Making blue eggs bluer

[gimmie birdies]

I have tweaked breeding to get a grayer egg before. But maybe I am weird for liking a gray egg.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

You should definitely try this! In general, an egg that is more blue came from a chicken with 2 blue egg genes (one from each parent) and the lighter blue comes from a chicken with 1 blue egg gene and 1 pure white egg gene. As long as each parent has at least 1 blue gene, you should get a portion of daughters who get 2 blue genes and have bluer eggs. The double-blue color may be a different shade for different breeds of blue layers, but you can at least maximize the blue you already have in your flock, and think about introducing new breeds or strains in the future, as @OhZark Biddies said

just as a point of clarification... I don’t think there is really a white egg gene... it’s just a lack of the blue and a lack of all of the many brown egg genes that result in a white egg

And just as an interesting discussion point, I’ve read that the idea of one blue vs two blue resulting in darker blue is thought to be questionable too

I read somewhere that it’s been theorized that there are multiple genes that contribute to brown eggs and that some of them contribute to “shade” more than color .... and that that is what might contribute to darker shades of blue

So as an example some breeds that lay a ‘tinted’ egg that is not bright white, might have only this ‘tinted’ gene and when that is paired with blue the result is a darker blue.

That is one of many theories at least... I’m not suggesting that this is absolutely the case... but it does kinda help inform some of the thinking on what might be going on with egg color on a more complex level

edit to add: gimmie birdies gray egg is an example of the kinda thing I’m getting at as far as theorized “tinted’ genes, etc.

 

[Minky]

Yes, I would only breed birds that I knew had double blue egg gene together. The hardest part of all of this is keeping track with notes and leg tags. So easy to screw a small detail up, mis- tag a bird etc... then you've wasted a year of learning.

 

[Minky]

I have tweaked breeding to get a grayer egg before. But maybe I am weird for liking a gray egg.
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I love the grey egg. And I love the flat brown coloured egg too! Most brown eggs have either a beige tone or a russet /terracotta tone. Those brown and grey are fantastic.
Can I ask what you did to make both? breeds etc?

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Yes, I would only breed birds that I knew had double blue egg gene together. The hardest part of all of this is keeping track with notes and leg tags. So easy to screw a small detail up, mis- tag a bird etc... then you've wasted a year of learning.

how do you “know” they have the “double blue egg gene” ?

are you doing test crossings with white egg lines first? Or some other method?

 

[NatJ]

I have a pullet who is laying really nice blue eggs. REALLY nice. not the pale sky blue most lay. So do you think if I breed her to my CLB rooster who hatched out of a nice blue egg, and then in breed them LOL just a little- that would work better than bringing in some aqua genetics? I think I will do both, two separate groups and see. Ofcourse, Ill probably get all roosters. LMFAO

If you do get only sons, cross one back to his mother and hope she produces some pullets in that generation

 

[gimmie birdies]

gray eggs- dark green egg gene OE/ pink purple egg gene Sapphire gem.

dark greenish brown egg - BCM/OE

 

[Minky]

how do you “know” they have the “double blue egg gene” ?

are you doing test crossings with white egg lines first? Or some other method?

Um... I have been assuming that is dad is CLB who hatched out of blue egg, and hen lays blue egg (not green shade) that all chicks resulting from this cross would be double blue egg gene fowl. No???

 

[Minky]

gray eggs- dark green egg gene OE/ pink purple egg gene Sapphire gem.

dark greenish brown egg - BCM/OE

Cool- thank you for sharing. Can you show me what a pink/purple Sapphire Gem egg looks like?

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Um... I have been assuming that is dad is CLB who hatched out of blue egg, and hen lays blue egg (not green shade) that all chicks resulting from this cross would be double blue egg gene fowl. No???

I might be misunderstanding what you’re saying still ... but no.

To lay a blue egg the bird only needs one copy of the blue egg gene

Let’s say we cross a CLB rooster with a known blue egg layer...

if we hatch 6 eggs from that pairing and all 6 end up being pullets and we wait and find out that they all lay blue eggs, we’ve not proved anything about either of the parents carrying two copies of the blue egg gene.

and actually we haven’t even proved that both parents carry one copy of the blue egg gene, because chance says that we could have just got lucky and ended up with six pullets that received one copy of it from the same parent.

if we do the same cross and one or more of the resulting pullets ends up laying a white egg then
we can know that both parents are heterozygous

But let’s say one parent is homozygous ( 2copies) and one is heterozygous... then all the pullets will lay blue eggs, but we still don’t know which parent is homozygous

So that was what I was asking, was how can you tell that either parent carries two copies of the blue egg gene? I’m not sure that you can.