Egg colors and genetics?

[Bec]

As I was sitting her thinking...lol...I thought about this and thought I would ask!

Ok, I have 2 EE's, one lays pink, one lays green. If they are bred to a cochin, would the offspring lay colored eggs and be considered EE's?

My other question, will the offspring of the green layer lay green eggs to or will it be a surprise as to what colors they lay?

Please help me if this makes any sense to you

 

[ghulst]

I beleive that you would lose the colored egg gene.

 

[Bec]

Oh darn!

Well at least they would be pretty to look at! Should I post this down in the breeds and genetics section??

 

[Byrdj]

The EE that lays pink eggs doen't carry the blue egg gene so it's offspring would lay only brown eggs if crossed with a Cochin. The EE that lays green eggs has one copy of the blue egg gene so half of it's offspring crossed with a Cochin would lay green eggs and half would lay brown eggs.
Most people consider EE's any chicken that lays blue/green eggs.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

The EE that lays pink eggs doesn't carry the blue egg gene so it's offspring would lay only brown eggs if crossed with a Cochin.

Correct

The EE that lays green eggs has one copy of the blue egg gene so half of it's offspring crossed with a Cochin would lay green eggs and half would lay brown eggs.

Not necessarily true. The bird could have either one or two copies of the blue egg gene. Since it lays green eggs, then it also has brown egg genes as well.

If the bird has two copies of the blue eggshell gene, then all its offspring will receive a copy and the females will lay eggs with blue eggshells, and the males will be able to pass that gene on to their offspring. If the bird has only one copy of the blue eggshell gene, then about half their offspring will receive it and half will not.

The bird will also pass on the genes that add a brown coating to the shell, giving green eggs. When bred to a cochin, the offspring will also receive the genes that coat the eggshell from the cochin, so yes, the eggs will be green.

If you were to breed to a white egg laying breed, then you could get bluer eggs, but my understanding is that it can be difficult to clear up the colouring once you have the brown coating in the genes.

There is a single gene for blue eggshells; there are many for brown/white, at least one of which is sex-linked.​

 

[Bec]

Sooo, basically, I won't know until the "babies" grew up and started laying??

I am so hoping for green/blue eggs!