Roo influencing egg color...

[Poulets De Cajun]

Does a Roo's genetics contribute in any way to the color of an egg when breeding EE's or Ameraucanas?

If a Hen lay's blue eggs, can the Roo contribute genes to the resulting offspring, that would increase the amount of blue or green in the eggs they will lay once reaching adulthood?

I know I've asked the same question twice, but it was very hard to word, so I wanted to make sure everyone could understand what I was asking.

 

[klf73]

From what I read most breeders select a roo that came from a very blue egg to help with the egg color. They must have some influence or when bred to a brown layer the resulting pullets would lay brown, not the "green/olive" that they do produce.

Krista

edited to say of course I am referring to Ameraucana, as you don't know the genetics of the EE to know what they will produce

 

[Omniskies]

From what I've been told, the rooster is the one that passes along the genes for egg color in his offspring. If a hen lays blue eggs and the rooster is from a green, the offspring's egg color will lean more toward the rooster than the hen.

 

[horsejody]

I believe the answer is yes. the baby will inherit genes from each parent. If momma has a bright blue egg, but daddy came from a different color egg, baby could grow up to lay the same color as momma's, dadday's or anywhere in between.

 

[lilshadow]

So, if you breed a Black Copper Marans to an EE what color egg would you get? Or a BCM to a RIR what color egg would you get?

 

[Kev]

Whoops, a lot of people already answered before my post showed. Hope it's helpful anyho.

Yes, both sexes have genes for the egg color. A rooster can have genes for brown, blue, and/or white eggshells.

The gene for blue/green eggs are due to the same gene over lighter or darker eggs basically. The gene for it is called O.

There are many genes for tan and brown eggs, so in those it is possible to "collect" them into the stock to make hens that lay the desired tan/brown shade. This is what happens in Marans for example- several genes are necessary to make the eggs dark plus shiny.

The O gene does not have a dose effect. Which means birds with one or two copies of this eggs lay exactly the same shade of color (and assuming all the other eggshell genes are identical in both birds). So no you can't make the blue "bluer" or greens "greener" with this gene. Especially for the blue shade, pretty much the only way for good blues is to find someone who already worked on breeding for this trait or breed and cull heavily for it. This also means if you want blue eggs, you also have to be careful about buying/using roosters, making sure they were from blue egg laying stock but even so, this is not foolproof.. a great many blue eggers still throw some turquoise or light green egg layers. Not bad, just something to watch and cull for if desired.

Green eggs is easier as it is simply the O gene over a tinted egg. Want lighter green? Breed in lightly tinted layers. Want much darker green eggs? Use brown or even the dark brown egg breeds such as Marans.

So the essence is.. the O gene is a single and simple paint color you can use over a wide range of background color.

 

[the1much]

o.k.,,imma confused,,lol

now we're talking "next generation" eggs right?,, if i have a RIR hen, that lays brown eggs, and she mates with either a green or blue egg'd roo,,,my rir will ALWAYS lay brown eggs right?,, but her daughters will lay eggs a different shade or color,,,right?, maybe, kinda,nawwww.
hehe

 

[Kev]

Quote:
It goes both ways. If a blue egg rooster mates with green egg hen, the offspring are also likely to be green egg layers.

The various genes for tan/brown eggshells are overall dominant so it's more a matter of the O gene over a lighter or darker egg.. and it's the darker egg genes that are more dominant.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Quote:
You've got it!

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

WOW! And I thought feather color genetics were complicated!!! LOL

So theoretically, if I wanted blue eggs I should try to hatch babies from blue eggs. And if I wanted to breed them I should try and breed them to birds who also came from blue eggs?