Has anyone bred a serama rooster over easter egger bantam hens?

[FatChicksDigMe]

I was wondering if anyone had the outcome of this cross (Serama roo x EE bantam hen): would the resulting female progeny lay colored eggs? I don't want to start a new breed or ever sell these crosses, just keep as a project (and probably keep it F1 generation too).

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

If the EE hen lays green or blue eggs, the female offspring have a 50-100% chance of laying blue or green eggs depending on whether the EE is pure or impure for the blue egg shell gene.

 

[FatChicksDigMe]

If the EE hen lays green or blue eggs, the female offspring have a 50-100% chance of laying blue or green eggs depending on whether the EE is pure or impure for the blue egg shell gene.

Thank you for responding! I am just fascinated by genetics: is it true the blue egg gene is dominant? I've read its linked to pea combs but if the serama has a single comb what does that do?

 

[Fallenone05]

Thank you for responding! I am just fascinated by genetics: is it true the blue egg gene is dominant? I've read its linked to pea combs but if the serama has a single comb what does that do?

Depending on how the genes pass down, you could get a blue egg layer, a green egg layer (blue shell with brown pigment laid over the top of it), or a brown egg layer.

 

[FatChicksDigMe]

Depending on how the genes pass down, you could get a blue egg layer, a green egg layer (blue shell with brown pigment laid over the top of it), or a brown egg layer.

That's really interesting! I heard seramas have cream/tinted eggs in America... would that change anything?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Thank you for responding! I am just fascinated by genetics: is it true the blue egg gene is dominant? I've read its linked to pea combs but if the serama has a single comb what does that do?

Yes it’s dominant. So is the pea comb gene.

 

[FatChicksDigMe]

Yes it’s dominant. So is the pea comb gene.

Thank you my friend

 

[Fallenone05]

That's really interesting! I heard seramas have cream/tinted eggs in America... would that change anything?

I think cream or tinted would still create a green color of some kind, as tint or cream is brown deposited on a white egg, though super lightly. Brown egg genes are vast and many, and that's why there are so many shades of brown for eggs.

Either way, your birds will still be easter egger mixes who may or may not lay blue, brown or green eggs. The girl in my icon is an easter egger mix, no muffs/beard, and a straight comb, who laid pinkish brown eggs while all of her sisters lay green or very light blue. 2 of her sisters ended up with a flat, smooth comb while the other 2 have pea combs. Their moms were EE's who laid blue eggs, and their dad was an EE/Wyandotte cross that hatched from a green egg. Neither of the parent stock (mom(s) or dad) had straight combs that were visible.

Egg genetics + physical appearance genetics might hide stuff that you didn't know your birds were heterozygous for, or if their parent stock had those features, or their grandparents, and so on.

If your blue egg layers are EEs, and not an Ameracauna, then they're already mixes and are potentially already heterozygous for blue+white. Blue is dominant over white.

If they lay green eggs, your birds are already heterozygous for blue+brown. Breeding to a tinted or cream egg layer may give you blue+white, or brown+brown, brown+white, or blue+brown. Those shades of brown may or may not be consistent with the Seramas, or whatever went into making your bantam EEs.

I found this thread here that goes a lot more in-depth than what I can explain.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/clarifying-brown-egg-genetics.840867/

If you want to see what your chickens might put off with offspring color, this calculator is handy!

http://kippenjungle.nl/chickencalculator.html

 

[FatChicksDigMe]

I think cream or tinted would still create a green color of some kind, as tint or cream is brown deposited on a white egg, though super lightly. Brown egg genes are vast and many, and that's why there are so many shades of brown for eggs.

Either way, your birds will still be easter egger mixes who may or may not lay blue, brown or green eggs. The girl in my icon is an easter egger mix, no muffs/beard, and a straight comb, who laid pinkish brown eggs while all of her sisters lay green or very light blue. 2 of her sisters ended up with a flat, smooth comb while the other 2 have pea combs. Their moms were EE's who laid blue eggs, and their dad was an EE/Wyandotte cross that hatched from a green egg. Neither of the parent stock (mom(s) or dad) had straight combs that were visible.

Egg genetics + physical appearance genetics might hide stuff that you didn't know your birds were heterozygous for, or if their parent stock had those features, or their grandparents, and so on.

If your blue egg layers are EEs, and not an Ameracauna, then they're already mixes and are potentially already heterozygous for blue+white. Blue is dominant over white.

If they lay green eggs, your birds are already heterozygous for blue+brown. Breeding to a tinted or cream egg layer may give you blue+white, or brown+brown, brown+white, or blue+brown. Those shades of brown may or may not be consistent with the Seramas, or whatever went into making your bantam EEs.

I found this thread here that goes a lot more in-depth than what I can explain.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/clarifying-brown-egg-genetics.840867/

If you want to see what your chickens might put off with offspring color, this calculator is handy!

http://kippenjungle.nl/chickencalculator.html

Thank you so much! Exactly what I was wondering! Genetics are amazing, and I sincerely appreciate your time in explaining

 

[DarJones]

All chicken eggshells start out white. Doesn't matter what breed or where it is from, all start out white. They may be tinted blue if the oocyanin gene is present or they may be coated with porphyrin making them brown, but the egg shell itself always starts out white.

There is a gene that makes eggs bright white. I refer to it as the zinc white gene to differentiate from normal while or cream. Leghorns are notorious for their bright white eggs. This gene is also dominant, but can be covered up by brown pigments if the porphyrin biopath is turned on. Such eggs usually are very pale tan.

There is a gene on chromosome 1 for blue eggs as a result of a virus infection millenia ago. The blue gene is dominant. If one copy is present, the eggs will be blue tinted. There are two variants of this phenotype with the south American blue and the Asian blue. They are separated a very short distance on chormosome 1 and can't normally be combined except in heterozygous form.

There is an entire biopath (multiple genes) that produce porphyrin which coats eggs and makes them appear some shade of brown. Some of these genes are duration genes meaning they can be active longer or shorter time periods resulting in different shades of brown. Here is where it gets tricky. All chickens have the porphryin biopath. So how do we get white eggs? There are at least 3 different genes (probably more) that selectively disable porphyrin production which permits white or blue eggs to be produced.

The only other thing you need to know is that the blue egg pea comb linkage is very weak with roughly 1 in 36 birds hatched in a cross having blue egg combined with straight comb. You can easily locate birds that lay blue eggs and have straight comb.

To answer your basic question re blue egg bantams crossed to Serama, It would be trivial to breed a blue egg laying Serama. I've though very hard about crossing Silver Laced Seabrights with my blue egg laying Silver Lace Wyandottes to develop a blue egg laying Sebright.