Hatching pretty eggs

[TarynLord]

Is it true that you should put your prettiest eggs in your incubator? I have a maran that sometimes lays a super heavy bloomed egg. I’ve been collecting eggs to hatch in a couple of days but she hasn’t laid a heavy bloom. Is it going to make a difference if I have a heavy bloom egg or one of her regular eggs in what the hen hatched out of it lays?

 

[sourland]

Eggs from the same hen and rooster should carry the same DNA regardless of level of bloom.

 

[Skyle]

If all the eggs are from the same hen, it won't make any difference.
It is told to only use the best eggs for two reasons:
1. You should only put well-shaped, not thin-shelled, not too big or to small eggs in the incubator. So you will hatch strong and healthy chicks.
2. If you want to hatch purebred chickens and you have many hens of the same breed (so you can't for sure tell who is laying which eggs), discarding eggs which don't follow the standard, you can maintain the right genes in your strain.

 

[Ecarroll]

If all the eggs are from the same hen, it won't make any difference.
It is told to only use the best eggs for two reasons:
1. You should only put well-shaped, not thin-shelled, not too big or to small eggs in the incubator. So you will hatch strong and healthy chicks.
2. If you want to hatch purebred chickens and you have many hens of the same breed (so you can't for sure tell who is laying which eggs), discarding eggs which don't follow the standard, you can maintain the right genes in your strain.

Also if you are selecting eggs from a mixed flock that you don’t know the breeds, then select eggs that you would want in your next box (ie green eggs or deep brown, whatever you are looking for), because you dont know which hens laid which eggs, so some pick from egg.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is it going to make a difference if I have a heavy bloom egg or one of her regular eggs in what the hen hatched out of it lays?

The simple accurate answer is no, it will not make a difference. The genetics of that egg are determined long before the bloom is put on. There is no correlation between the specific genetics of that egg and how much bloom is out on that specific egg. Those are different acts.

But we are talking about genetics, it is often not simple. Ignoring sex linked genes (at least get rid of one complicating factor) both the hen and the rooster's DNA is arranged in gene pairs. Sometimes both genes are the same so the offspring will get that specific genetic trait. But sometimes you can have different alleles of that gene on different sides of that gene pair. One example is that you can have either the rose comb or not-rose comb allele at one specific gene pair. The parent will randomly pass down one of those. You don't know which one of those will be passed down unless both are the same.

I don't know the genetics of bloom or if the amount of bloom is actually controlled by genetics. Bloom is applied as the egg is being laid. It's why newly laid eggs appear wet but they quickly dry. There may be something other than genetics that affect how quickly the egg pops out so it may have less time to collect the wet bloom. But I'd assume geentics does play a part.

I don't know how many different gene pairs are involved or which is dominant. The hen has a chance of passing down heavy bloom genetics to her offspring. The rooster will pass down genetics at that spot also. I have no idea if his genetics lead to heavy or light bloom. He will randomly contribute one of the two genes he has at each gene pair.

By hatching that hen's eggs you have a chance to get a pullet that lays eggs with heavy bloom but there are no guarantees. You might not.