projects involving blue layers?

[klf73]

Hi everyone,
I wanted to know if anyone working with blue layers in their projects have any idea how many crosses it takes to get back to a mostly blue egg? I am looking more for info about a lighter brown egg(x blue) and not the darker olive type(which I would think would be harder)

 

[Bravo]

I have a girl that hatched out of a pink/cream egg that lays a robins blue egg. The roo is homozygous blue so I think it would be cool to breed her back to a homozygous blue roo.

 

[Illia]

I'm working on getting the best blue of Ameraucana egg, and of course I've got a load of true blue laying Araucanas I'm working with, but I'm not working on using them as "layers" - My chickens are for my own visual enjoyment, exhibition, and my customer's enjoyment of such unusual and beautiful egg colors.

 

[klf73]

I was just using "layers" instead of writing araucana or ameraucana...guess I didn't shorten the list much as there were only 2 breeds I was really talking about. I didn't care about the layer portion but wanted to work on a different color variety and wasn't sure how many generations it would take to get me back to a nice blue egg.

 

[donnie]

its takes up to five breedings to get back to 98% purity

 

[Illia]

Ah, well in that case I'm working on a "blue cuckoo" type splash color of Araucana, (I'll post pics tomorrow) we'll see where that goes. . .

I'm also working on blue egg laying Polish. It will take several generations to work out the kinks, but right now I'm at stage one. I have a Polish x EE in the incubator just for fun (its pipping right now in fact) but in a couple months I'll take one of my true Ameraucana boys to my Polish and see where it goes from there.

Come next spring I'll start taking either Araucanas or Ameraucanas to my Tolbunt Polish for a prettier outcome.

 

[onthespot]

I have one unknown hen in my barred olive egger pen that lays nearly as blue an egg as my Ameraucanas. Don't know who she is, but the blue, is very strong blue that shows through under very little brown. If you want some of those eggs, PM me. In her case, this is the pedigree...

F1- probably barred rock x ameraucana
F2- mama crossed on several marans.
F3- roo from above cross bred back to mama and daughters.
F4- one of them is laying very light, fairly blue egg. One of the others is laying DEEP olive egg, others laying in between colors of sage, khaki, speckled green, light green and the pale egg. Hope that info helps.

 

[klf73]

Quote:
just out of curiosity what color are the hens legs? read here that the barring gene was linked to yellow legs that is why there can't be barred ameraucana....since standard calls for slate. What kind of roo is over you F4?

 

[onthespot]

Their legs are white, (pinkish cream) with grey shading, some more than others. The roo over the pen this year is a barred roo, bearded and pea combed. He is still young, but has matured some since that photo, looks a little more roosterish now, broader back, better looking neck and hackles and saddle feathers, tail more grown in.

Edit to add... I think the barring gene wipes out leg pigment, regardless of what color it is. This is not true for other kinds of barring genes, like campine, but the barring in cuckoo marans and barred rocks, yes. I have a single chick growing out that is a cross of a silkie on the barred olive egger to see if I could get darker pigment on a barred bird. Time will tell. It is very NOT ameraucana type, has a crest, is small, is not barred, but it has dark legs,

LOL.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
just out of curiosity what color are the hens legs? read here that the barring gene was linked to yellow legs that is why there can't be barred ameraucana....since standard calls for slate. What kind of roo is over you F4?

If you take a Black Ameraucana Rooster cross him with a Barred (Rock) Hen the offspring Cockerles should come out Barred with White Legs and the Pullets should be Black with Blue Legs...
Now if you a Barred (Rock) Rooster cross him with a Black Ameraucana Hen all of the offspring should be Barred with the Cockerels and Pullets having White Legs..

Chris