Good roo choice

[DOGBREATH17]

I have 4 buff orpingtons and 4 black austrolopes 9 werks old.Wanna add a blue egg rooster.Any advice?

 

[Tonyroo]

I think there's only a handful of breeds that have the blue egg gene.

 

[Ridgerunner]

HI, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined.

I'm not sure what country you are in. Breeds can be different depending on your country so where you are located is often good information. If you modify your profile to show your location it is always available.

If you are in the USA you have three basic choices but you have to be careful. The Cream Legbar were fairly recently imported and are supposed to lay a blue or green egg, so they "should" be pure for the blue egg gene. They are still somewhat rare and expensive.

The Ameraucana were accepted as a breed in the USA in 1984, the Araucana in 1974. They are both supposed to be pure for the blue egg gene so the roosters should give you what you want. The problem is that many established hatcheries had their blue egg laying flock before these breeds were developed and had called them Ameraucana or Araucana as a marketing name, not a breed name. So you need to be careful when you get them. Chat with whoever you are getting them form to assure they are pure for the blue egg gene.

Personally I'd stay away from the American Araucana. They have tufts which is a fatal gene when it pairs up on the chromosome. That means if you breed a tufted bird to a tufted bird about 25% of the chicks will die in the shell before they hatch.

The UK Araucana are fine. They do not have tufts so they do not have this fatal gene. My understanding is that Australia uses the UK standards. As I said, which country you are in makes a difference.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

When I get chicks, I carefully get breeds where if one turns out to be a Rooster, I will likely keep it. Therefore, I get CCL a lot. I know that Ameraucana's are nice too but CCL are super sweet. So I'd have a good chance at a more docile, blue egg maker with CCL is my thinking.

 

[Mrs. K]

Perhaps I misunderstood the original poster, but I would not expect blue eggs regardless of the rooster over BO or BA - those brown egg genes I think will cover up the blue?