Speckled egg genetics?

[evonne]

Quote:
lol.. i woulda never thought to try to wash the speckles off...

but i tried to google speckled eggs earlier and someone else said the same thing about washing the speckles off...

 

[osukrazykate]

Quote:
lol.. i woulda never thought to try to wash the speckles off...

but i tried to google speckled eggs earlier and someone else said the same thing about washing the speckles off...

When I would wash the eggs, my speckles only got darker and did not wash off.

 

[MiracleHatch]

I’m resurrecting this thread in the hopes that there is new knowledge out there someone would like to share!

I did an experiment myself. One EE hen laid a green egg with self-colored green speckles that were the same green as her shell or slightly darker. I bred her to a Buff Orpington Roo who I hatched from a non-speckled egg. The BO/EE cross daughter lays smooth green eggs. No speckles. I had hypothesized that hens would inherit speckling from their mothers but perhaps a non-speckled father can somehow dilute it?
That would make sense because we observe that speckling is somewhat rare.

Marans Breeders:
Do your most speckled hens seem to get it from their mother or does the father need to have come from a speckled Egger mother too?

 

[AusHen]

I feel the hen or maybe both parents contributes to the sons genes and the roosters to his daughters. Many of my speckled layers come from hens that laid eggs with no speckles and fathers that hatched from speckled eggs

For example the parents of this green egg layer were a Marans rooster hatched from a speckled egg over a green layer with no speckles

these are from her half sister. same mother, different father.

 

[MiracleHatch]

@AusHen Thank you for your amazing reply with pictures!

I think you’re exactly right; the rooster would need to have come from a speckled egg. The genes being passed on from father to daughter to her male offspringmakes sense. And my experiment seemed to confirm it: a non-speckled egg Roo produced a non-speckled EE daughter even though her mom laid a speckled egg. Thus the roo’s genes seem to play a major role. At least when it comes to the ‘overlay’ speckling genetics.

Makes those really gorgeous speckled Olive eggs that hatch out cockerels less disappointing! And if we know this, we can opt to hatch heavily speckled Marans eggs and select our breeding rooster from among the cockerels that come from those eggs.

Would it make sense to think that a speckled egg Roo and a hen that lays speckled eggs could result in Double Speckling sons? Can the speckling genes double up that way?