Egg color genetics

oaklandmama

In the Brooder
8 Years
Jul 20, 2011
47
0
22
Oakland, CA
Hi out there,

Have a question for the genetics experts... If I have a blue egg laying easter egger and breed it with a white egg layer, there are two possible scenarios--50/50 blue/white or all blue. Am I right?

What happens if I breed that same easter egger to a brown layer? Is it 50/50 green/brown or all green?

Am I totally misunderstanding it?

Thanks for the help!

Jisun
 
Peacomb gene and blue egger gene are linked
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Quote:
Genetics 101

It has been my experience that crossing a purebred blue egg layer with a white egg layer (white leghorn) will produce blue egg layers but the color will suffer. The color will be a light blue. The leghorns ( and most likely other white egg layers) carry genes or a gene that reduces non white color.

heterozygous blue egg shell (O/o+) x homozygous white egg shell (o+/o+) = 50% O/o+ and 50% o+/o+ ( just like the parents)

homozygous blue egg shell (O/O) x homozygous white egg shell (o+/o+) = 100% O/o+ (blue egg shell)

Brown egg shell is a polygenic trait or in other words the trait is caused by a number of genes- could be a number of genes greater than 10-not much research on the topic. You also have to remember brown egg shell birds carry two alleles (genes) for white egg shell.

Green egg shell is a combination of blue egg shell and a brown egg shell. The blue pigment is added to the shell while the brown pigment is normally added on the surface of the shell.

In genetics, the green egg shell is a complementary trait. Complementary refers to genes that work together to produce a third phenotype ( in this case green egg shell).

This is different than incomplete dominance- incomplete dominance deals with a dominant and a recessive allele.


Crossing a homozygous blue egg shell (O/O) X brown egg shell (o+/o+) with brown egg shell genes = heterozygous blue egg shell O/o+ with brown egg shell genes (a green egg shell)

heterozygous blue egg shell (O/o+) X brown egg shell (o+/o+) with brown egg shell genes= brown egg shell (o+/o+) with brown egg shell genes, and heterozygous blue egg shell O/o+ with brown egg shell genes (a green egg shell)


Tim
 
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