Ugh, no kidding. My Blue Copper is very promising but his copper is coming in verrrry slowly. I think I look at him closely every. day. trying to see more!Agreed. We poultry people are not so good at "try wait..."
Blue Copper and Splash Copper Marans Discussion
- Thread starter snowbird
- Start date
I find eye color to be one of the more frustrating traits to work on because it can take so long for them to change! Especially the pullets, waiting until almost lay before you know they aren't going to change.
I went back to see how old your "dark eyed" pullets were...six weeks is too young to tell how they are going to turn out. I have 9 Birchen and Black Copper Marans chicks and of all of them only one of the group had lighter pale yellowish eyes at 6 weeks. Now only one or two are still dark. My Blue Copper roo who is just now four months old had yellowish eyes when I got him at 3 months, he now has lovely dark bay eyes (avatar). So you just don't know yet!
Wasn't as dark as I thought. Kind of a greenish brown
Ugh ignore my double chin
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Question. One of my girls is very feathered on her feet. The sister only has a bit. When I got home from work this morning my daughter said the one with less feathering was bleeding so I went and looked and it seems like a feather is trying to pop out, it's like a bump that broke open. I cleaned it and put ointment. Anything else I should do?
Eye color
Quoted from: http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/mutations2.html#gen_mut_eye
From Dr Okimoto..........
There is a gene for brown eye, but I can't remember to much about it. I'll have to look it up. Eye color is also associated with the E locus alleles (black produces darker eyes) and genes like dominant white will dilute the eye color. I would expect blue and lavendar to do this too.
I had a Blue splash Ameraucana rooster that had bright orange eyes with red streaks in them. I bred him for two generations (the second one back to his daughters) because I like the eye color, but I never got anymore like him. Eye color is pretty much a genetic mystery for chickens.
Smyth in Poultry Breeding and Genetics, 1990 Crawford, ed. Cites a Sex-linked brown eye phenotype (Br). The normal color is called bay. Brown eyed birds are also seen in association with dark shanks and the id^M sex-linked dermal melanin allele. The dominant E allele is associated with brown eye too.
Pearl eye is thought to be recessive to bay eye. I'd think that there were at least two genes involved, but the genetics aren't known. Something inhibits carotinoid deposition and also melanin deposition in these eyes. White skin is known to inhibit carotinoid deposition in the skin, but Smyth claims that it isn't involved in pearl because yellow skinned Cornish can have pearl eyes.
The color I had in my Ameraucana was not the normal bay color it was a bright orange eye with blood red streaks in it. It was pretty striking and could not be confused with the normal bay.
The red color may be carotinoids (the pigment left in fall leaves and can be seen in vegetables like carrots and red peppers).
Quoted from: http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page2.html
Genetics of eye color:
The genetic basis of eye color has not been extensively studied as have other aspects of phenotype. However, some things are accurately known. First of all, the wild-type eye is characterized by the Light Brown Leghorn. Eye color is a result of pigmentation of a number of structures within the eye (iris, retina, uveal tract, ciliary).
The bay-color eye (various shades of reddish brown) is due to carotenoid pigments and the blood supply of the iris. Brown eyes are increasingly melanized with the darkest eye color due to the fibromelanotic gene characterized by heavy eumelanin deposits throughout the eye. Little is known about pearl eye and Smyth has speculated that it has the same eumelanin distribution as the bay but without the carotenoids.
Eye color is modified by a number of genes that are known to be associated with shank and plumage color. The sex-linked dermal melanin genes, id+ and idM enhance dermal shank and eye pigmentation. The inhibitor of shank dermal melanin, Id, also inhibits eye pigmentation. Smyth hypothesized that the idM gene together with extended black, E, is responsible for dark brown eyes. idM also darkens the eye on the e+ background.
A dominant sex-linked inhibitor of eye pigmentation is known, Br. This trait is not useful for developing sexable day-old chicks because chickens do not get their final eye color until they reach sexual maturity.
In the absence of other melanin inhibitors, the E-locus alleles, E (extended black) and ER, birchen, result in a brownish eye with the E allele making the darker eye. Sex-linked barring, B, and eumelanin inhibitors at the E-locus, like eWh have an effect on eye color. Recessive white seems to have no effect on eye color and dominant white, I, has a strong ability to inhibit eye pigmentation. The genetics of pearl are not known, however, it is known that the white skin gene, W, is not the genetic basis of pearl eye, since Cornish have yellow skin and can also have pearl eye.
Quoted from: http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/mutations2.html#gen_mut_eye
From Dr Okimoto..........
There is a gene for brown eye, but I can't remember to much about it. I'll have to look it up. Eye color is also associated with the E locus alleles (black produces darker eyes) and genes like dominant white will dilute the eye color. I would expect blue and lavendar to do this too.
I had a Blue splash Ameraucana rooster that had bright orange eyes with red streaks in them. I bred him for two generations (the second one back to his daughters) because I like the eye color, but I never got anymore like him. Eye color is pretty much a genetic mystery for chickens.
Smyth in Poultry Breeding and Genetics, 1990 Crawford, ed. Cites a Sex-linked brown eye phenotype (Br). The normal color is called bay. Brown eyed birds are also seen in association with dark shanks and the id^M sex-linked dermal melanin allele. The dominant E allele is associated with brown eye too.
Pearl eye is thought to be recessive to bay eye. I'd think that there were at least two genes involved, but the genetics aren't known. Something inhibits carotinoid deposition and also melanin deposition in these eyes. White skin is known to inhibit carotinoid deposition in the skin, but Smyth claims that it isn't involved in pearl because yellow skinned Cornish can have pearl eyes.
The color I had in my Ameraucana was not the normal bay color it was a bright orange eye with blood red streaks in it. It was pretty striking and could not be confused with the normal bay.
The red color may be carotinoids (the pigment left in fall leaves and can be seen in vegetables like carrots and red peppers).
Quoted from: http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page2.html
Genetics of eye color:
The genetic basis of eye color has not been extensively studied as have other aspects of phenotype. However, some things are accurately known. First of all, the wild-type eye is characterized by the Light Brown Leghorn. Eye color is a result of pigmentation of a number of structures within the eye (iris, retina, uveal tract, ciliary).
The bay-color eye (various shades of reddish brown) is due to carotenoid pigments and the blood supply of the iris. Brown eyes are increasingly melanized with the darkest eye color due to the fibromelanotic gene characterized by heavy eumelanin deposits throughout the eye. Little is known about pearl eye and Smyth has speculated that it has the same eumelanin distribution as the bay but without the carotenoids.
Eye color is modified by a number of genes that are known to be associated with shank and plumage color. The sex-linked dermal melanin genes, id+ and idM enhance dermal shank and eye pigmentation. The inhibitor of shank dermal melanin, Id, also inhibits eye pigmentation. Smyth hypothesized that the idM gene together with extended black, E, is responsible for dark brown eyes. idM also darkens the eye on the e+ background.
A dominant sex-linked inhibitor of eye pigmentation is known, Br. This trait is not useful for developing sexable day-old chicks because chickens do not get their final eye color until they reach sexual maturity.
In the absence of other melanin inhibitors, the E-locus alleles, E (extended black) and ER, birchen, result in a brownish eye with the E allele making the darker eye. Sex-linked barring, B, and eumelanin inhibitors at the E-locus, like eWh have an effect on eye color. Recessive white seems to have no effect on eye color and dominant white, I, has a strong ability to inhibit eye pigmentation. The genetics of pearl are not known, however, it is known that the white skin gene, W, is not the genetic basis of pearl eye, since Cornish have yellow skin and can also have pearl eye.
In my experience-
The greenish-gray colored eyes of chicks and juveniles will be the color that is desired in Marans upon maturity. The yellowish colored eyes will be too light, and if they do change, they usually are still too light upon maturity. I have also found that the very dark eyed chicks and juveniles will not change to the desired color, not to say that they do not lighten a bit upon maturity, as I have seen them lighten, but I have never seen them lighten enough to be considered correct.
As a general rule in my breeding program I keep young birds that have the greenish-gray colored eyes.
The greenish-gray colored eyes of chicks and juveniles will be the color that is desired in Marans upon maturity. The yellowish colored eyes will be too light, and if they do change, they usually are still too light upon maturity. I have also found that the very dark eyed chicks and juveniles will not change to the desired color, not to say that they do not lighten a bit upon maturity, as I have seen them lighten, but I have never seen them lighten enough to be considered correct.
As a general rule in my breeding program I keep young birds that have the greenish-gray colored eyes.
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When you say "chicks" do you mean pretty much at hatch?
Thank you all for your input..just one more Chicken to learn about..so far I have Blue, Gold Laced, & Blue Partridge Brahmas, Blue Copper Marans, Lemon Blue Cochins, and Cream Legbars. 
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