Blue Egg Gene Effects on Tinted Eggs

[Guest]

I know this question doesn\'t pertain to breeding Ameraucanas but don\'t know if anyone else would know the answer better than you guys.
 Do you think it would be worthwhile for me to start with  Ameraucana hens that I obtained from an ABC member vs. using Easter Eggers to start a project of creating blue egg laying Silkies? Am I doomed to having a green egg laying Silkie either way because of the light tint in the Silkie eggs?
 I plan on backcrossing of the blue/green egg laying hens to a Silkie Rooster for several generations until they look like Silkies. Instead, would I get bluer eggs if I used Ameraucanas to get the bluest possible eggs from F1 then breed the F1\'s together selecting for the best egg color and Silkie characterstics, then repeating the process over several generations?

[grisaboy]

You should find this page interesting.

http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/6624/index.html

This article may not address directly the green vs blue egg problem, but it does talk about adding the blue egg gene to silkies.  It appears that the blue egg gene and the silkie feather gene are on the same chromosome.  Also naked neck and pea comb genes.  So you could end up with a naked neck, pea combed, blue egg laying silkie.

By the way, I don\'t think  it matters whether you use Ameraucana or Easter Egger to get the Blue Egg Gene.

Good luck with your project.
Sounds like fun.

Curtis

[Guest]

Curtis,

Very interesting article. Thanks. Now it makes more sense that a guy I know has produced blue egg laying naked necked Silkies.

Jeff