Do Whiting True Blues have the Zinc White gene?

[SourRoses]

Cream Crested Legbar should also be zinc white free, I think.

Legbar is the one I mentioned that Nicalandia says does have zinc white. I hadn't thought so either but Nicalandia is the chicken gene guru

 

[DarJones]

IME, zinc white affects shell structure (making it slightly thicker) and color (by inhibiting production of porphyrin). It has positive effects on blue egg coloring. The prettiest eggs I am currently collecting are intense sky blue with the typical white background from zinc white combined with homozygous oocyanin.

 

[SourRoses]

Thank You @DarJones Your experience makes for a wealth of helpful knowledge!

 

[FunClucks]

Legbar is the one I mentioned that Nicalandia says does have zinc white. I hadn't thought so either but Nicalandia is the chicken gene guru

Well darn.

 

[TexasBlues]

I'm thinking no, but can someone confirm?

I'm contemplating breeding green and/or olive eggers from female WTB using BCM roo.

I'm also looking into crossing WTB rooster over Marans (midnight majesty, cause that's what I have - I have both feather foot and non-feather-footed MMMs), and Black Australorps to make Olive eggers and green eggers.

Do you guys see any hiccups here?

Did you make this cross?

 

[FunClucks]

Did you make this cross?

So, the BCM roo I ordered turned out to be a girl. The WTB have been with me since April, and are still not laying large eggs, more like medium/small. They are a great color blue, mostly true blue, only one with some tiny tint of green. The black australorp and MMM I have only lay medium brown eggs, so not the dark chocolate I was hoping for. The Red Stars lay darker eggs than they do. So I haven't incubated any of the Australorp or MMM eggs that were fertilized by the WTB rooster, as they won't give me the dark olive I was hoping for. I'm also wanting daily layers and large eggs, and haven't had a chance to see how often the MMM or Australorp lay per week, and their eggs aren't large enough yet.

I have incubated straight WTB eggs though. Just hatched 8/12. Will see how they grow and develop. Egg color is good, but not happy yet with the size.

I crossed Prairie Bluebells with a Production Red rooster last year, almost all the birds laid light green, with one of them laying olive. So I just got lucky with one bird. I think if I did the same cross with WTB instead I'd get darker green and possibly olive, as they have a darker blue egg than the prairie bluebells. However, we ate the production red roo - he turned mean. Still missing him when he was nice and wish we could've kept him.

 

[TexasBlues]

What exactly is the zinc white gene and how does it affect the eggs?
These WTB eggs I received in the mail could be labeled as “powder blue”.

 

[FunClucks]

What exactly is the zinc white gene and how does it affect the eggs?
These WTB eggs I received in the mail could be labeled as “powder blue”.

That's the correct color for WTB. My Prairie Bluebells were notably lighter than the WTB, and some were nearly white. The PBB have zinc white gene. I think the WTB have the same but may be homozygous for oocyanin, which gives the better blue color? Not sure, but if you search on the Genetics Forum on this site, a number of folks are very knowledgeable about zinc white gene.

 

[TexasBlues]

That's the correct color for WTB. My Prairie Bluebells were notably lighter than the WTB, and some were nearly white. The PBB have zinc white gene. I think the WTB have the same but may be homozygous for oocyanin, which gives the better blue color? Not sure, but if you search on the Genetics Forum on this site, a number of folks are very knowledgeable about zinc white gene.

Thanks for the tip. I read through @DarJones great thread on his blue laying silver laced Wyandotte. It sounds like the zinc gene inhibits the porphyrin production. Which is bad news if I was going to cross marans with whiting true blues. It sounds like the eggs would be more of a sandy brown, not green or olive.
I candled a few of my wtb true blue eggs that are about 4 days in the incubator and saw some spidering in a couple of them. I only looked at 4 of the 18. I’ll wait til day 7 to candle them all.

 

[FunClucks]

Thanks for the tip. I read through @DarJones great thread on his blue laying silver laced Wyandotte. It sounds like the zinc gene inhibits the porphyrin production. Which is bad news if I was going to cross marans with whiting true blues. It sounds like the eggs would be more of a sandy brown, not green or olive.
I candled a few of my wtb true blue eggs that are about 4 days in the incubator and saw some spidering in a couple of them. I only looked at 4 of the 18. I’ll wait til day 7 to candle them all.

So, I did cross my Prairie Bluebells with a Production Red rooster, and all of them laid light green/ light olive - same color as the Starlight Green Eggers, but a tad more on the green side. One of them laid medium olive. So the zinc white gene (if present, I'm assuming it is because of the visual appearance of the blue layer parent egg shells) didn't interfere with making green eggers from Prairie Bluebells and a medium brown egg layer rooster. Could probably have gotten a darker olive color with a BCM or darker egg color roo. If the zinc white gene wasn't present, we may have had a darker green/olive color of the eggs, but that's just my theory.