Unexpected Orpington colour hatched...

CuckooOrpington

Chirping
Apr 1, 2016
150
35
91
Australia
Hi All,

Firstly I didn't know whether to put this under this section or the breed and gender one. But I guess it is kind of about genetics. I have two Orpington pullets that hatched from a pen of Orps - a cuckoo rooster, a crele hen and a black hen. I expected to hatch Creles, Cuckoos and Blacks but two of these hatched. I don't know what colour they are or how they came about. Any ideas?

This is the two pullets:







 
looks like silver partridge
probably partridge gene from the crele and the silver gene from the cuckoo or black.

this image is not mine, but it is a silver partridge orpington for reference.


btw very pretty, you should start a breeding project with her!
 
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Silver is a sex linked gene; females inherit the silver gene from the father. The black hen and the roo that produced the pullet both carry the birchen allele at the E locus. She inherited one birchen allele from the roo and one birchen from the black hen. The black hen also is carring the pattern gene. The pullet inherited the pattern gene from the black hen. The pattern gene does not work well on birds that are birchen so you are getting the partridge pattern in her hackles. Birds that are true partridge carry two pattern genes and carry two brown alleles at the Elocus. If you back cross the pullet to the roo and hatch enough chicks, you should get some more females that look similar to the pullet. The pattern gene does not work on males so any males will be birchen.
 
Silver is a sex linked gene; females inherit the silver gene from the father. The black hen and the roo that produced the pullet both carry the birchen allele at the E locus. She inherited one birchen allele from the roo and one birchen from the black hen. The black hen also is carring the pattern gene. The pullet inherited the pattern gene from the black hen. The pattern gene does not work well on birds that are birchen so you are getting the partridge pattern in her hackles. Birds that are true partridge carry two pattern genes and carry two brown alleles at the Elocus. If you back cross the pullet to the roo and hatch enough chicks, you should get some more females that look similar to the pullet. The pattern gene does not work on males so any males will be birchen.
Thank you. Makes more sense now. If the original cuckoo rooster were crossed with a crele hen (that doesn't carry the birchen gene), would the cockerel hatched carry birchen and silver as well? Sorry for asking so many questions.

Thanks again,
Cuckoo Orpington.
 
Thank you. Makes more sense now. If the original cuckoo rooster were crossed with a crele hen (that doesn't carry the birchen gene), would the cockerel hatched carry birchen and silver as well? Sorry for asking so many questions.

Thanks again,
Cuckoo Orpington.
Yes it would have inherited a birchen allele and the silver allele from the cuckoo roo. Crele should be wild type at the E locus. Any E locus allele the cuckoo caries should be dominant to the wild type allele. It depends on the genetics of the cuckoo, most likely a crele and cuckoo cross would produce birchen and or extended black offspring.
 
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