Wheaten Maran/EE cross egg colors?

[RNjoy17]

Recently got some Wheaten Maran/EE crosses and was trying to figure out what egg colors are possibile. The roo was the Maran, and the hens where EE’s that were both blue and green egg layers. The roo came from a decently dark egg (roughly a 4-5), and it’s sibling also lay around that color range. I know it’s hard to predict colors with EE since they are already a mix…. But wondered if anyone has done this cross and what they get for eggs? Do I have a chance at the dark brown eggs? Or will they potentially be a mix of blue or green?

 

[humblehillsfarm]

They should be olive eggs, but EEs can sometimes throw a brown laying gene, so there is a small chance the eggs could be brown, but not as dark as Marans eggs.

 

[RNjoy17]

They should be olive eggs, but EEs can sometimes throw a brown laying gene, so there is a small chance the eggs could be brown, but not as dark as Marans eggs.

So no chance at blue I take it? I currently have a Whitings True Blue rooster that I was thinking of breeding to the EE hens… would their off spring have a chance of laying blue eggs?

 

[DarJones]

Easter eggers can produce either green eggs (coated with porphyrn) or blue eggs (no porphyrin). If you cross a blue egg laying EE to a Whiting True Blue, you should get blue egg layers. Cross with a green egg layer and you will get an egg that is blue with a small tint of tan. Rub that egg with a damp paper towel and you can easily see the tan tinting. Caution that this will only be true of a WTB mating because the WTB carries the gene for zinc white egg shells. The zinc white gene overrides other genes that would normally produce porphyrin making the egg coating darker brown.