Help me to pair birds for breeding!

[Slothinc]

So I'm new to all this and the breeding is way over my head, but one thing stuck out. You said hens 6 and 7 are sisters, but that 6 carries 1 blue egg gene and 7 has no blue egg gene. How does that work? Are they sisters from different roos?

I'm just starting out and trying to wrap my head around breeding for certain traits.

It took me a really long time to wrap my brain around this concept (and even the other day I gave someone bad info because I forgot this! Lol!! Hopefully now I actually have it down!!)

Both girls hatched from eggs from the same hen. There were 2 Roos in the pen, but I’m guessing just based on their very similar looks that they are probably from the same roo. The roo doesn’t carry the blue egg gene because he is a regular silkie. The hen does carry the blue egg gene, but only one copy of it. Both girls hatched from green eggs (she is the only green layer in the pen I believe which is how I know they were from the same hen.)

The blue egg gene is designated as the letter “o”. Capital O for carrying blue egg and lowercase o for not carrying it (just regular white egg gene.) Blue egg is dominant over white egg. So since the hen is Oo for blue egg and the roo is oo for blue egg, each chick has a 50% chance of inheriting the blue egg gene from the hen.

So one of my girls is Oo and one is oo. Hope that helps a bit. It is quite confusing!!

 

[redinator]

It took me a really long time to wrap my brain around this concept (and even the other day I gave someone bad info because I forgot this! Lol!! Hopefully now I actually have it down!!)

Both girls hatched from eggs from the same hen. There were 2 Roos in the pen, but I’m guessing just based on their very similar looks that they are probably from the same roo. The roo doesn’t carry the blue egg gene because he is a regular silkie. The hen does carry the blue egg gene, but only one copy of it. Both girls hatched from green eggs (she is the only green layer in the pen I believe which is how I know they were from the same hen.)

The blue egg gene is designated as the letter “o”. Capital O for carrying blue egg and lowercase o for not carrying it (just regular white egg gene.) Blue egg is dominant over white egg. So since the hen is Oo for blue egg and the roo is oo for blue egg, each chick has a 50% chance of inheriting the blue egg gene from the hen.

So one of my girls is Oo and one is oo. Hope that helps a bit. It is quite confusing!!

I should've paid better attention in biology, lol. Who knew this city slicker would be interested in breeding chickens, lol. Using "Oo" helped clarify it.

I'm guessing you were only able to determined which does/doesn't carry the gene once they started laying?

 

[Slothinc]

I should've paid better attention in biology, lol. Who knew this city slicker would be interested in breeding chickens, lol. Using "Oo" helped clarify it.

I'm guessing you were only able to determined which does/doesn't carry the gene once they started laying?

Yeah! It’s so confusing that a hen can lay blue eggs but still pass on a not-blue gene to the baby inside that egg. So a blue egg laying hen can have babies who don’t lay a blue egg, even though they hatched out of a blue egg. So hatching out of a blue egg isn’t always a guarantee that the chick will carry a blue egg gene!

With these sisters I did wait until they started laying and quickly figured out which one was laying cream colored and which was green/blue. It’s funny because both eggs look basically identical in size/shape but not color.

However, if I ever keep a male and want to know if he carries the blue egg gene, I will test him! Because there is no way to know if a rooster carries the blue egg gene except by test breeding (unless one of his parents is OO, then you know he carries at least one blue egg gene - so half of his daughters would lay blue, if bred to a oo hen.)

I have used The Silkie Lab for gene testing before, and they just lowered their prices! So a blue egg gene test is now only $20. It will tell you if the bird carries one or two or no blue egg genes! Very handy for rooster testing. If hens carry the blue egg gene they will have blue or green eggs.. but it also could be useful for them if you want to know if they are homozygous (OO) or heterozygous (Oo).

Chicken genetics are so awesome, I have loved learning about them over the past few years!

 

[redinator]

Yeah! It’s so confusing that a hen can lay blue eggs but still pass on a not-blue gene to the baby inside that egg. So a blue egg laying hen can have babies who don’t lay a blue egg, even though they hatched out of a blue egg. So hatching out of a blue egg isn’t always a guarantee that the chick will carry a blue egg gene!

With these sisters I did wait until they started laying and quickly figured out which one was laying cream colored and which was green/blue. It’s funny because both eggs look basically identical in size/shape but not color.

However, if I ever keep a male and want to know if he carries the blue egg gene, I will test him! Because there is no way to know if a rooster carries the blue egg gene except by test breeding (unless one of his parents is OO, then you know he carries at least one blue egg gene - so half of his daughters would lay blue, if bred to a oo hen.)

I have used The Silkie Lab for gene testing before, and they just lowered their prices! So a blue egg gene test is now only $20. It will tell you if the bird carries one or two or no blue egg genes! Very handy for rooster testing. If hens carry the blue egg gene they will have blue or green eggs.. but it also could be useful for them if you want to know if they are homozygous (OO) or heterozygous (Oo).

Chicken genetics are so awesome, I have loved learning about them over the past few years!

This is actually good news for me. I have 4 chicks (1 for sure male) from a BYM of eggs that all hatched from brown eggs. This gives me hope that at least one of them might lay colored eggs.

 

[Slothinc]

This is actually good news for me. I have 4 chicks (1 for sure male) from a BYM of eggs that all hatched from brown eggs. This gives me hope that at least one of them might lay colored eggs.

If you know anything about the rooster of that flock, then we could predict the future egg colors! If they are going to lay a blue or green egg, the dad would have to be carrying that gene. Brown is a whole different set of genetics!

 

[redinator]

If you know anything about the rooster of that flock, then we could predict the future egg colors! If they are going to lay a blue or green egg, the dad would have to be carrying that gene. Brown is a whole different set of genetics!

When I got the batch of 12 hatching eggs from Amazon I had 2 white eggs, 2 pale green eggs and the rest were varying shades of brown. Only 1 white egg hatched, and neither of the green ones hatched .

I know better now and will get my next batch of eggs from a hatchery that labels their eggs with the breed.

It was my first time hatching and the eggs got stuck in transport when we had snow on the ground for 5 five days (I'm in southern Louisiana, that is not normal, lol). So I count myself luck that any managed to hatch in those conditions.

 

[Slothinc]

When I got the batch of 12 hatching eggs from Amazon I had 2 white eggs, 2 pale green eggs and the rest were varying shades of brown. Only 1 white egg hatched, and neither of the green ones hatched .

I know better now and will get my next batch of eggs from a hatchery that labels their eggs with the breed.

It was my first time hatching and the eggs got stuck in transport when we had snow on the ground for 5 five days (I'm in southern Louisiana, that is not normal, lol). So I count myself luck that any managed to hatch in those conditions.

They are beautiful eggs!! Do you have any threads about your chicks? The way they look may give us a clue to their lineage. If the dad gave any of them a blue egg gene, the one who hatched out of the white egg would give a light blue egg, and the brown eggs would give a light green egg. (Only if they inherited the blue egg gene from their dad.)

 

[redinator]

They are beautiful eggs!! Do you have any threads about your chicks? The way they look may give us a clue to their lineage. If the dad gave any of them a blue egg gene, the one who hatched out of the white egg would give a light blue egg, and the brown eggs would give a light green egg. (Only if they inherited the blue egg gene from their dad.)

The one that hatched out of the white egg had to be rehomed. He was twice as big as the others and abusive. I'm pretty sure he was a White Leghorn. None are laying yet, they're only 7 weeks. I'll be getting more pictures after they turn 8 weeks on Monday.

This is a compilation of pictures from hatch to 6 weeks with an accompanying video https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/6-week-gender-check-breed-too-if-possible.1656284/

The only noticeable differences between then and now are; Kettle, the male black chick has developed some iridescent feathering down is back and Tazzy, the sandy colored chick, has developed some rusty colored feathers on the wings.

 

[Slothinc]

The one that hatched out of the white egg had to be rehomed. He was twice as big as the others and abusive. I'm pretty sure he was a White Leghorn. None are laying yet, they're only 7 weeks. I'll be getting more pictures after they turn 8 weeks on Monday.

This is a compilation of pictures from hatch to 6 weeks with an accompanying video https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/6-week-gender-check-breed-too-if-possible.1656284/

The only noticeable differences between then and now are; Kettle, the male black chick has developed some iridescent feathering down is back and Tazzy, the sandy colored chick, has developed some rusty colored feathers on the wings.

I would say that Tazzy has a chance of being part crested crème legbar… which if he is, then he would carry one blue egg gene. However if he is a boy, you won’t know unless you get him tested. If you end up keeping him as your flock rooster, it may be worth doing the $20 blue egg test I mentioned above. If he does carry a blue egg gene then 1/2 of his offspring would receive it, and you would get fun colors in the next generation. I was hoping that maybe one or two chicks would have a pea comb because that is often linked to the blue egg gene but none of them do. However legbars have a straight comb and they are supposed to have 2 blue egg genes… so if these chicks are related to a legbar, then they could lay blue with a straight comb. Also one of the black chicks looks crested, so maybe it also came from a legbar roo? Not sure!!

Maybe you could message the Amazon seller and ask what kind of Roos they have? Lol!!

 

[redinator]

I would say that Tazzy has a chance of being part crested crème legbar… which if he is, then he would carry one blue egg gene. However if he is a boy, you won’t know unless you get him tested. If you end up keeping him as your flock rooster, it may be worth doing the $20 blue egg test I mentioned above. If he does carry a blue egg gene then 1/2 of his offspring would receive it, and you would get fun colors in the next generation. I was hoping that maybe one or two chicks would have a pea comb because that is often linked to the blue egg gene but none of them do. However legbars have a straight comb and they are supposed to have 2 blue egg genes… so if these chicks are related to a legbar, then they could lay blue with a straight comb. Also one of the black chicks looks crested, so maybe it also came from a legbar roo? Not sure!!

Maybe you could message the Amazon seller and ask what kind of Roos they have? Lol!!

I have a list of breeds they carry:

Hello customer, here’s a list of most of them:

Silkie
Brahma
Plymouth rock
barred rock
Ayam Cemani
Sussex
Whiting true blue
whiting true green
Orpington
Leghorn
Polish
Rhode Island Red
Australorp
Wyandotte
Marans
Cochin
Isa Brown
Welsummer
naked neck
Easter Eggers
America’s

and a couple others. And about 10 to 12 different types of bantams and most of them are old English type.

https://a.co/d/dx9CzWB That's the listing I ordered them from with pictures of the chickens they carry as well.