Well, this is what got laid today. Henny Penny, my partridge hen, lays brown eggs. So, this blue-green egg came from one of my other 2 girls that I acquired about 2 weeks ago. When I got them, they had been sitting on chicks. I have their chicks too.
1) Which hen do you think it came from? See pictures of the 2 candidates in following posts.
2) If their chicks are hens, is it likely they will also lay blue-green eggs?
Thanks!
Claire
Candidate 1: Diana
She is sort of like a barred rock, but more chocolate brown than black barring. She has a very limited comb. I don't think she is full barred rock. I have no idea what the cross could be. She had 1 chick. It is younger than Allie's chicks.
Edited to add that her earlobes are also white.
This message was edited Aug 17, 2008 5:19 PM
Candidate 2: Allie
Allie is supposedly a cross between a Dark Cornish and a Black Australorp. She had the chicks first (9 of them) so I thought she might start to lay again first. But Cornish and Australorp eggs aren't blue, and her earlobes are white.
I thought Australorps had blue egg genes way back hidden somewhere?
Oh! I didn't know about that. I knew they were supposed to lay brown eggs (full Australorps) but maybe when they cross...?
I don't remember specifically and may have remembered wrong, maybe TF or Cats'll come along shortly
I know the people I'm getting them from also have light brahmas and full barred rocks. Maybe some orpingtons, also, I think.
I don't think Australorps should have the blue egg gene. They were derived from Black Orpingtons with possible Minorca, White Leghorn, Plymouth Rock and Langsham influence. None of those would be blue. Blue is usually from the South American breeds that went into the Araucana/Ameraucana/Easter Egger mix. Although there is a breed called the Manx Rumpy/Persian Rumpless from the Persian Gulf that is also tailless and sometimes lays blue or green eggs.
Ameraucanas have pea combs and there is a single gene for the blue egg color which has been introduced pretty widely (hence the Easter Eggers)--so the first bird looks like a good candidate to me. Can you powder her bottom with colored chalk and see if the color turns up on the egg?
Okay--I need to go lie down. It is getting weird in here (points to head):0)
somewhere there is a hidden blue gene in one of their heritages. to look at them i see nothing that would resemble the blue eggers but in the past i have had polish that hatched and laid blue eggs. u ask anyone they will tell u they r white egg layers but they can be crossed to get the blue gene then crossed back out enough so they don't resemble them but still lay the blue eggs. if it can be done with a silver laced, choc and golden laced polish i see no reason why any other breed couldn't be done either. i know it can be done with silkies also.
I read somehwere that if you introduce the blue-egg gene into white-egg layers--you get blue eggs. In brown egg layers, green/khaki eggs. Anyone else heard this?
Wow....chicken butt chalk....I never even began to imagine what I was getting into when I got into the chicken habit!
I will have to investigate this option. Dumb newbie question. Does the egg come out the same hole as everything else? I presume so since there doesn't appear to be another vent.
I am hoping that the 3rd hen will begin to lay and that I can see a difference between the various eggs. I know what HP's look like because I had her by herself first and she was laying so I know hers are somewhat small-medium size and brown. So now I have one brown and one blue. Maybe the 3rd will be white. I could always separate one of them for a couple of days after they are all laying reliably and see what happens.
I looked really carefully at Allie tonight. When I hold her earlobe to the light, there is a very faint greenish tint to it, sort of like a slight irridescence. Is that a clue?
I began looking at incubators online tonight. You are all enablers, you know.
Claire
Ah--the secondary and deadly incubator infection. Try to find mcamden's home-built incubator thread--that is what started my downward spiral:0)
Yep, same vent for all. First home grown egg I cooked for DH was a little traumatic for him....somehow made the actual origin of eggs a little too real for him. He's over it now;0)
Claire, you are a 'goner' lol, there's no hope for you. Soon, you will be like l2g2 with 300+ birds running around (regardless of what's allowed). Then, you will have to move, then, then, then..... It doesn't stop, you know. LOL
Cheryl ~ Pea
I agree - I'm a goner, but I'd hide 300 birds before I would move. I love this place too much. My little slice of heaven in Iowa. I have timber, a pond with a river otter, a big workshop, rolling hills, prairie grassland, no neighbors, an amazing assortment of songbirds, no city lights to mar the night skies and star gazing, and the best bubble-tub ever. I adore this place and even though I love my chooks, I'm not moving 1 inch!
:-)
Wow! Sure you don't live where I do? No rolling hills where I am, river ~ but drive through prairie & Hills (Capitol Forest) on the way to work. I love my drive in. I get to see so much before I get to 'traffic'. Drive 45mins, have 2 stop signs & 2 stop lights. About half that time is in country.
People don't like the rain much here, but I sure do. I don't like the sun.
Hope you find out bout that blue egg. I have one Ameracauna-easter egger left. Every great once in awhile get a blue tinged egg.
Cheryl ~ Pea
oh...rub it in about that big workshop again! tee hee!
and rain? whats that? I havent had any rain since feb.... and didnt get any rain while visiting WA either :( I sure miss the rain!
gee. you can have our rain... chickens are tired of it. don't know how some folks put up with it constantly... i now have a wading pool filled with rainwater to wash my clogs and feet when done with chores [who am i kidding, the chicken slave is NEVER done!]
OK, my turn. i say C. neither. did you say there was another hen? in both picws i looked at their legs, and i think they are too yellow to be blue eggers...
the green sheen in the feathers is supposed to be there in Australorps...
Now, if i have to choose between the two, i would say Allie, becasue her comb indicates some possible Aracauna heritage...
yep, i wanna know if that chalk thing works, so do it and let us know!
tf
there is no way it is henny penny then cuz egg color don't change only shades of same color.
what do the babies look like? mabe we might see something in them thowing traits from the blue egg mom we can't see in her?
if i had to choose definately not penny, i'd say allie is ur blue layer also. because she is a white egg layer the blue gene mixed would make blue eggs. if diana laid them then her's if i'm correct should be olive since she should be a brown egg layer.
what kind of combs do they have? if i remember right pea combs and i thought another were linked to blue egg gene.
This message was edited Aug 18, 2008 1:59 AM
SC, she has pics of the chicks in the Guess the Roo game.... i think those are the chicks Allie hatched out. keep in mind they may not have been her eggs.... the chicks have various colring in their legs too...
Alcatraz is your Blue Egg Layer. Of the chicks she has hatched, only those whose roo has the blue-egg-gene will lay them. Not all those chicks came from HER eggs, just so you know.
TF - yes there is another Hen - Henny Penny the partridge rock. But, I had her first by herself for a week and she gave me 3 brown eggs, so the blue one can't possibly be hers. In the pic of the egg I showed at the top, the brown egg is HP's.
The greenish sheen was on the earlobe too. Not just the feathers. That's what made me wonder.
I will take pics of their combs later this evening when I'm home. I don't know that much about combs yet so I can't say for sure if they are pea or single or what.
So CF (I bow before you...) you are saying that other hens laid fertile eggs in Allie's nest in the rafters? They all look like similar chicks. All black with some degree of white striping at this stage, except for one that seems to have some brown striping or at least brown splotches on wings. I would've guessed they were all hers....
Kelly is going to look for chalk today for his chalk-line tool. Hopefully I can use some of that for butt dusting.
I though that chalk was really strong, bad to leave on hands. Would it be ok for butts?
Just the feathers!
then have you thought about weather she is the fist to lay or the last and are they laying in the same spot? If she is the last to lay with the powdered butt she will put that powder on all the eggs in the nest, that is if it is in the same nest.
Then you won't know! But with only 3 possible layers and one a known brown egg layer--you might be able to figure it out. I think only one (HP)is known it be laying?
I want easter eggs. I want easter eggs. I want easter eggs. There is nothing like easter eggs. Oh dang I just want fresh eggs.
One of my layers FINALLY laid a first egg...
whoo whhoooo here we goooo!!
Bertha Butt first to lay (of 19 girls.. all born 04-07-08 today 08-18-08)
ME was the real first to lay, but does she really count??? she is a cornish... since I didn't know cornish lived long enough to lay I never counted her..
Anyway Picture is white egg is store bought egg, dark brown is Berthas first egg and the light tan is Me's 4th egg.. Me's 1st egg was just about the size of Bertha's so I expect Berthas will get larger.
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I want eggs.
That is just awesome Frans.
Congrats Fran! What kind of chicken is Bertha? What a beautiful egg color.
I got my second blue egg today! Here I am with it next to my cannas.
Excuse my grubby appearance by the way, I had been crawling around inside the Eglu pen!
We talked earlier about combs on Allie and Diana, to discuss who might have laid the blue eggs. Here is Allie's comb.
Here is Diana's comb.
I think Allie's is a single and Diana's is a pea. Correct me if I'm wrong, please!
Oh, BTW Catscan, I bought the RCom 20 incubator from Brinsea.
You are the ultimate enabler. (well, maybe TF/CF is the ultimate, but you're close!)
I know.
i got 2 sportsmans that hold about 700 eggs, hmmm. can i be an enabler too??? ya know i was just thinking wow, i could do some major hatching with those!!! OMG mike would kill me,lol.
You guys are killing me! I am not allowed to incubate until I get back from my work trip next month--CF told me so. AND she won't let me order off Ebay--even though they have Nankins!
Must incubate...must incubate....must incubate....................
Bertha is a marans.. they lay the darkest eggs.. I was worried they wouldn't be very dark because they are mass produced from a big poultry company, before I knew better.
But today I am pleasently surprised.
oh i am so jealous!!! my copper black and cuckoo marans r way to little to lay yet. the day i find an egg from them it will be like finding a golden egg in the nest box!!! my welsummers r too young to ugg!!
What...nobody can tell me about the comb pictures I posted? Are they single or pea? and does either one look more likely to have produced the green egg?
Help!
I have no clue. sorry i cant help ya
I'm not great with combs--but tf is. Where is tf?
