Got an olive egg today, but I don't have an olive egger?

[gritsar]

I have several pullets that have just started laying or will soon start.

Sally is a turken/brahma cross. Polly is a turken/??, I suspect full turken. Annie is a turken/??, could be turken/EE, 4 sex links including a true tail-less one and a minorca.

I know Sally lays an extremely large brown egg, as does Polly. I know minorcas lay white eggs. And I was thinking all of my sex links would lay brown, even the tail-less one.

Yesterday and today I have found a pullet sized egg that is definitely olive in color. I know for a fact that it's not from my EE that lays a lighter green egg.

So who laid it? My money is on Annie as she is possibly half EE, but I thought the colored egg gene was passed from the father's side?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
Quit thinking. You'll get another one of those headaches. The blue egg gene can come from either parent. It is not sex linked.

The shade of green or blue depends on how much, if any, brown is put on top of the blue shell. Use some sandpaper and scratch the coating off the egg. It is blue underneath. Break the egg and remove the inner membrane. What you are seeing is blue.

I would have thought you had seen this before. The basic egg shell is either blue or white. The blue gene is dominant so if just one copy is present, the egg shell will be blue.

There are many different genes that determine the shade of brown laid on top of the blue or white basic shell.

Blue + no brown = blue egg
Blue + light brown = mint green egg
Blue + dark brown = olive green egg.

White + no brown = white egg
White + light brown = light brown egg
White + dark brown = dark brown egg

There are a tremendous number of different shades of brown that can be added and I'm pretty sure there are some other genes that affect the actual shade of white or blue for the basic egg shell. With chicken genetics, little is really simple or straightforward. But hopefully this will help you find the guilty pullet.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Quit thinking. You'll get another one of those headaches. The blue egg gene can come from either parent. It is not sex linked.

The shade of green or blue depends on how much, if any, brown is put on top of the blue shell. Use some sandpaper and scratch the coating off the egg. It is blue underneath. Break the egg and remove the inner membrane. What you are seeing is blue.

I would have thought you had seen this before. The basic egg shell is either blue or white. The blue gene is dominant so if just one copy is present, the egg shell will be blue.

There are many different genes that determine the shade of brown laid on top of the blue or white basic shell.

Blue + no brown = blue egg
Blue + light brown = mint green egg
Blue + dark brown = olive green egg.

White + no brown = white egg
White + light brown = light brown egg
White + dark brown = dark brown egg

There are a tremendous number of different shades of brown that can be added and I'm pretty sure there are some other genes that affect the actual shade of white or blue for the basic egg shell. With chicken genetics, little is really simple or straightforward. But hopefully this will help you find the guilty pullet.

Lately everything hurts my head, not just thinking. Better living through pharmacology.

Okay, so I'm guessing that Annie's mom is the EE and Impy did to her what Impy did best so I ended up with an olive egger. I think....oh danggit! I wasn't supposed to think.....Runs off to find my pill bottle again.

 

[gritsar]

Things are fixin' to get pretty wild in the chicken yard as my new roosters are a cochin/silkie cross and a phoenix cross.

 

[Johnn]

some one told me you can tell what chicken lays wich colour egg by looking at a little patch of feathers around there ear or behind it?

 

[duckinnut]

What I need is a chicken that lays a different color every time to keep the "chicken math" to a reasonable minimum. You know what I mean. A brown then a green,blue ,white,chocolate,olive,pink and then start the cycle over.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yeah by the earlobes. White ear lobes lay white eggs, red ear lobes lay brown...I think I remembered that correctly.

Doesn't help with my olive egger though. She doesn't have green earlobes. I know which one it is now, Annie. I just wasn't aware that her mother was an easter egger.

 

[Birdgirl]

maybe its the tail-less one. dont they have rumpless araucanas?

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

the patch of feathers does indicate the egg color! but I think that green egg gene may throw it some, am waiting to see since I got alot of that trait in my younger pullets. both have white earlobes and green legs.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
That's what I was thinking, but I'm fairly certain that it's the turken X. I have seen her going into the nestbox. I'm not sure but I don't think the rumpless one is laying just yet.