Isbar x Hamburg?

[LateBirdFarms]

If I crossed Isbars and Hamburgs, would it be possible to get a blue/green layer that looks like a Hamburg? If so, do you think it would be possible in the first pairing or after several generations?

 

[NatJ]

If I crossed Isbars and Hamburgs, would it be possible to get a blue/green layer that looks like a Hamburg? If so, do you think it would be possible in the first pairing or after several generations?

I think the first generation would be colored more like the Isbar, but if you cross that back to the Hamburg you might get some that are colored like the Hamburg (along with a bunch that have other color patterns.)

The rose comb in Hamburgs is dominant, so you should see a lot of rose combs in the chicks, both in the first generation and in any other generation that has at least one rose comb parent.

For egg color, I would expect the first generation of pullets to all lay blue or green eggs. If you cross back to the Hamburg, you should get some blue/green layers and some white layers. There is one gene that makes a chicken able to lay blue/green eggs, and it's dominant, so a hen only needs to inherit that gene from one parent to lay the colored eggs.

If you want something that looks like a Hamburg and lays blue or green eggs, I would just keep pullets in each generation (so you can check egg color--only breed from ones that lay blue or green eggs), and keep crossing back to Hamburg roosters. I would expect the second generation to have a few Hamburg-looking birds, the third generation to have more, and by the fourth generation you could probably have a flock of birds that look like Hamburgs, with about half laying blue eggs. At that point, if you wanted to get them pure for laying blue eggs, it would take a few more generations and some test-mating to know which birds have how many copies of the blue egg gene.

Sounds like a fun project!

 

[LateBirdFarms]

That's exactly what I was hoping to hear! Fitting that blue/green egg might be fun. The whys and the whynots of genetics confusing with the rules about what covers what!


Thanks again for the input !!