Egg Color question

[tripleee]

Hello all! I am in need of some egg color prediction help. I run all my chickens together during the winter and then separate them back out into breeding coops come spring. I bought some Olive egger hatching eggs last spring and had a really poor hatch the resulted in only one hen making it but she laid the prettiest dark olive eggs. I was planning on crossing her on my Cream Legbar roo once the weather got better but.... she flew the coop and something got her. I am heartbroken over loosing her to scavenged the laying boxes and refrigerator and scrounged up 9 of her eggs and got them in the incubator. Checked last night (Day 5 cause I was too impatient to wait any longer lol) and put of the 9, 6 are devolving and one was too dark an egg to be able to tell. So that leads me to start wondering what color eggs these chicks might be able to lay? Possible roosters are the Cream Legbar, Bielefelder, Cochin (most likely since one had a crush on her and would follow her out of the coop whenever she went exploring), Silkie, Silkie Cross, or White Leghorn. If she crossed on the brown egg breeds will the offspring lay brown? Or a lighter green/olive?

 

[Egg Snatcher]

I'm think white and green will just be a lighter green color. Here's a egg color breeding chart.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

Hello all! I am in need of some egg color prediction help. I run all my chickens together during the winter and then separate them back out into breeding coops come spring. I bought some Olive egger hatching eggs last spring and had a really poor hatch the resulted in only one hen making it but she laid the prettiest dark olive eggs. I was planning on crossing her on my Cream Legbar roo once the weather got better but.... she flew the coop and something got her. I am heartbroken over loosing her to scavenged the laying boxes and refrigerator and scrounged up 9 of her eggs and got them in the incubator. Checked last night (Day 5 cause I was too impatient to wait any longer lol) and put of the 9, 6 are devolving and one was too dark an egg to be able to tell. So that leads me to start wondering what color eggs these chicks might be able to lay? Possible roosters are the Cream Legbar, Bielefelder, Cochin (most likely since one had a crush on her and would follow her out of the coop whenever she went exploring), Silkie, Silkie Cross, or White Leghorn. If she crossed on the brown egg breeds will the offspring lay brown? Or a lighter green/olive?

She probably carries one blue shell gene and one white shell gene. I'm going to assume she does, since most OEs don't have 2 copies of the blue shell gene. Blue egg shells are dominant over white, so with one copy of the gene the chicks will have blue shells.

Legbar mix:
All offspring will get the blue shells. They will get varying amounts of brown pigment, so you could get green or olive eggs.

Bielefelder mix:
Half of the offspring will have blue shells and half will have white. Bielefelders are known for dark eggs, so you will get olive eggers (blue shell) and dark brown eggers (white shell).

Cochin, Silkie, or Silkie cross mix:
Half of the offspring will have blue shells and half will have white. They will get varying amounts of brown pigment, so you could get green or olive eggs (blue shells) or tan to brown eggs (white shells).

White Leghorn mix:
Half of the offspring will have blue shells and half will have white. Leghorns don't have any brown pigment, so chicks won't inherit any from him. You'll probably get varying shades of green and tan-brown.

Sorry you lost your hen. I hope you get a good hatch! Let us know how it goes.

 

[tripleee]

Wow thank you guys so much! Hatch date is 2/23 so hopefully I will get to update with lots of little peepers. Or at least one. I just hate losing hens!

 

[AuntieD]

Hello all! I am in need of some egg color prediction help. I run all my chickens together during the winter and then separate them back out into breeding coops come spring. I bought some Olive egger hatching eggs last spring and had a really poor hatch the resulted in only one hen making it but she laid the prettiest dark olive eggs. I was planning on crossing her on my Cream Legbar roo once the weather got better but.... she flew the coop and something got her. I am heartbroken over loosing her to scavenged the laying boxes and refrigerator and scrounged up 9 of her eggs and got them in the incubator. Checked last night (Day 5 cause I was too impatient to wait any longer lol) and put of the 9, 6 are devolving and one was too dark an egg to be able to tell. So that leads me to start wondering what color eggs these chicks might be able to lay? Possible roosters are the Cream Legbar, Bielefelder, Cochin (most likely since one had a crush on her and would follow her out of the coop whenever she went exploring), Silkie, Silkie Cross, or White Leghorn. If she crossed on the brown egg breeds will the offspring lay brown? Or a lighter green/olive?

One thing I noticed in your post is that you are using eggs from the refrigerator. Is this possible to hatch eggs that have been in the fridge? I am not being snarky, I really hope you can because I was told you can't.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am not being snarky, I really hope you can because I was told you can't.

I've been know to be snarky so bear with me. You are told a lot of things in life, on the internet, and on this forum. Some of them are true.

It is "best" to store eggs for hatching around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. It is "best" to store eggs for hatching in high humidity. There is other storage criteria to but let's stick with those two. The professionals that may hatch 1,000,000 chicks each week have storage facilities with "perfect" conditions. Most of us don't, we have to do the best we can.

The closer to ideal conditions the eggs are stored the longer they can be stored. As long as you don't freeze them or cook them the embryo can handle some hot or cold. It's not a case that at some specific temperature all eggs go from they will all hatch to none will ever hatch, it is a gradual loss of hatchability. The embryo inside is pretty hardy but some are more delicate than others. So do the best you can.

A refrigerator is usually really low humidity, not perfect. Different refrigerators are kept at different temperatures and different sections inside are often at different temperatures, they can have cold or warm spots. It is still going to be set cooler than ideal storage conditions. So for most people it is "best" to not store hatching eggs in the refrigerator, you sometimes don't get great hatching rates. But if you don't have air conditioning and your daytime temperatures are really hot your refrigerator may be the best you can do.

I think @tripleee did the right thing. Scavenge up all the eggs you can find and give them a chance. Not all the eggs will hatch but you never know which ones will.

 

[AuntieD]

I've been know to be snarky so bear with me. You are told a lot of things in life, on the internet, and on this forum. Some of them are true.

It is "best" to store eggs for hatching around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. It is "best" to store eggs for hatching in high humidity. There is other storage criteria to but let's stick with those two. The professionals that may hatch 1,000,000 chicks each week have storage facilities with "perfect" conditions. Most of us don't, we have to do the best we can.

The closer to ideal conditions the eggs are stored the longer they can be stored. As long as you don't freeze them or cook them the embryo can handle some hot or cold. It's not a case that at some specific temperature all eggs go from they will all hatch to none will ever hatch, it is a gradual loss of hatchability. The embryo inside is pretty hardy but some are more delicate than others. So do the best you can.

A refrigerator is usually really low humidity, not perfect. Different refrigerators are kept at different temperatures and different sections inside are often at different temperatures, they can have cold or warm spots. It is still going to be set cooler than ideal storage conditions. So for most people it is "best" to not store hatching eggs in the refrigerator, you sometimes don't get great hatching rates. But if you don't have air conditioning and your daytime temperatures are really hot your refrigerator may be the best you can do.

I think @tripleee did the right thing. Scavenge up all the eggs you can find and give them a chance. Not all the eggs will hatch but you never know which ones will.

Thanks, and I learned a lot in life way before there was an internet. Obviously not everything we learn along the way is accurate. I will continue to ask questions because I am still learning. I try never to be snarky ... I was taught it is better to be kind. I hope that is still true.