Easter Egger Sexing "tips and tricks" *Pictures Included*

[Veer67]

I don't think you'll be getting eggs from this beauty. He looks a lot like my roo, who happens to be our favorite. At about 16 weeks, he started to crow & has long, black tail feathers with a metallic green shine in the sunlight. His amazing personality has won the hearts of all the neighbors. Thankfully, his crow is not very loud & can't be heard inside the house, but he still has to go. (only hens are legal) BTW- If anyone in the Chicagoland area wants to adopt a rooster, please let me know.

Cute! He sounds like a sweet boy.

 

[Nickeechickee]

Quote:
Totally OT, but I LOVE the pic of him doing homework, LOL! What a sweet boy, I hope you can find a home for him.

 

[BLT79]

I have a question. If my EE roo fertilizes my hens eggs, and they go broody, what is their breed going to be called? a mutt? I have 3 marans, and one cuckoo maran/rir mix? And will those chicks lay brown eggs or tinted? How do you figure all this out? Thanks all! Maybe it would help to know my EE roo has a RIR dad and a Americauna mom. he came out of a blue egg! Thanks

 

[fosterson]

I have a question. If my EE roo fertilizes my hens eggs, and they go broody, what is their breed going to be called? a mutt? I have 3 marans, and one cuckoo maran/rir mix? And will those chicks lay brown eggs or tinted? How do you figure all this out? Thanks all! Maybe it would help to know my EE roo has a RIR dad and a Americauna mom. he came out of a blue egg! Thanks

The short answer is: those chicks might lay blue, tinted, or 'olive' green eggs.

The long answer is somewhat more complicated.

RIRs lay brown eggs, so there's a good chance he carries the gene for brown eggs. It's possible he's also carrying the recessive gene for non brown eggs (which would be white or blue depending). His mother obviously carried the gene for blue eggs, but it's possible (even likely) she carried the gene for non brown, since brown tint + blue shells = greenish eggs. My best guess is that he's split for brown (tinted) vs non-brown (non-tinted) and split for blue vs non-blue.

Marans are brown (tinted) + white (non blue) eggs.
A Marans/RR would most likely be brown (tinted) + white (non blue) eggs.

I'd suspect that you'd get a mix of brown, green, and blue eggs, possibly with a few white eggs in there depending on how the inheritance lottery went your way.

 

[fosterson]

And just for fun, let's play with Punnet squares!


Brown (Tinted) eggs = T
Non-tinted eggs = t+

Blue eggs = O
Non-blue eggs = o+

Rooster - T/t+ O/o+

Marans hen = T/T o+o+
Marans/RIR hen = T/T o+o+

Possible combinations:

#1 = T/T O/o+ (Green egg)
#2 = T/t+ O/o+ (Green egg)
#3 = T/T o+/o+ (Brown egg)
#4 = T/t+ o+/o+ (Brown egg)

So you'd be getting about 50% green egg layers and 50% brown egg layers. Again, if there's a hidden 'non tinted' egg gene floating around in there, you MIGHT have an outside possibility of getting blue or white eggs.

If you were to take THOSE brown and green egg layers and cross them with a blue egg layer or a green egg layer, you'd wind up with more of an equal split between colors. I think.

Also, this is very simplified. They think there are upwards of a dozen genes responsible for how 'tinted' an egg is or not.

 

[BLT79]

And just for fun, let's play with Punnet squares!


Brown (Tinted) eggs = T
Non-tinted eggs = t+

Blue eggs = O
Non-blue eggs = o+

Rooster - T/t+ O/o+

Marans hen = T/T o+o+
Marans/RIR hen = T/T o+o+

Possible combinations:

#1 = T/T O/o+ (Green egg)
#2 = T/t+ O/o+ (Green egg)
#3 = T/T o+/o+ (Brown egg)
#4 = T/t+ o+/o+ (Brown egg)

So you'd be getting about 50% green egg layers and 50% brown egg layers. Again, if there's a hidden 'non tinted' egg gene floating around in there, you MIGHT have an outside possibility of getting blue or white eggs.

If you were to take THOSE brown and green egg layers and cross them with a blue egg layer or a green egg layer, you'd wind up with more of an equal split between colors. I think.

Also, this is very simplified. They think there are upwards of a dozen genes responsible for how 'tinted' an egg is or not.

wow is that a lot to take in! haha! but I think I get it and will just wait and see if my ladies go broody! when should I expect them to go broody? This will be something to look forward too though! mystery color eggs!

 

[Veer67]

I have a question. If my EE roo fertilizes my hens eggs, and they go broody, what is their breed going to be called? a mutt? I have 3 marans, and one cuckoo maran/rir mix? And will those chicks lay brown eggs or tinted? How do you figure all this out? Thanks all! Maybe it would help to know my EE roo has a RIR dad and a Americauna mom. he came out of a blue egg! Thanks

The chicks be called mutts, but since an EE is a mix as well they can still be called Easter Eggers or EE mixes.

 

[JesNflock]

And just for fun, let's play with Punnet squares!


Brown (Tinted) eggs = T
Non-tinted eggs = t+

Blue eggs = O
Non-blue eggs = o+

Rooster - T/t+ O/o+

Marans hen = T/T o+o+
Marans/RIR hen = T/T o+o+

Possible combinations:

#1 = T/T O/o+ (Green egg)
#2 = T/t+ O/o+ (Green egg)
#3 = T/T o+/o+ (Brown egg)
#4 = T/t+ o+/o+ (Brown egg)

So you'd be getting about 50% green egg layers and 50% brown egg layers. Again, if there's a hidden 'non tinted' egg gene floating around in there, you MIGHT have an outside possibility of getting blue or white eggs.

If you were to take THOSE brown and green egg layers and cross them with a blue egg layer or a green egg layer, you'd wind up with more of an equal split between colors. I think.

Also, this is very simplified. They think there are upwards of a dozen genes responsible for how 'tinted' an egg is or not.

uggh...I wish these things made more sense to me...loved science but genetics ALWAYS confused the mess outta me! lol

Maybe I should read up on it now that I'm older &...wiser? Well, older at least

lol

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

I just thought I'd post a chick feathering to adult feathering on one of my roosters.

He was such a cute little guy and I though he'd keep that black spangleling on his chest but I really don't like how he finally feathered in. He kinda looks like an 80s hair band singer if you ask me

 

[Penny Hen]

uggh...I wish these things made more sense to me...loved science but genetics ALWAYS confused the mess outta me! lol

Maybe I should read up on it now that I'm older &...wiser? Well, older at least

lol

Have you ever played Bridge or Spades? It is and oversimplification but the trump system in the card games is a helpful analogy to how genes work. Spades trump Diamonds which trump Hearts which trump Clubs. When understanding how genes divide up I use Red Rover. Some kids had really strong handgrips and were hard to break apart. This is like the genes for blue eggs and pea comes. They can be broken but it doesn't happen that often. Any of you needlepoint or bead? Think of a DNA strand as the graphs that patterns are on. Each little square is a spot that a gene can plug into. This is called a map unit. The closer genes are together the more likely they will stay together when they are divided in the process of making sperm or ova. Any two genes closer than 50 map units (the squares on the graph pattern) are likely to shift together.