d'anver lovers,discuss the breed and post some pics!

[speckledhen]

But, Aubrey, isn't blue just a genetically black bird who carries two blue genes to fade it out? That's why you can get blue, black or splash from breeding two blues together. If you can get a black bird from two blues, why can't you get a black barred from a silver based white (with barring) over a blue, and therefore, technically "faded out" black bird? If you can't then Storm is just a weirdo and belongs in KY, lol. But, LH and even her vet has been over the calculator, though his specialty is horses, and he also has no idea how Storm is even possible.

Proves my gremlin theory...that genes are just gremlins playing tricks on us.

 

[Backwoods Bntms]

I am with Aubrey on this one. If Snow is the mother and Storm is black , then Snow has got to be a real light blue and not splash. Cynthia splash is two copies of the blue gene so the hen will pass one copy to all of her offspring. If the rooster is black then the chicks will have one black and one blue gene which would make them blue. So if Snow is splash then Storm has to be blue. If Snow is some odd diluted blue that makes her look splash then Storm could be black. But blue can look black and even have the green sheen, I have had blue quail males with light blue wings and the tail would look black with the green sheen to it.

 

[speckledhen]

I've never even heard of blue, even the super dark ones, having sheen. That was how I'd tell my really dark blue Orps from the blacks, wait till they're old enough to get the sheen, and if they didn't have it, then they were blue, not black. Some folks call it dull black, I think. In fact, one of Suede's brothers was so dark that when I sold him at 15 weeks old, I still wasn't sure what color he was. Had no sheen, so I'd guess he was super dark blue.

I've had very light blues, both in Orps and Ameraucanas, even extremely light ones, but I can't imagine Snow being anything other than splash. Now, you've got me all confused (though, lately, that isn't very difficult).

I know Snow is supposed to pass one copy of the blue gene to all her offspring, but is there some odd situation where she might not have? I've had many BRs in the past (and I know that's what they were because I had both parents of the parents and hatched many chicks), and had one hen throw males with only one copy of the barring gene, consistently. They were impossible to sex by the usual methods. I still have that hen's mother here, in fact, though the sire is long deceased. Every male was like a BSL. So, what I'm saying is if a BR hen can throw all dark sons, then is it even possible at all that Snow's done something almost unheard of here?

ETA: We keep trying to hatch more of her eggs to see what we get, but they haven't been fertile since the one Storm hatched from. Even he was a fluke--Snow slips out from under every rooster we have her with.

 

[Backwoods Bntms]

Don't mean to confuse you, really just thinking out loud. I guess there could always be a mutation, which is how most colors started out. Is Storm the only chick you've ever hatched from Snow?

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Haha yep same here , just curious about it. The blue is dominate so all is takes is 1 copy and it shows . With splash everybody gets a copy. Blue yes usually are dull but my blue d'anvera and my Sumatra have areas of green shine to them . Some timws not all feathers are converted to blue...

 

[speckledhen]

Don't mean to confuse you, really just thinking out loud. I guess there could always be a mutation, which is how most colors started out. Is Storm the only chick you've ever hatched from Snow?

Yes, Storm is the only ever chick out of Snow, which is why we have no other information to compare. Snow's eggs have never been fertile because she's avoided every rooster she's ever been with. She has this cool maneuver where she ducks her head and slips backward between his legs. My Delaware loves his bearded ladies and finally managed to get her once, which just happened to be when I gave LH a bunch of eggs to hatch from that flock. Her eggs have not been fertile since, either. I know because I've had them under at least three different broodies and nothing ever developed. Just clears. Unfortunately, she's quit laying again and her approaching six years of age, no idea if she'll ever start up again. Her last break was a whole year long!

 

[Backwoods Bntms]

My bantam americana does the same thing. I have put other hens in with that pair and their eggs are fertile, but hers never is.

 

[speckledhen]

Wily little hens, some of these are.

If genetics were always so easy to figure, then I wouldn't have the Tiny Terrorist. Came from BBS Ameraucana flock (I saw the parent stock), hatched in my incubator from a beautiful blue egg. Almost lost her because her eyesight is very bad and she kept ignoring the feed the other chicks were eating because she just had trouble seeing tan feed in an aluminum feeder. Became apparent as she grew that something about her was off besides the fact that she was beardless, and when she unexpectedly laid a brown egg, that cemented the fact that odd genes were floating around in her ancestry. She is an Ameraucana by blood, but.....this hen has obvious Sumatra blood. The shape of the head, the body, tail, the spurs, the aggressive temperament, all say Sumatra. The breeder did not have Sumatras, but someone she got her stock from did. Many generations go by, Ameraucanas look pure, then, BAM! Throwback genes popped up in the line from some illicit breeding many, many years back.

Tiny as a pullet three years ago:


Tiny now, and you can see one of the spurs:

 

[Backwoods Bntms]

How some updated Silver Millie project pics?

What do you make of the light colored one with the white wings, I haven't decided yet. Judging by the white and yellow heads it two pullets and three males in this group. Got a few more but they are not feathered in enough to be as interesting as these.

 

[NanaKat]

Backwoods Bntms, Nice chicks! Will be interesting to see comments on the Mille with white wings. Could it be a split?

Cyn, Tiny looks like she is saying "you want a piece of me!".