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What can cause loss of egg color in pure Ameraucanas?

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grisaboy:

--- Quote from: Blue Egg Acres ---Ok, so. . . what can we expect out of the males that are sibling to the brown/white egg laying pullets all of which are from the blue eggs?
--- End quote ---


If  OO is pure for blue eggs
    oo is pure for non-blue eggs
   Oo is split.
Obviously with the males you can\'t tell which are carrying non-blue egg genes like you can with the pullets. But the percentages will be the same. 25% OO; 50% Oo; 25% oo.
The only way to determine which ones carry the non-blue egg genes is to test mate to a non-blue egg laying female.  If any non-blue egg laying females are produced, then the male is a carrier.  
It might be best to assume all of these males are carriers and only keep them if they are very superior for other traits.

Curtis

John:
Barbara,

I\'ve known you for years and know you have bred some great birds, so please don\'t think this is a really big deal.  It is just one more of many traits that have to be worked on and improved.  Remember the black in the hackle, lacing in the breast and all the other things that come to our attention over the years?  This is just one more to add to the list.  They are a work in progress, like every other breed and variety.
As Curtis and Mike said test mating is the only way to truly find out if a bird is pure are blue (OO) eggs, but I don\'t know of anyone that plans to do it.  
Just as you can generally tell by looking at a bird\'s muffs if they are pure for muffs and only breed from those that appear to be you can try to do the same with egg color.  If you have some pullets that end up laying actual white eggs then some of your birds are not pure for blue eggs.  In that case I would suggest not breeding from any birds that come from those extremely light blue eggs...assuming those are the birds that are not pure.  

Blue Egg Acres:
Thanks guys. Your advice is, as always, much appreciated!

Tailfeathers:
Very interesting comments!  Thought I\'d throw my two-cents into the mix.

Over the years, I have kept detailed records on my various birds.  Each bird is toe-punched at birth according to the Pen # from which it came.  Each pen consists of a specific male over a female (or females if they are full-blooded sisters).  

In doing so I have been able to backtrack the results of some traits.  One of those has been the elimination of brown in most of my eggs.  I am now only getting a greenish tinted egg from one pullet - I think.  However, this year I have two pullets giving me a totally white egg.  But, on the other hand, I have a few pullets that I think are giving me a bluer egg than I\'ve ever had.

I think (as I have not caught the culprit on the nest yet) that the two white egg layers are probably from my #10 hens.  I had two #10 hens, one of which gave me a white egg, and the other an almost white with very light blue hue to it.  

I bred them though to my rooster that I think is carrying my best blue egg genes and I did so because I was having terrible productivity problems.  I had 6-8 birds that hadn\'t given me an egg in over 6 months.  My #10\'s would give me 4-5 eggs each per week.  So my thought was, \"I\'ll get the productivity up and then weed out the white gene in subsequent generations.\"  

This may be obvious but my point is that I can rarely afford to focus on just one trait.  It always seems to be a matter of priorities for me.  My hope is that with time and continued good record keeping, thru the process of elimination and repeating successes while not repeating mistakes, I can get to where I want to be.

Lastly, I thought I\'d mention something - again that may go without saying but will perhaps be of benefit to someone - with regard to the test mating.  Mike\'s idea of test mating is an excellent idea.  But just remember that if you do it, you\'ve got to hatch a whole lot of birds so that if the recessive gene is there, it will show up in the percentages.  

At least if I understand the process that is correct.  If I have a rooster carrying Oo and mate it to a hen that is oo, then I still have a 75% chance of blue eggs.  Right?  So I would have to hatch a lot of chicks to get the pullet that lays the white egg in order for me to know that I\'ve got a rooster with the recessive white.  If I only hatch a handful of chicks, I might not get the white egg and would mistakenly assume that I had a rooster that was OO.

God Bless,

Mike Gilbert:

--- Quote from: Tailfeathers --- - with regard to the test mating.  Mike\'s idea of test mating is an excellent idea.  But just remember that if you do it, you\'ve got to hatch a whole lot of birds so that if the recessive gene is there, it will show up in the percentages.  

At least if I understand the process that is correct.  If I have a rooster carrying Oo and mate it to a hen that is oo, then I still have a 75% chance of blue eggs.  Right?
--- End quote ---


Nope.  Royce, blue eggshell is a single gene dominant trait.  Birds that are Oo mated to oo should yield about half that lay blue or green eggs and half that do not.   It should come out about 50/50.  The real problem with the test mating is that you end up with all these pullets that are useless in where you are trying to go with your breeding program.   It helps if there is a market for backyard layers in your area.   The roosters from the test matings could either be raised for fryers or culled as soon as their sex is determinable.

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