Why is she laying a brown egg?

[Mahonri]

They should be laying green eggs.

Unless another roo snuck into the Gardner breeding pen... then anything is possible.

There has to be another hen laying and not the EE.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Quote:
I don't think that when you cross those two it's a lock that you will get green eggs. I purchased 2 olive eggers that had the same mother and father, one laid a green egg add the other laid a dark pink egg. I think the mom was EE and the father was a maran.

If I remember biology correctly then there is always a possibility of taking all of one parents genes, in a single area.
hence the brown egg layer.

but I wouldn't worry about it it's a really low chance of that happening

That makes sense to me though because the mother was an EE. EEs are notoriously squirrely with the genetics because they are random mixes of lots of things. The only thing in common is a pure ameraucana parent along the way. Easter Egger is a catch all phrase, so the mother of your birds could have donated any number of egg color genes. It makes sense that it could have manifested in two different ways.

In this case though the mother was a brown egg layer. She only carries genes for brown eggs. That's it. The father only carries the blue egg gene. Thus all of their offspring should get one brown and one blue gene, meaning that the offspring's eggs would be blue washed with brown making green.

"If I remember biology correctly then there is always a possibility of taking all of one parents genes, in a single area."
This is what I need explained. Can they get only genes from one parent when it comes to egg color? I thought it was always a mix of the two.

 

[NicoleRM]

If your rooster only carries one copy of the blue egg gene, then only half of his offspring will receive it. The other half will lay brown eggs since they are crossed to a brown egg layer.

 

[HBuehler]

I am the person that had the pullet and no the egg isn't from another hen.This pullet was put in a pen full of 6-8 week old chicks and man if they were laying that young I would be rich.Or I have a very sneaky hen that can get in and leave making me do this

with the runs covered it would be near to impossible but in life anything is possible.
That said we have had several F1 with a true Ameraucana roo lay brown and white I also have straight comb blue layers and mint layers

Not to get anyone mad I edited to remove the breeder of the Ameraucana roo that all of my brown layers have come from.

 

[Wisher1000]

Hey, Citygirl! Haven't talked to you in a while!

Is it possible that there are some brown egg genes in that roo from way back? I'm thinking that it could be a "throw-back" issue from the rooster's side. If that is the case, the chance will be a little better for the other pullets from this cross to be brown egg layers but not that great. The other "green egg layers" you sold will likely indeed lay green eggs.

Another thought...What is the shell color inside the egg? Brown eggs are usually white inside and the green eggs are blue inside the shell. If the blue is VERY pale inside and the brown coating is thick or dark, that could be the solution to the mystery!

 

[Wisher1000]

HBuehler, what is the color of the inside of the shell?

 

[HBuehler]

It was a brown egg...we have Ameraucana and EE here so I'm familiar with the shells.

 

[cashdl]

I myself have been scratching my head over the blue egg genetics for years. I have Araucana that are several generations my own now and I only hatch the blue eggs, so I had one hen last year that started laying a tan egg, cream on the inside, no blue to be found. I have come to the conclusion that every once in a while life happens. There is no reason for her to not lay blue eggs, but she doesn't.

So far she is the only one that does not follow the program. She is an excellant broody though, so she stays.


Lanae

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Y'all, I know Hbuehler and totally trust that she got a brown egg out of this girl. I am not doubting her at all! What I am is somewhat horrified that I have been selling EEs for years now and telling the purchasers that they will lay green eggs when in fact they might not. I feel like I have been lying about my product and that is very troublesome to me.

I really just need clarification on egg color genetics, because this didn't make any sense based on what I thought I had read here on BYC. My head rooster in that pen is from an egg sold to me as pure ameraucana eggs from a long time member of the Ameraucana Breeders Club. I had assumed that he was pure. He looks like a standard blue ameraucana roo (he's quite nice, actually). Given their reputation in the ameraucana world I can only assume that they sold me pure eggs and not easter eggers, but one never really knows I suppose.

What I had read on here led me to believe that a blue egg rooster would pass the blue egg gene to his offspring and they would lay blue eggs. A brown egg laying mother would add the brown shell gene to the offspring and a coating of brown would be added over the blue egg shell making it green. Thus all easter eggers out of a blue egg/brown egg pairing would be green. 100% would be green and there would be no chance of anything else.

Given how screwy genetics can be, I am perfectly willing to believe that this is not 100%, even in the first generation. I just needed confirmation from people smarter than I am since it was contrary to what I thought I "knew". I will stop telling people that these easter egger will lay green eggs and say instead that they will likely lay green eggs.

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
Yep