marans egg color

[hdowden]

ok my parents received an order of marans eggs that are like a 2-3 on the scale for them. the seller says the pullets from those eggs should lay eggs that are 7-8 on the scale. is that even possible from such light eggs? the pics that said seller has posted are all 7-8 on the scale kinda upset that the eggs received were lighter than the advertised eggs

 

[Ridgerunner]

Your concern is understandable.

Men have walked on the moon. It is possible that the pullets will lay darker eggs. Without knowing the genetics of the rooster it’s hard to say.

The way egg color genetics work, there is one gene that determines base color, blue or white. If you have brown eggs, that base is white. I’ll go through this little chart just to help explain it.

Base white + no brown = white
Base white + brown = brown
Base blue + no brown = blue
Base blue + brown = green

Then there are a whole lot of genes that determine the shade of brown. Which of those genes are present and how they interact will determine the shade of brown you get. To get a bit technical, I’ve read that there are 13 different genes that affect egg color and a bunch of undocumented genes. With so many different genes involved, it’s no wonder there can be so many different shades of brown. And some of those genes are going to be dominant and have an affect no matter what and some are going to be recessive and will only have an effect if they pair up.

Obviously the hens that laid those eggs are not contributing many dominant genes that give you dark eggs. I have no idea what recessives she may be contributing. I have no idea what the rooster is contributing. It’s possible some or all of the pullets from your hatch will lay darker eggs. It’s possible they won’t. The only way to truly tell is to see the eggs those pullets lay.

But yes, if those eggs are light, I would not be real happy at this point.

 

[hdowden]

let me get a quick pic and show you just what they look like and why they are so unhappy...give me 5 mins

 

[hdowden]

the eggs advrtised were dark like the top two on the right. these look more like welsummer/production red type eggs to me...

 

[Ridgerunner]

If the person breeding the chickens does not select the breeders for dark eggs, they will get lighter over a few generations. Same thing is true for any trait. If it is not reinforced constantly, it gets diluted.

I can see why you are concerned.

 

[hdowden]

ok thank you. i had to make sure i was on the right path with the whole egg color thng.

so should they wait till they start lying to make a choice on weather or not to keep them

 

[ve]

The egg color is not bad for Marans. Marans eggs are darcer in begining of the laying cickle, to the end, the more hen is laying the lighter the eggs become. After short break or molt, the eggs darken. I think this eggs are good start to begin with.

 

[mstricer]

The egg color is not bad for Marans. Marans eggs are darcer in begining of the laying cickle, to the end, the more hen is laying the lighter the eggs become. After short break or molt, the eggs darken. I think this eggs are good start to begin with.

I don't think those are the eggs her parents received.

 

[hdowden]

no those are the eggs they got and are pullet eggs. from what i understand this is their first year laying. the eggs my parents get from their coppers were a whole lot darker than these even from the begining they laid a around a 6

 

[snowbird]

Those light colored eggs are very poor quality Marans, The females that layed these will never lay a 7-8 on the egg scale.