Help with Genetics! BCM rooster x BO, etc.

[Jesitxmarie]

Hello! I am trying to decide which eggs to hatch out this spring… if you wouldn’t mind sharing of your time & expertise, maybe I could come to a better informed decision!

I am specifically wanting dark olive eggs, or pretty green shades. The rooster is a pure (Greenfire) BCM. Hen choices include a pure CL and a barnyard mix that lays a medium olive egg. The barnyard mix hen is a result of a Starlight/or/Prairie Bluebell hen (Hoover’s) and a Bielefelder rooster. So the mama laid either a blue or green egg, I’m not sure which egg she hatched from! She is barred so I believe the chicks would be sex-linked? She’s in the middle of the group flock picture with the yellow neck coloring. (Her likely mama is the white/buff hen in front of her, which lays blue eggs.) Any ideas on the resulting feather colors for the chicks?

I’m pretty positive the CL mix would give me green eggs but I’m thinking probably not a dark olive. Would this be correct? Sex-linked chicks, the females closely resembling a BCM hen, possible crest?

I also have a BO hen that lays a heavily bloomed pink egg. If I mated her with the BCM rooster, what egg colors could I expect from the offspring? I believe the heavy bloom can be passed down? Black chicks with buff leakage?

And my last choice would be a Silverudd Blue hen. She lays a very dull bluish-green egg. Offspring eggs could be khaki colored? Chicks would likely be black or splash? She’s the other photo attached.

I’ve only slightly dabbled into the genetic whirlpool and would love for some help, if anyone would like to share!

 

[NatJ]

I am specifically wanting dark olive eggs, or pretty green shades. The rooster is a pure (Greenfire) BCM.

BCM? Is that Black or Blue? Copper or Cuckoo? I assume the M is Marans.

Hen choices include a pure CL

I’m pretty positive the CL mix would give me green eggs but I’m thinking probably not a dark olive. Would this be correct? Sex-linked chicks, the females closely resembling a BCM hen, possible crest?

Crossing your rooster with the pure Cream Legbar mother should give the chicks you describe, all with crests, and they should lay green eggs (may or may not be dark enough to be considered "olive," but I agree not a dark olive.)

If the father does not have barring (Copper Marans?), then yes the chicks should be sex-linked (barred sons, no barring on daughters.)

a barnyard mix that lays a medium olive egg. The barnyard mix hen is a result of a Starlight/or/Prairie Bluebell hen (Hoover’s) and a Bielefelder rooster. So the mama laid either a blue or green egg, I’m not sure which egg she hatched from! She is barred so I believe the chicks would be sex-linked? She’s in the middle of the group flock picture with the yellow neck coloring. (Her likely mama is the white/buff hen in front of her, which lays blue eggs.) Any ideas on the resulting feather colors for the chicks?

Chick color, probably similar to chicks with a Cream Legbar mother.
Yes, if the father has no barring, chicks should be sexlinks (barred males, no barring on females.)

Half of daughters should lay olive eggs (probably darker than the olive eggs laid by the hen herself.)
The other half of the daughters will lay brown eggs, probably a medium to dark brown.

I also have a BO hen that lays a heavily bloomed pink egg. If I mated her with the BCM rooster, what egg colors could I expect from the offspring? I believe the heavy bloom can be passed down? Black chicks with buff leakage?

Probably yes, black chicks with buff leakage, producing eggs of a medium brown shade (darker than the mother's, lighter than Marans eggs.) I don't know enough about the inheritance of the bloom to be sure there.

And my last choice would be a Silverudd Blue hen. She lays a very dull bluish-green egg. Offspring eggs could be khaki colored? Chicks would likely be black or splash? She’s the other photo attached.

Her daughters would probably lay olive eggs. Since she looks blue, if the rooster has black, then chicks would be black or blue. If the rooster is blue, then chicks could be black or blue or splash, and he will produce some blue chicks with each of the other hens as well.

 

[Jesitxmarie]

Thanks for the reply! Yes, Black Copper Maran rooster with feathered legs.

 

[NatJ]

Thanks for the reply! Yes, Black Copper Maran rooster with feathered legs.

I just re-read my previous response, and I think it should be correct for a Black Copper Marans rooster. He does not have barring, so the "if the rooster has no barring" statements are the correct ones.

His chicks are likely to have a bit of feathering on their legs, but probably less than what he has.

 

[Jesitxmarie]

I put eggs in the incubator yesterday. I decided on the Buff Orp, the mixed green layer, the Silverudd Blue, White Leghorn, and the Prairie Bluebell (blue layer). According to Hoover’s, where I got the blue layer, they were created by crossing Araucanas and White Leghorns. Wouldn’t that give me a 50/50 chance for colored eggs from her? Can’t wait to see the outcome!

 

[NatJ]

According to Hoover’s, where I got the blue layer, they were created by crossing Araucanas and White Leghorns. Wouldn’t that give me a 50/50 chance for colored eggs from her?

If your hen has one Araucana parent and one White Leghorn parent, and she lays blue eggs, then yes half of her daughters should lay colored eggs and the other half not (with the sons having the same genes but obviously not laying eggs).

But if Hoovers crossed an Araucana and a White Leghorn years ago, and then bred those chicks and their descendants together since then, they could have some with one blue egg gene and some with two blue egg genes.

Since your hen does lay blue eggs, you know for sure that she has at least one blue egg gene, but can't tell whether she has a second one (unless you get a DNA test or raise enough of her daughters that you can tell from what color eggs the daughters lay.)