Egg Color

[digger MN]

Ok here it is I want to no if the rooster has anything to do with the color of the egg????? I got home a little while ago and got the eggs out of the coop. I have 11 hens that will be a year old here in first part of April. I also have a EE that I hatched out in August of this year. I get 9 brown eggs and two white most everyday. Today I got 10 and one the size of the first ones they layed when they started. I am hoping for 1 more today because that would mean that the EE layed it's first egg.

BUT the only reason i am asking is it is BROWN. She camre out of a GREEN EGG. Could this one be her first egg????????
I wanted to have green eggs and ham with my grand daughter.

Thanks for any help

 

[dsqard]

The genetics of the rooster can play a part in the color of the egg as well. If you cross a blue egg laying hen with a "brown egg" rooster you can wind up with olive eggs. That being said, I don't know enough about genetics to say that a pullet that came out of a green egg can lay a brown egg. Try PM'ing Illia. She knows TONS about the genetics of chickens!

 

[Illia]

Irony. . . Found this place before someone found me.

Brown x Blue does not make olive though

"Olive" eggs are created with a DARK brown layer x blue/green layer.

But, more on topic, the rooster passes on just as much as the hen does. The thing with green eggs is that they're half blue, half brown. . . So, crossing green x green or green x brown will give you some chances of brown egg layers.

Consider it this way -

Green egger x Green egger = 50% green eggs, 25% brown eggs, 25% blue-green eggs

Green egger x Brown egger = 50% green eggs, 50% brown eggs

The green eggs from the second breeding listed are often more on the brown side though. Sort of a golden type hue.


So, in your case, the rooster either carries genes for green eggs or for brown eggs. Check his comb, that helps a lot. If it is a tall or floppy pea comb, he's got the green egg genes. If it is the traditional single comb (sawtooth edge) his genes are strictly for brown eggs.

 

[dsqard]

Thanks Illia! See told you she knows a lot!

I even learned something from this!

 

[digger MN]

Boy that helps allot. Thank you. Yes I have a RIR and also a rooster with a pea comb. He is the same age. Maybe time to hae a RIR in for supper.

 

[Justanother Brooke]

So are you saying that depending on what rooster the hen mates with, her eggs can change colors? Or that the offspring that comes from said mating will lay different colored eggs than the mom depending on the genetics?

 

[DeannaOR]

Is there a good link that talks about egg colors and breeding?

If I cross a brown egg laying Roo over a white egg laying hen...is one more dominant? Or do I have a 50/50 chance at brown or white eggs?

 

[puglady]

I'm wondering the same thing. Along with pure FBCMs, pipping and zipping in my bator are Birchin Marans mixes. I replaced my RI Red with a young 6 Mo old Birchin Marans mid July. Early Sept I popped some in to fill up my bator along with the shipped eggs from Charm1704. Looks like his fertility is very good but now I'm wondering if the female chicks will lay dark brown eggs. His ladies consist of RI Reds, Bl Aust & BRs. All lay light to med brown eggs. They're all coming out with feathered legs and I'm putting zip ties on the crosses as they hatch so I don't get confused. Also wondering about sex links. Birchin Marans x with BRs? Would the boys be "visible" at birth?

 

[DeannaOR]

I could be wrong on this...but I asked a similar question about my OE. The mix was Blue Cuckoo Marans over EE. I was told because of the mix the sex link option went out the window.

 

[Rooster49]

Is there any reason for a hen to lay brown eggs. and after 6 months the eggs she is laying are now Blue. Why is there a color change?