Isbar Crosses

[ChokeCherryLane]

Hello! Newbie here. I have a pair of Isbars. The Roo is Blue. The Hen is Black. She is deemed a "dud" as they say - as no green eggs - only speckled brown (which I read is a possibility for this breed). My question to those who know this breed is this: What egg colour do you think I would get if I cross my Blue Isbar Roo with A - my Blue Azure hen, B - my barred rock hen, or C - my brown laying Black Isbar hen. I wasn't planning on C - but after reading a blue egg layer must meet a brown to produce green - I wondered if I shouldn't try it. Thoughts? Input? (I would really like to add a green egg to my basket. (and what would you call the result? Would they be deemed an olive or easter egger??) Thanks so much! So much good info on this site - and I've looked everywhere for this - but couldn't find. (So thought I'd post).

 

[Lady of McCamley]

If your Isbar roo is pure, and carries both blue genes, then 100% placing him over a brown layer will produce a shade of green...how dark depends on how dark the brown is. Blue shell with dark brown wash will produce olive. Light brown wash, a shade of green.

If like his sister he is not true to 2 blue shell genes, then he should have 1 blue shell genes. That will produce 50% chance of brown 50% chance of green.

If placing him over a brown layer and you repeatedly get brown, he too like his sister will have no blue shell genes.

Good luck.
LofMc

 

[ChokeCherryLane]

If your Isbar roo is pure, and carries both blue genes, then 100% placing him over a brown layer will produce a shade of green...how dark depends on how dark the brown is. Blue shell with dark brown wash will produce olive. Light brown wash, a shade of green.

If like his sister he is not true to 2 blue shell genes, then he should have 1 blue shell genes. That will produce 50% chance of brown 50% chance of green.

If placing him over a brown layer and you repeatedly get brown, he too like his sister will have no blue shell genes.

Good luck.
LofMc

Wow thank you for the quick reply. I am excited to try now! I am told he his pure and the woman I got them from was beside herself that the hen doesn't lay green (she had other green layers in with her). They were too cozy a pair to return her. I have read that this can happen though. Sadly. Would the product of this pairing be considered an olive egger?? If he mates with an Azure Blue or Barred Rock?? I am not familiar with that. Also, if he is placed over his mate (who lays brown) then they could possibly produce a pure green layer correct? Sorry for all the questions - I have no one in my circle who cares about all this stuff! Again, Thank you!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Olive egger isn't a breed but any bird that carries genes for dark brown wash and blue shell to produce olive colored eggs.

Any bird can carry the genetics for a blue shell, though the original lines are purebred Cream Legbars, Ameraucanas, Araucanas, Isbars, and a few others. The original blue layers were imported poultry from South America in the 1920s. Blue is created by bile being thrown into the calcite gland to produce a blue colored shell. Crack open a blue egg and you see blue inside too as the shell itself is blue.

Brown is actually a hemoglobin iron based wash that is applied like paint over the shell as the egg proceeds down the egg tract. Crack open a brown shell and you see white inside as the brown is only on the surface of the pure calcium based white shell.

The fun begins when you take a blue shell line and breed to a brown shell line. Brown wash over white, tints of tan and brown. Brown wash over blue shell tints of green or olive depending on the brown genetics. It takes about 13 genes to produce brown wash. You have to line up the genes selectively to get the dark brown layer. Dark brown wash over blue shell gives olive.

Blue is dominant so you only need a hen to have 1 blue gene to produce blue shells. Breeding forward is when math enters as that 1 blue gene has 50/50 chance of being passed along to any given offspring. Obviously pure blue shell gene parent, ie 2 blue genes, makes it easier to produce blue shell layers.

Brown is trickier. The genes tend to drop off a bit and lighten each generation. You have to work at keeping dark brown in your line.

That's why I give a range of colors. You won't know for certain how much brown has passed to impact the tint of green or olive. The more brown wash the darker the green.

HTH
LofMc

 

[ChokeCherryLane]

Wow thank you for the quick reply. I am excited to try now! I am told he his pure and the woman I got them from was beside herself that the hen doesn't lay green (she had other green layers in with her). They were too cozy a pair to return her. I have read that this can happen though. Sadly. Would the product of this pairing be considered an olive egger?? If he mates with an Azure Blue or Barred Rock?? I am not familiar with that. Also, if he is placed over his mate (who lays brown) then they could possibly produce a pure green layer correct? Sorry for all the questions - I have no one in my circle who cares about all this stuff! Again, Thank you!

Thought you might be interested in the results of my adventure. Sadly all eggs in my incubator died - however, my momma went broody on me in July and we ended up with 2 icebar chicks in August. They should be laying by Feb - so I'm excited to see the egg colour! We left her with 4 eggs. 1 blue azure cross, 1 bard rock cross, 2 ice bar eggs. Only the ice bar hatched - one of each - a blue and a black ! Pic of mom and dad included too.

 

[Pennysworth]

When a hen is brooding do you seperate her from the flock or leave them with the flock

 

[nuthatched]

When a hen is brooding do you seperate her from the flock or leave them with the flock

You can do either but it's best to close off an area for her if possible so she doesn't get more eggs laid in her nest

 

[Pennysworth]

Or steal other eggs, we had a broody last summer and gave her two eggs she ended up with four

 

[gimmie birdies]

 

[gimmie birdies]

I always look to the color chart.
I have had and have an Isbar. I love them.