Egg color?

[chickenMamee]

I have Easter Eggers that were bred to my Buff Orpington roo. The offspring have beads and peacombs.
Will they lay brown eggs or green?
Thanks

 

[lazy gardener]

You mean beards and pea combs, or are they hippies? . If the chicks came from a blue or green egg, they SHOULD produce a green/aqua egg. (I think)

 

[chickenMamee]

You mean beards and pea combs, or are they hippies? . If the chicks came from a blue or green egg, they SHOULD produce a green/aqua egg. (I think)

Haha! Right, beards and pea combs not hippies.
Okay, hopefully, more green eggs. Thanks

 

[AmazingRachel]

Depends because EEs can lay across a spectrum. If your bred EEs lay blue eggs, the female offspring will lay green eggs. If your bred EEs lay green eggs, the female offspring will lay green eggs that might be a bit darker than the mothers'. In chicken egg color, it's not genetically incomplete dominance but it acts like it. Blue eggs are a bit complicated because it isn't a coating of pigment like in brown eggs, it's actually oocyanin which is a byproduct of bile production and, unlike brown eggs, it goes all the way through the egg shell (inside of the shell is blue). Anyway, when you mix brown + blue you will get green because the brown pigment covers the blue shell but it keeps a blue inner shell.

 

[rebrascora]

As I understand it, each parent will contribute one egg shell colour gene to the chick. The Buff Orp will carry two copies of the white shell gene and can therefore only pass white on to the chick. If the EE lays a blue or green egg then she might have one copy of the blue shell gene and one white (heterozygous) or she may carry two blue shell genes (homozygous). If she is heterozygous then there is a 50/50 chance that she will pass a blue shell gene to the offspring and since blue is dominant, there will be a 50% chance of her female chicks laying a blue shelled egg and 50% that it will be white shelled. If she is homozygous then all chicks will get a blue shell gene from her and therefore all pullets will lay a blue shelled egg.

The various shades of brown that make the egg appear brown instead of white or green instead of blue are controlled by different genes and I'm not entirely sure of how they work yet, but basically, there is a chance that the offspring from such a hatch will lay all green eggs or 50% may lay brown depending on her genetic background and you will not know until you breed her and hatch some of her eggs.

I'm afraid I probably haven't explained that very well..... there are only two egg shell colours white and blue and blue is dominant.... browns and greens are created by the brown coatings that the shell gets before being laid, so ignore those for a moment. A chick gets a copy of shell colour from each parent and each parent has two copies to give. The orp will have 2 copies of the white shell genes so can only pass white on, the EE might have 2 copies of the blue shell gene or may have a white and a blue, but since blue is dominant, she still lays a blue shelled egg. So, if she only has blue shell genes she will pass one blue on to all her chicks and they will get a white from their dad and because blue is dominant, they will all lay blue. If she has blue and white, there is a 50% chance that she will pass a blue on to the chick and it will lay blue egg shells and 50% chance that she will pass the white gene on and it will lay white shelled eggs (but with a brown coating)....
.... Ok I still didn't explain that well ..... hopefully someone else can!