WTB Hen Laying CREAM eggs?

[TexasBlues]

That’s more like a fly in the soup than a recipe

 

[HollowOfWisps]

That’s more like a fly in the soup than a recipe

I just refer to all of them as mutts. Designer breeds have become the bread and butter of modern day hatcheries. They capitalize on the name of the mix, but in reality each hatchery has their own concoction that vaguely resembles what went into original. As long as it has some of the original breeds, is the same color, lays the same color eggs they slap the same label on it and call it good to go.

 

[Zenmonkey]

It's difficult to weed out a recessive gene. It's most likely that Murray's stock has some white egg genes floating through it. Their "rare event" is having two heterozygous birds in their breeding pen. Depending on how many breeders and what percentage are heterozygous (or even homozygous for white males, hopefully they remove homozygous white hens from the breeding pool) determines how rare this is.

@Yardmom has some good descriptions of the likely results. All white layers hatched from this pair means you don't have the blue gene at all. 50% blue layers from this pair means the rooster is heterozygous. All blue layers hatched from this pair means the rooster is homozygous for blue.

But it also means that ALL the F1 birds are heterozygous, at best.

As @Yardmom pointed out, crossing these F1s together will produce 25% homozygous blue, 25% homozygous white, and 50% heterozygous.

I've read where the blue gene is accusing partially dominant, and two copies makes for bluer (or greener) eggs. However I've been hard pressed to be able to tell the difference, and bird to bird variation seems to maybe be more important?

Either way, you can skew the numbers a bit in your favor of you breed the blue egg laying hens back to their father. Now you'll get 50% heterozygous blue egg layers and 50% homozygous egg layers. In other words 100% phenotypic blue instead of 75%.

For a small flock, this is maybe important?

However it also means that regardless of what you do, it'll be next season before you know if the rooster has 1, 2, or 0 copies of the blue gene.

If you really want a flock of blue egg players without a long wait, you might prefer to procure different stock.

 

[TexasBlues]

Tan or brown eggs from a whiting true blue would be from outside bloodlines. They lay a light blue egg. It’s a fact that people get random birds from mcmurray hatchery.
They’re hardly a mutt. More like a stabilized hybrid designed for blue eggs and high production.

 

[hollandhens24]

You should have asked them to elaborate on this “brown layer “ crossed to make WTB. Sounds like hatchery BS.
Can you post a pic of your brown laying WTB?

As she has gone on to lay more, her eggs have become 100% white. Her first little pullet eggs were more creamy and almost looked like a very light tan with white bloom, but now are totally white. I have hatched 5 offspring and am interested to see what color they lay in September.

 

[hollandhens24]

It's difficult to weed out a recessive gene. It's most likely that Murray's stock has some white egg genes floating through it. Their "rare event" is having two heterozygous birds in their breeding pen. Depending on how many breeders and what percentage are heterozygous (or even homozygous for white males, hopefully they remove homozygous white hens from the breeding pool) determines how rare this is.

@Yardmom has some good descriptions of the likely results. All white layers hatched from this pair means you don't have the blue gene at all. 50% blue layers from this pair means the rooster is heterozygous. All blue layers hatched from this pair means the rooster is homozygous for blue.

But it also means that ALL the F1 birds are heterozygous, at best.

As @Yardmom pointed out, crossing these F1s together will produce 25% homozygous blue, 25% homozygous white, and 50% heterozygous.

I've read where the blue gene is accusing partially dominant, and two copies makes for bluer (or greener) eggs. However I've been hard pressed to be able to tell the difference, and bird to bird variation seems to maybe be more important?

Either way, you can skew the numbers a bit in your favor of you breed the blue egg laying hens back to their father. Now you'll get 50% heterozygous blue egg layers and 50% homozygous egg layers. In other words 100% phenotypic blue instead of 75%.

For a small flock, this is maybe important?

However it also means that regardless of what you do, it'll be next season before you know if the rooster has 1, 2, or 0 copies of the blue gene.

If you really want a flock of blue egg players without a long wait, you might prefer to procure different stock.

Thank you for this explanation! It is becoming apparent in my chicken endeavors that I simply do not get to have colored eggs try as I might. My easter egger, one of my two chickens, was taken out by a dog before she started laying, the "French Copper Marans" I got from someone locally are at best out of a FCM rooster and australorp mamas, and my WTB from the hatchery lays a white egg. I was excited for the production x fun factor of the WTB.