

For the top layer skin color you will get either a yellow skin of white skin.

For the under color you get either Melonized (dark coloring) or clear.

Yellow Skin + clear undercolor = yellow legs
Yellow Skin + dark undercolor = green/willow legs
white skin + clear undercolor = White Legs
White skin + dark undercolor= grey blue eggs

Also if you have an extended black primary color pattern the leg color will get darker and be a black/slate color.

If you have the barring gene the leg color will lighten.

The yellow skin color is recessive and sex-linked. So a hen is either going to be be yellow or white and will pass that color to 100% of her offspring.

A cock will yellow legs has inherited the yellow skin gene from both parents and will pass on the yellow skin gene to 100% of his offspring.

A cock with white skin could be either carrying two white skin genes and pass the white skin to 100% of his offspring or be an "incomplete" carrying a yellow and a white skin gene and then he would pass yellow to 50% of his offspring and white to 50% of his offspring.

The clear undercolor is dominant. It is no sex-linked so both the hen and the cock that have the clear undercolor can be "complete" and pass the clear to 100% of their offspring or be "incomplete" and pass clear to 50% of their offspring and dark colored to 50% of their offspring.

The CLB cock has yellow legs and will pass yellow skin and clear or dark undercolor. If breed to a hen with yellow legs she will pass yellow skin and clear or dark undercolor. if you are getting green legs is means that one of the parents are incomplete for the clear undercolor. Since you are not seeing green legs from the RIR the Legar is probably complete. The Weaten hen is the problem. She is not pure breed for her leg color. No too surprising to me. We have 4-5 Wheaten Marans eggs from a breeding in Texas in 2010 and had 3-4 hatch. They were a really mixed batch. They were incomplete for the dark brown/Columbian color genes so they got a lot of red coloring on the legs and body of the cockerels where they should have been black. I know there were a few other color problems. I don't remember all of them, but we would have had to work with the line for at least 5 years to get them pure bred. They were a few breeders that knew what they were doing in 2010 but there were a ton more that would get sport wheatens from their Black Copper flocks and then breed them into their wheaten flock to improve egg color not knowing that they make the splitting things like the columbian/dark brown genes, and other genes. I don't think the yellow skin isn't even part of the Marans breed. I think all the varieties have white skin, so the yellow/green skin of the wheaten indicated crossed to non-marans breeds. I know that on of the first Black Copper Marans breeders in the USA crossed his line to RIR to try to increase production that ruins egg color brought in green legs, etc.

So...you wheaten is probably not a pure as you thing she is.

Awesome explanation and very insightful for us hobbyists interested in playing with cross breeding to demonstrate that crossbreeding affects much more than egg color alone.