Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Here is a question for @WLLady .
If a chickens hatches from a blue or green egg and it is MALE, will he carry the blue egg gene?????

Easy question....complicated answer.

One has to keep in mind that the rooster (the male chick's dad) has nothing to do with the egg colour that the male chick was laid in. The colour of the egg is solely due to the hen's genetics. So, a blue egg could be BW (blue white) or BB (blue blue). The rooster that mates that hen could be anything...and if he is from a brown line (Br-Br) then the male chick will still be inside a blue egg. Assuming B=blue, W=white, Br=brown

mom BW (blue) x dad BrBr (brown) =male chick BBr BBr BrW BrW =50% chance of carrying the blue gene
mom BB (blue) x dad BrBr (brown) = male chick BBr BBr BBr Bbr=100% chance of carrying blue
mom BBr (green) x dad BrBr (brown) = male chick BBr BBr BrBr BrBr=50% chance of carrying blue

So long story short, it depends on how many blue alleles the mom carries and how many blue alleles the dad carries. If mom and dad are both blue-blue then 100% he will be blue blue as well.

hen BW (blue) x dad BBr (green) = BB BBr BrW BW 75% chance cockerel has a blue allele
hen BBr (green) x dad BrW (brown) = BBr BrBr BrW BW 50% chance cockerel has blue allele
hen BBr (green) x dad BBr (green) = BB BBr BBr BrBr 75% chance cockerel has blue
hen BB (blue) or BW (blue) x dad BB = 100% chance
hen BB x dad BW = 100% chance
hen BW x dad BW = 75% chance at least 1 blue allele and 25% chance no blue allele (WW)

(sorry that got long.....)

@WLLady Thanks for the explanation! Reason I asked is I have some hatching eggs for my broody girl. A couple are blue and a couple green. The blue laying girl had been in with a silverud rooster. Was curious as to possible outcomes. Be interesting as Frank, the lovely chap I lost, came out of a green egg but when I tried to hatch eggs from a couple of his hens, including an olive egg layer (1/2 brahma/1/2 ameraucana) they were fertile but always quit at 7 days.

Too bad they quit at 7days, could be anything that caused that....that first 5-7 days seems to be a make-it/break-it point...along with about 15-16 days in my experience. Good luck with the hatching! Guess i should start thinking about collecting too, i really have to get some younger birds this year, all mine are getting older and definitely slacking off!

@WLLady I tried several times with Frank and some green/olive egg ladies. EVery time they quit at the same stage. I guess some type of lethal gene. Anyway DH summed it all up "so it's a crap shoot!"

Killerbunny wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 24, 2024 3:13 pm

@WLLady I tried several times with Frank and some green/olive egg ladies. EVery time they quit at the same stage. I guess some type of lethal gene. Anyway DH summed it all up "so it's a crap shoot!"

Yeah, he probably picked up some mutation or something....ug.

Your DH is not wrong! LOL