Link between beards & blue eggs?

wf1992

Songster
6 Years
Jun 1, 2017
162
419
168
Okanagan, BC
I have 4 pullets from my ameraucana (since they don't meet sop, I guess they're EE's?) hen & rooster. All 4 have pea combs & slate legs, but only 2 have the muff/beard.

They are now 5 months and one of the smooth-cheeked girls has started laying tinted/beige/pink eggs. Is there a link between beards & blue eggs, or just a coincidence?
 
I"m not that knowledgeable about genes, but the beard and the blue egg coloring would come from separate genes. That said an Ameraucana would. have both genes to possibly pass to their EE offspring. Not having the beard would give a possibility of a line that does not lay a blue egg.
 
I read somewhere that the pea comb was closely related to blue shells, and just wondered if the beard might also be an indicator. I realize it's more likely coincidence, and just poorly bred parent birds, that are neither O/O nor Mb/Mb. Guess I'll just have to wait patiently until I see everyone lay!
 
Blue egg and pea comb are closely linked on chromosome 1 with a separation of about 80 centimorgans. Beard muff and ear tufts are separately inherited though often found together as in Araucanas. Beard muff is on chromosome 27 so is inherited separate from blue egg trait. Ear tufts as in Araucanas are probably on chromosome 15. This means you can separate beards from tufts from blue eggs fairly easily.
 

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