Trying to produce more colorful egg layers

[Hillsdalehaven]

I have an Easter egger rooster I’m wanting to breed with my legbars, RIR and marans. What do i need to do to get colorful egg laying chickens. My daughter loves her colored eggs and sells them at the farmers market. Will an Easter eggers rooster be a gamble?

 

[sourland]

Depending upon his genetics, he might be a gamble. A true Ameraucana rooster would be a better bet.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I have an Easter egger rooster I’m wanting to breed with my legbars, RIR and marans. What do i need to do to get colorful egg laying chickens. My daughter loves her colored eggs and sells them at the farmers market. Will an Easter eggers rooster be a gamble?

Easter Eggers can carry any egg color gene, so you won't know unless you breed him.

 

[Nigel27]

An Easter egger may not even carry the blue gene. Even two olive eggers bred together could produce 25%brown layers. Definitely a gamble. An olive egger rooster would produce 50% coloured layers but if you find a rooster of a blue or green egg laying breed, all of his offspring will carry the blue gene. Good luck! If your guy is derived from Americauna he’s more likely to carry the blue gene if he has a pea comb, not so if derived from CCL

 

[MysteryChicken]

An Easter egger may not even carry the blue gene. Even two olive eggers bred together could produce 25%brown layers. Definitely a gamble. An olive egger rooster would produce 50% coloured layers but if you find a rooster of a blue or green egg laying breed, all of his offspring will carry the blue gene. Good luck! If your guy is derived from Americauna he’s more likely to carry the blue gene if he has a pea comb, not so if derived from CCL

Ameraucana.

 

[NatJ]

The daughters from Legbar mothers will lay blue or green eggs.

The daughters from Rhode Island Red and Marans mothers may lay brown eggs or green eggs, depending on the genetics of the rooster. Daughters of the Marans will lay darker brown eggs, or darker green eggs, than daughters of the RIR.

Many of the Easter Eggers from hatcheries are pure for the blue egg gene, and if he is like that, he will pass it to all of his chicks, and his daughters will lay green eggs (blue + brown).

But some Easter Eggers have only one gene for blue eggs, and if he is like that, only half of his chicks will get the blue egg gene and the rest will have not-blue. So you'd get half green eggers and half brown eggers.

And some Easter Eggers do not have the blue egg gene at all. If he does not have the blue egg gene, he cannot pass it on to his chicks, and all his daughters will lay brown eggs.

So if you want to be CERTAIN of getting blue-egger or green-egger chicks, either hatch only Legbar eggs or get a rooster that is known to be pure for the blue egg gene.

But if you want a variety of egg colors, then using this rooster with all of your hens will probably work fine. You will either get several shades of blue/green, or you will get blue/green and several shades of brown.

Once his daughters are laying eggs, you will know more about what egg color genes he has, so you can decide whether to get a different rooster for future years.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi welcome from Louisiana, welcome to the forum.

I have an Easter egger rooster I’m wanting to breed with my legbars, RIR and marans. Will an Easter eggers rooster be a gamble?

Yes, it will be a gamble. Easter Eggers (EE's) are not a breed so there are no standards. There isn't even a definition of EE that we all agree on. Since roosters don't lay eggs you don't know what he would contribute as far as egg shell color.

What do you know about his ancestry? Do you know what color of egg he hatched from or what color egg his father hatched from? Do you know of any specific breeds in his immediate ancestry? That kind of information can help raise your confidence level that he actually has a chance of passing on the blue egg gene, but you don't get any guarantees.

The only way of being sure to have a rooster that would father guaranteed blue or green egg layers is to get a rooster you know has the blue egg gene. I don't know what country you are in, your options could vary by where you are.

This question is asked on here a lot. Unfortunately the only correct answer is "I don't know" unless you know about his immediate ancestry. Where did you get him? You may be able to learn something from that information.

 

[Pork Pie]

Question already answered, but these links may be of interest:

https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/gms1-genetics-of-egg-color/

https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/gms2-breeding-for-blue-eggs/

https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/07/15/gms3-breeding-for-other-egg-colors/

 

[Hillsdalehaven]

The daughters from Legbar mothers will lay blue or green eggs.

The daughters from Rhode Island Red and Marans mothers may lay brown eggs or green eggs, depending on the genetics of the rooster. Daughters of the Marans will lay darker brown eggs, or darker green eggs, than daughters of the RIR.

Many of the Easter Eggers from hatcheries are pure for the blue egg gene, and if he is like that, he will pass it to all of his chicks, and his daughters will lay green eggs (blue + brown).

But some Easter Eggers have only one gene for blue eggs, and if he is like that, only half of his chicks will get the blue egg gene and the rest will have not-blue. So you'd get half green eggers and half brown eggers.

And some Easter Eggers do not have the blue egg gene at all. If he does not have the blue egg gene, he cannot pass it on to his chicks, and all his daughters will lay brown eggs.

So if you want to be CERTAIN of getting blue-egger or green-egger chicks, either hatch only Legbar eggs or get a rooster that is known to be pure for the blue egg gene.

But if you want a variety of egg colors, then using this rooster with all of your hens will probably work fine. You will either get several shades of blue/green, or you will get blue/green and several shades of brown.

Once his daughters are laying eggs, you will know more about what egg color genes he has, so you can decide whether to get a different rooster for future years.

What a wealth of information. Thank you so much!

 

[Hillsdalehaven]

The daughters from Legbar mothers will lay blue or green eggs.

The daughters from Rhode Island Red and Marans mothers may lay brown eggs or green eggs, depending on the genetics of the rooster. Daughters of the Marans will lay darker brown eggs, or darker green eggs, than daughters of the RIR.

Many of the Easter Eggers from hatcheries are pure for the blue egg gene, and if he is like that, he will pass it to all of his chicks, and his daughters will lay green eggs (blue + brown).

But some Easter Eggers have only one gene for blue eggs, and if he is like that, only half of his chicks will get the blue egg gene and the rest will have not-blue. So you'd get half green eggers and half brown eggers.

And some Easter Eggers do not have the blue egg gene at all. If he does not have the blue egg gene, he cannot pass it on to his chicks, and all his daughters will lay brown eggs.

So if you want to be CERTAIN of getting blue-egger or green-egger chicks, either hatch only Legbar eggs or get a rooster that is known to be pure for the blue egg gene.

But if you want a variety of egg colors, then using this rooster with all of your hens will probably work fine. You will either get several shades of blue/green, or you will get blue/green and several shades of brown.

Once his daughters are laying eggs, you will know more about what egg color genes he has, so you can decide whether to get a different rooster for future years.

Here’s a pic of him.