Jersey giant x easter eggers hybrids. Anyone ever cross breed these guys. I have two chicks from suc

[sgnitto]

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think your question is why did one come out grey?

I have no idea of the color or pattern genetics of your Easter Egger. Most EE’s are of mixed genetics anyway, even by looking you have a lot of trouble telling what colors and patterns are there. Even if you described the color and pattern of your EE or showed a photo it would almost certainly not help me much. There are some experts that might be able to tell but not me.

The black in your Jersey Giant is very powerful and will dominate over a lot of other genetics. You can expect black chicks with most crosses with a black JG, though certainly not all crosses. There are several different genes that can modify black and turn it different colors or patterns. The B/B/S gene and the many mutations of Dominant White immediately come to mind. Some of the genetics that make buff can modify black. I’m sure there are other candidates, there usually are.

I suspect your EE is not pure for one of these genes that modify black. We are talking about gene pairs here where there are two genes at that specific point on the chromosome. Instead of both genes being the same, they are different. It is purely random which of those different genes are passed down to the offspring. One of those chicks got the gene that modifies black, one did not.

It could be more complicated than that where two specific genes came together to modify that black. Chicken color and pattern genetics can get really complicated. It could be really interesting to see how that chick feathers out. You may be in for more surprises. It’s quite possible colors and patterns show up in the feathers that you don’t expect from looking at the down. Crossing chickens, especially when one of them is already a cross as I suspect your EE is, can give you some real surprises. To me that is part of the fun in hatching.

 

[cgmaster]

What do these look like now?

 

[sgnitto]

She is 7 weeks now.

The grey one in front is the other. Maybe is a roo. The dark cornish hen is their adopted mom. She was broody and hatched them.

 

[donrae]

I think they're both pullets. Hopefully you get some green eggs in a few months!

 

[cgmaster]

I have some jersey giant eggs in my incubator righright now and I plan to breed them with my wheaten ameraucana rooster, which was the father of yours? I wonder how big they would get....

 

[cindykaye]

She is 7 weeks now.

The grey one in front is the other. Maybe is a roo. The dark cornish hen is their adopted mom. She was broody and hatched them.

That grey one is actually a Blue jersey giant.