What color egg is he capable of producing in his offspring?

[bobbieschicks]

I have an EE/WL mix cockerel, Spots. Mother was an EE, Father was White Leghorn. Spot is in the upper right of this picture. He just finished mating that White Leghorn in the front and has gone around to the other side of the fence. This picture was right before he subdued the Ancona in the middle of the picture.

Here is the thread on his birth and history. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...s-and-result-question-update-we-have-2-chicks
Here is the thread on whether he would turn out to be a pullet or cockerel. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...10-week-olds-pullets-or-roosters#post_9012148

He is now almost 17 weeks old and starting to mate the older pullets in the yard. I'm trying to decide which of my 3 young cockerels I want to keep as I only intend to keep one. My other choice is a Welsummer.

So I've been wondering how much influence the rooster has on next generation egg color and what the odds are of him carrying the blue egg gene - since he has a single comb, not a pea comb like his mom I'm guessing he doesn't? And whether he would be capable of producing offspring who lay blue eggs? brown eggs? green eggs? or white eggs?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Bobbie

 

[bobbieschicks]

No guesses?

 

[ve]

Gene for blue eggs is very close connected with pea comb. Having pea comb give chance that 50% of his doters will lay blue eggs. But there is smal chance that even with pea comb he does not carry the blue egg gene.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Thank you. I was thinking he probably wouldn't have the blue egg gene because he does not have a pea comb. So it seems he must have the white egg gene instead with his single comb.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

I read a thread on this forum that addressed this question. Even if a roo has a pea comb doesn't mean the gene he carries is dominant. Since I had a EE / BO roo with a pea comb I decided to test this. If the rooster has a dominant gene all of his female offspring will have pea combs and possibly lay blue eggs, if he breed with a white eggs layer. If it is recessive some will have pea combs and some will have single. I breed him with a Tetra Tint hen ( white egg layer ). The result were all females did have pea combs and I'm waiting to see what color eggs they lay. What has me confused one cockerel has a pea comb also, another one has white ear lobes??? They should have all had single combs. So I don't know what that means. Chicken genetics has me so confuse. LOL

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Okay, lets consider two scenarios.

Scenario 1) His mama had two copies of the blue eggshell gene. Therefore he inherited one copy from her. From his papa, a leghorn, he inherited one not-blue eggshell gene. Therefore he is genetically O/o+. If he were female, he would lay eggs with blue eggshells. Since he is male, all he can do is pass the genes he has on to his offspring. About half will inherit O (blue) and the other half will inherit o+ (not-blue, aka white). Gender of the offspring makes no difference. If they inherit O, the girls will lay eggs with blue shells.

Scenario 2) His mama had one only copy of the blue eggshell gene. Therefore he had a 50/50 chance of inheriting it from her. From his papa, a leghorn, he inherited one not-blue eggshell gene. Therefore he is genetically either O/o+ or o+/o+. If his mother had a pretty decent peacomb, you can guess that there is a strong likelihood that he would have inherited it and the blue eggshell gene together, and since he did not inherit a peacomb, chances are pretty high that he did not inherit the blue eggshell gene. If the mama did not have a peacomb, then the link to pea was already broken and re-linked to single comb, and the ability to make a strong guess is significantly reduced.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Okay, lets consider two scenarios.

Scenario 1)  His mama had two copies of the blue eggshell gene.  Therefore he inherited one copy from her.  From his papa, a leghorn, he inherited one not-blue eggshell gene.  Therefore he is genetically O/o+.  If he were female, he would lay eggs with blue eggshells.  Since he is male, all he can do is pass the genes he has on to his offspring.  About half will inherit O (blue) and the other half will inherit o+ (not-blue, aka white).  Gender of the offspring makes no difference.  If they inherit O, the girls will lay eggs with blue shells.

Scenario 2) His mama had one only copy of the blue eggshell gene.  Therefore he had a 50/50 chance of inheriting it from her.  From his papa, a leghorn, he inherited one not-blue eggshell gene.  Therefore he is genetically either O/o+ or o+/o+.  If his mother had a pretty decent peacomb, you can guess that there is a strong likelihood that he would have inherited it and the blue eggshell gene together, and since he did not inherit a peacomb, chances are pretty high that he did not inherit the blue eggshell gene.  If the mama did not have a peacomb, then the link to pea was already broken and re-linked to single comb, and the ability to make a strong guess is significantly reduced.

His mother, who was either Bandit or Smokey, definitely had a pea comb. Bandit is deceased, but Smokey is still around. He looks very much like his father the WL, but a smaller or rather more petite version, but with splashes of black on his white feathers.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Well, we'll never know what kind of offspring he'd produce because I rehomed him to a friend with 10 acres and only bug eating roosters. He was getting very aggressive with the ladies and it was time for him to move to a bachelor place.

His sister Sunny recently laid her 1st egg and it was a beautiful shade of blue/green. Her more recent eggs have been mostly blue. I haven't broken one open yet - but it looks like she has the blue egg gene. Then again, she has a taller pea comb.