Black Americana Hen x Brown Leghorn

[leaderofthechickenparade]

Hello!
Has anyone ever crossed true Americana black hen with a brown Leghorn rooster? What do the hens and roosters end up looking like? All Easter Egger layers? Hearty?
Thank you for any answers and photos!

 

[nuthatched]

They would be ee, yes, and I think the chicks would all be black.

 

[BastyPutt]

@nuthatched is correct. Chicks would be all black.

Your EE will have a blue egg w/ a brown allele, where your rooster will have two brown copies.

50% of the offspring will lay a brown egg, and 50% will lay a green egg.

If you bred one of the resulting roosters (son) with the original hen (mother) **which is completely acceptable in the chicken world** you'd end up with each having a brown and a blue copy and this

50% green egg layers
25% blue layers
25% brown layers.

 

[BastyPutt]

Shoot - okay, I missed the leghorn part.

Obviously those examples above are for a brown egg rooster.

So in this case, all the resulting birds would poses one copy of the dominant blue gene. I think here you'd get a spectrum of green eggs, and then brown eggs from the hens copy. So I don't think much would change, you'd just get lighter color green than you would with a brown egg rooster.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have personally never done that cross but the genetics should be pretty straightforward.

What do the hens and roosters end up looking like?

They should be solid black but I'd expect some brown or red leakage. Leakage is where random feathers can show strange colors. It's pretty common when you mix colors.

The Ameraucana will be pea combed while the leghorn is single combed. The pea comb is partially dominant so the chicks will show the effects of the pea comb but usually they are not a full pea. I call it a "wonky pea". You don't know exactly how it will look and can sometimes be kind of weird.

All Easter Egger layers?

Ameraucana have the genetics to lay blue eggs, that is a breed requirement. No green or brown allowed. Leghorns have the genetics to lay white eggs, no brown allowed. So all chicks should get one blue egg shell gene from the Amerauacana. Since Blue is dominant all pullets should lay a blue egg. If both chickens have what the breed is supposed to have there should be no brown or green eggs. They will all be blue.

Hearty?

If the parents are hearty the offspring should be too.

 

[BastyPutt]

If both chickens have what the breed is supposed to have there should be no brown or green eggs.

Genetically, all eggs are white or blue. The dominant brown allele is what finishes the eggs into the colors we are familiar with. The EE's green egg would be bl/BR (blue w/brown allele = green egg) where the leghorn would be w/w (White/white). But all eggs with the exception of a small percentage would have the brown allele.

The brown allele dominance can be see similarly in red sex links. One of the most common crosses is the RIR rooster and the Leghorn hen. Brown to white and all resulting eggs will be brown.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is one gene pair that determines the base color of the egg, which is either blue or white. The blue shell gene is dominant, so if just one of those genes at that gene pair is blue, the egg will be base blue. If both genes at that gene pair are not-blue, the egg shell will default to base white. The not-blue gene does not paint the eggshells white, it allows the natural colors of the materials that make up the egg shell to show. The blue shell gene does color the shell blue all the way through the thickness.

Using uppercase "O" to symbolize the dominant blue eggshell gene and lowercase "o" to symbolize the default not-blue gene, your leghorn will have "oo" at that gene pair and will give one of those to all his offspring. The Ameraucana will have "OO" at that gene pair and give an "O" to all of her offspring, so the offspring of that match will have "Oo" and all pullets will lay a base blue egg.

There are many different gene pairs that affect brown on an egg. Some are dominant, some recessive, some partially dominant, and some only have an effect if certain other genes are present. The way they go together determines what shade of brown goes on the egg. The number of possible combinations is why you can get so many different possible shades of brown.

Brown and green eggs are simply brown applied on top of base white or blue eggs. One way to show that is

Base white + no brown = white eggs
Base white + brown = brown eggs
Base blue + no brown = blue eggs
Base blue + brown = green eggs

If the chicken has none of these brown genes then they cannot pass any down to their offspring.

Your leghorn should have the genetics for white eggs which means no brown genes to pass down. Your Ameraucana should have the genetics for blue eggs which means no brown genes to pass down. Those are breed requirements. As long as your two have the genetics their breeds are supposed to have there will be no green eggs. They will be blue.

 

[BastyPutt]

With the exception of a random recessive white, you'd never produce a base white egg. Hens blue gene or brown allele would be dominant in all pairings

Edit:
- the brown egg would be base white, in terms I suppose.
- title is Americana, not ameraucana. This would suggest a green egg.

 

[Jojosine]

There is one gene pair that determines the base color of the egg, which is either blue or white. The blue shell gene is dominant, so if just one of those genes at that gene pair is blue, the egg will be base blue. If both genes at that gene pair are not-blue, the egg shell will default to base white. The not-blue gene does not paint the eggshells white, it allows the natural colors of the materials that make up the egg shell to show. The blue shell gene does color the shell blue all the way through the thickness.

Using uppercase "O" to symbolize the dominant blue eggshell gene and lowercase "o" to symbolize the default not-blue gene, your leghorn will have "oo" at that gene pair and will give one of those to all his offspring. The Ameraucana will have "OO" at that gene pair and give an "O" to all of her offspring, so the offspring of that match will have "Oo" and all pullets will lay a base blue egg.

There are many different gene pairs that affect brown on an egg. Some are dominant, some recessive, some partially dominant, and some only have an effect if certain other genes are present. The way they go together determines what shade of brown goes on the egg. The number of possible combinations is why you can get so many different possible shades of brown.

Brown and green eggs are simply brown applied on top of base white or blue eggs. One way to show that is

Base white + no brown = white eggs
Base white + brown = brown eggs
Base blue + no brown = blue eggs
Base blue + brown = green eggs

If the chicken has none of these brown genes then they cannot pass any down to their offspring.

Your leghorn should have the genetics for white eggs which means no brown genes to pass down. Your Ameraucana should have the genetics for blue eggs which means no brown genes to pass down. Those are breed requirements. As long as your two have the genetics their breeds are supposed to have there will be no green eggs. They will be blue.

So if I understand it correctly: if a cream legbar male (blue egg gene) crosses with a brown egg female, the offspring is likely to produce blueish eggs (B x B or B x w) or if both genes happen to be white (w x w), white eggs?

 

[Ridgerunner]

A true Cream Legbar male will have two Blue eggshell genes at that gene pair location. That is part of the definition of a Cream Legbar, both of those genes have to be the blue egg gene. He will always give one blue eggshell gene to all his offspring.

The Brown egg layer will always have two "white" genes at that point. Blue is dominant so since the egg is not blue or green the hen has to have two white genes. She will always give one white gene to all of her offspring since she has to give one of what she has and white is all she has.

That means the offspring will all wind up with one blue gene and one white gene. That means every one of the pullets from this cross will lay a blue or green egg since blue is dominant. Since the hen lays brown eggs the eggs should be some shade of green since green is brown of top of blue. I know the brown and green just confuses it.

Jojosine, maybe this will clarify it. Put two blue marbles representing the rooster in one pile and two white marbles representing the hen in a different pile. Then take one marble from each pile. You will always wind up with one blue and one white. You cannot wind up with two Blues or two Whites.