Making of an Olive Egger

[Rose Quartz]

autocorrect and slow internet are working together against me! @Rose Quartz

i'll show fanci the egg chart and explain later. kinda busy ATM.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

View attachment 1623779

Ah, yes! I had forgotten about this chart

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Okay, just to make sure I got this right-
AmeraucanaxMarans has the lesser chance of getting brown eggs because it should contain the most "on" blue egg genes, correct?

 

[Rose Quartz]

Okay, just to make sure I got this right-
AmeraucanaxMarans has the lesser chance of getting brown eggs because it should contain the most "on" blue egg genes, correct?

yes.

 

[Rose Quartz]

Fanci, the way I always explain it is like this;

Start with some basic concepts. Blue coloring is in the shell, brown is a coating, like paint. These are separate genes.

Then imagine simple genes like blue eggs as two light switches.
In a brown or white laying bird, both switches for "blue eggs" are turned off.
Because blue is dominant, if one of those switches is on you have a bird that lays blue eggs.
But brown eggs are a separate gene, so if you have a bird that WOULD be a brown layer with one blue egg gene switched on the egg comes out green tinted because of the shell is blue with a brown paint coating. The darker the brown, the darker the green, hence the use of dark brown egg layers like marans over, say, any other brown layer.

Each chick MUST inherit one of the two light switches from each of their parents. So if you have an EE, for example, with one blue switch on and one blue switch off as your hen... Then a marans rooster (which has no blue switches on)...
Half you chicks will get off blue switches from the maran, and the off blue switch from the EE. These will lay brown eggs. The other half will get the off blue switch from the maran and the on blue switch from the EE. These will lay green eggs.

Most EEs are some sort of mix, and so are likely to only have one blue switch on. So only half the chicks will be green layers because whether or not they get the on switch is random. But most Ameraucanas have BOTH blue switches on. Which means that they always inherit one on switch from the Am and one off from the Maran, and are ALWAYS green layers.

So genetically, the capital letters are a gene being "on", the genetics look like this:

OO = ameraucana (both light switches on, lays blue eggs, guaranteed to pass one blue gene on to their offspring)
Oo = Easter egger (One light switch on, lays blue eggs, has a 50% chance to pass on one blue gene to offspring)
oo = Maran (Neither switch is on, will never pass a blue gene on)

So you can see how crossing an Am with a maran will ALWAYS give you Oo (one O from the Am one o from the maran), whereas the EE will give you half oo and half Oo.

Now, not every easter egger is oO. Some are OO (blue eggs) and some lay brown eggs (oo). And occasionally you get a crummy, very poorly bred Am that is Oo or oo. (I ended up with three hens from a 'reputable' breeder this year and one lays BROWN eggs!) But this is a loose guide for getting started.

No switches on, brown eggs, never passes on blue
One switch on, blue with brown tint, passes on blue half the time
two switches on, blue with brown tint, always passes on blue

 

[Amer]

Okay, just to make sure I got this right-
AmeraucanaxMarans has the lesser chance of getting brown eggs because it should contain the most "on" blue egg genes, correct?

AmxMarans should give you all green eggs in the first generation.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

AmxMarans should give you all green eggs in the first generation.

Wonderful.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Okay, just to make sure I got this right-
AmeraucanaxMarans has the lesser chance of getting brown eggs because it should contain the most "on" blue egg genes, correct?

No chance of brown eggs.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

I don't know if anyone is still watching this, but I have what I think is called an F2 olive egger. What happens if I breed her to a Marans? Will the eggs be darker, or brown?