Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[CanuckBock]

Sorry, about that

how about 1 Black, 2 Blue, 1 Splash?
I was thinking of doing a 3 space square but, wasn't sure what to put where?
Scott

Absolutely correct and no apology necessary. It is really difficult at times to word and do these lessons so that people GET me. I can be off on some tangent and way out there in my own little self-created world. The only way to get feedback is when I let someone down and they wander off three jumps ahead of the pack like you did.

Whee hee hee...

YAH! You aced it again!

Blue to blue breeding outcome...

Blue x Blue = One Black, two Blue, one Splash - RATIO of geno and pheno of 1:2:1
​

The BEST thing about posting these lessons is that I am right beside all you guys learning things. Trying to make it make sense. The onus is on ME who should know this...know this enough it is easy peasy for someone that does not know it yet. The biggest benefit, unbeknownst to most learning...the TEACH is the one doing the most learning...cause, yeh, I gotta know my stuff or I can lead us all off the cliff and that's not so good, eh.

So here is what I kinda was hoping for by including the piccys of the real life blue dilution Call Ducks (laughing NOT allowed

)...a more VISUAL phenotype presentation.

The more ways one shows some concept, the more likely everyone will be on the same page GETTING it.

X =​

ONE

TWO​

ONE​

I think I can even get a sorta Punnett Square figure going...perhaps...

x =




​

Hee hee...fun trying eh...

​

So sorta the effect I would like...the four outcome BOXES filled with visual picture of the colour variety in ducks of the colour outcome we can expect.

Hope this is working for others too...should be fun, lotsa fun, eh!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

So I always am amazed at the visual outcomes when we are playing with colour genetics...like in poultry...how dramatic ONE change can be expressed.

Here are likely not, but theoretically we can pretend...but here are TWO Chantecler male chickens...that the ONLY real difference (past the top one is based on the e-series eWh Wheaten & the bottom boy is based on the e-series eb & eWh) between the TWO BOYS in regards to colour is one allele....one tiny difference in their genetic colour makeup and lookit the tails on these boyz.

​

February 2013 - Two standard sized male Chanteclers

​

The addition of ONE allele for blue dilution has taken a beetle green coppery BLACK tail on one roo and made that tail a BLUE feathered one for another roo a doo doo. How very KEWL is dat!

Course this tends to scare the bobbles off most folks...most are likely to FREAK their BEAKS when they see blue dilution popping outta their lines.

For me, it means I have blue dilution floating around in some of my standard sized Chanteclers. Totally unnecessary of course to have blue dilution in say a self-Buff perhaps, but in reflection because I began with standard sized Chanteclers in the varieties of Partridge and self-Buffs, I get to know their historical backgrounds, where they came from...much better. You can sleuth up the history on your lines based on the colour genetics you see popping outta yer breeding pens, down the generations, eh. The birds never lie and never forget their roots...people can say things, forget things, get things all mixed up, but you can often determine the historical backgrounds of your birds by observing the colour variations that POP out in the progeny....even generations later. Lots of fun I figure. The birds NEVER lie...only people seem to do that. Heh heh heh...

Hey now...the blue dilution (blue tailed buff or Blaff as some label them) explains to me that when the WHITE Oka Chants where crossed in to what was rescued of the last of the Albertan Partridges by Auclair when he went to save them from extinction...Andrè unwittening also put BLUE DILUTION into the mix. Likely the blue dilution was in his Oka WHITE Chanteclers to help make the White birds as WHITE as possible. Jest think in terms of bluing your white laundry when doing the final rinse...a few drops of bluing makes the WHITEST of whites, eh.

So I know that my Chanteclers have blue dilution in there some place...I would have expected to SEE maybe a Blue Partridge pattern but you know, I am still even six generations down the line, getting to know my genetics better. Rome was not built in a day and well, knowing what your birds have in them, that takes lots of time and effort, observation and keeping records. Part of the fun eh. Getting to know them better, upside down and backwards even.

This one too is a fun example and in this one...there is ONLY one allele difference...my Booted Bantams are in two varieties, the Mille de Fleur and the White colour patterns.

Day old Booted Bantams​

​

I get these two colours and boy oh boy, one of the really snazzy examples of what one dose of RECESSIVE WHITE may be expressed like...ONE ALLELE difference for such vivid different in feathers, eh.

​

It gets even more extreme in their adult feathers...

​

Girls

​

The Boys​

​

One of the flocks of Booted Bantams...

Boys and Girls...​

Purdy kewl, eh!

And NOT frightened because I now that there is one recessive white difference in the feather colour genetic makeup between many of these birds. I may breed them back and forth (minding of course the different skin colour required by the SOP words for the breed varieties; light for white feathers and dark for MDF feathers) and so why would I do that?

Well it is most fun to be able to keep one pen of a breed of birds with two varieties (twice as much eye candy in one space) AND there is a hybrid vigour benefit to the crossing of these two colour varieties. That one recessive white allele gives the birds some vigour, some benefits of being heterozygous (MDF's are C"+"/c and hide one white allele...the White's are c/c and express recessive white fully by being white feathered) which Mother Nature rewards...she likes her creatures to be varied a bit so that if something changes, the fitter ones will live onwards to survive the change. Change is our only constant, eh!

So you know, other persons like Brian Reeder suggest we can cross within a breed, the varieties and since we get to understand the inheritance of the colour genetics, we can use this crossing of colours to add hybrid vigour into our strains, especially if we have closed lines. We do not have to go for OUTSIDE NEW blood and risk brining in maybe things we do not want in our lines from new blood. Keeps the diversity up and keeps Nature rewarding our efforts with hybrid vigour for keeping things mixed instead of uniform.

I had a person with White Booted that wanted to send some on to an older fellow that had contacted us about getting some White Booteds from here in Canada. Looking over this OTHER line of White Booteds, I noted that they had wry tails (tails that bent to the side, not straight up and down like we want--misaligned spine problems) and leaked yellow pigments into the white feathers (ours eat yellow corn, greens and such, no worries, they still remain as WHITE as the new fallen snows). So those two items where things that I was not interest in introducing into my line of Booted Bantams. Because of the over the top costs of exporting the Whites to the States (icrumba, was to export nine birds and at $500 in vet fees and paperwork on our side of the border, never mind on the US side and then the cost of transport as in flying them over there, racked up to like $1,500 and even tho we were GIVING the fella the birds free of cost...was too much money for the fella), this never happened and I let this other line live out its days but never using them to breed in my own line of Booteds.

What might make others freak out over in regards to colours, becomes pretty calming and relaxed. Knowledge is power and allows you to be in the know. Mellow like...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

So here are two too easy Punnett Squares...blue dilution again...

BLACK X BLACK =

x =




​

Outcome for Black bred to Black is ... BLACK! Ratio is 100% Black (bl"+"/bl"+") or 1.

​

Same sorta one...

SPLASH X SPLASH = ​

x =




​

Splash bred to Splash = Splash. Ratio of 100% Splash (Bl/Bl) Ratio of 1.


So here is one below as the question fer yah. Not as easy as the two ones above ... Yeh, the Teach stole the two easy ones, eh.

OK...do the visual phenotype Punnett Square four outcomes for ...

Black x Splash = ????

BLACK X SPLASH = ​

x =
​

?? ??

?? ??​

For BONUS points (ha ha ha...feels like Who's Line is it Anyway...no points that matter, anyway...)...wanna say why and why not would one do a breeding of Black to Splash if the outcome you wanted was the Laced version of this colour variety?

Have FUN!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Editted - Need to clean spectacles...ha ha ha...what a set up...FIXED...away you go now...hee hee

 

[scottcaddy]

I think you get

I don't know enough about how pattern works to do the bonus.
Scott

 

[ronott1]

Since this is a thread with a lot of stories, Please consider the short story contest for the Easter Hatch a long. All of BYC is welcome to enter.

Keep the work count to 500 words and add a picture or drawing.

Contest #4: Easter or Hatching Fictional Short Story Contest
To enter, go here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...y-fiction-contest-2015-easter-hatchalong/0_50

Go here to see the other contests or to join the hatch a long:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/949763/the-6th-annual-byc-easter-hatch-a-long

 

[CanuckBock]

Since this is a thread with a lot of stories, Please consider the short story contest for the Easter Hatch a long. All of BYC is welcome to enter.

Keep the work count to 500 words and add a picture or drawing.

Contest #4: Easter or Hatching Fictional Short Story Contest
To enter, go here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...y-fiction-contest-2015-easter-hatchalong/0_50

Go here to see the other contests or to join the hatch a long:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/949763/the-6th-annual-byc-easter-hatch-a-long

Thank you for posting this Ron...I hope others take up the challenge and write up a good short story about Easter, eh.

Story contest is not open to the likes of moi...

Rule ONE...

Quote:
Me a Canuck Bock, eh...




I am not an advocate of the Hatch-a-longs Ron.

I like that you are so willing and generous with your wisdom Ron. The time and efforts you volunteer to the cause are commendable. That you singlehandedly help so many people do good by their birds is not ever in question...you are a wealth and a blessing to the Fancy.

There's Duck Stalker on the bottom left...always there, ready and able to do the photo BOMB...FTD!

​

I just don't jive with the concept of encouraging people to set eggs on mass on a timed schedule. I set eggs for when MY schedule dictates I have the available resources to responsibly care for the occupants of those eggs for their entire existences--even if they go to other humans to be cared for, I myself always feel that duty of care to make sure they are going to live a happy life because I chose to allow them to exist. If I get busy and miss the day to set the hatching eggs I thought I wanted it to start on, no matter; nobody but myself is any wiser. Pressure free and not part of a group that might put unwarranted pressure on me to time something that should be delayed till another BETTER day, eh. These are my feelings and obviously my issues...not anyone else's. Others are free to join the BYC hatch-a-longs; I am sure there is much good that happens by doing that for certain persons.

So contented and stuff, napping face plant in the starter​

Easter hatches are prior to when 14 hours of natural daylight occur for us here (that timeline runs from the middle of April to the end of August), so these hatches would require that I artificially forced the hatching of less than ideal natural conditioned for successful hatching eggs when perhaps it would be more conducive to wait until our geographical location warrants new babies to appear. Nothing says GROWTH like sunshine in June or July, warm temps and green new grass to nip with luscious lawns to play outside in the fresh air on. Everything SCREAMS good growth and prospering.

December 2013​

Yes, I am guilty of letting setty hens raise winter broods in the Duece Coop, but if I saw that I was somehow allowing less than ideal conditions for these chicks to happen that compromised their happiness, I certainly would stop that very occasional happening. None done this year, I may add. I feel that out of season winter hatching is a huge commitment reliant on me to see that it goes well.

July 14, 2014 - Chook day olds outside enjoying the natural conditions



One week later...yuppers...DUCKS and TURKEYS begin to make their appearances...
Ducks in transit to brooder area...being inspected by Fixins - Supreme Stock Dog...overseer of the flock protection squadron

Jersey Buff turkey...love the poult eyeballing..."Hi, it is ME! Here at last...gotta love me!"

I personally have very strong views about timing baby birds to hatch at Easter. Yes, I DO realize that you will not be an advocate of the live chick gruesome Easter practise of gifting live animals as a child's play thing...the baskets of new day olds at Easter auctions, combined with the bunny baskets makes me as a human being wanna tear out my hair and wear sack cloth and roll in ashes, eh! It just ALL seems too close to my animal rescue background with people buying pet store puppies because it was cute and thinking they are rescuing the dog from a bad situation only they are creating a MARKET for more of the same to happen; repeat, repeat, repeated at the cost to the animals involved in this trade. Same may be said of a "Christmas puppy," I am all for a present at Christmas that is a note that reads, "Redeemable for ONE puppy" and maybe a new collar and lead for said puppers that will be obtained at a later date...but Christmas puppies in the flesh, NO, not normally a good idea.

This is a very busy time of year for many. Here at our household, we can keep the insanity down to a dull roar during holiday seasons, but for the average person; NO, the holidays are not usually a well thought out commitment to be timed out by adding babies into the mix. Large meals for celebrations are planned, company coming and going, expecting themselves to be paid attention to, not abandoned because newborns/hatched ones are requiring well deserved attentions away from the invited guests.

I chaired the ACD Breeders' Code of Ethics committee and one of the stipulations we chose to include is that dogs should never be used as "prizes" in contests. I personally even have some issues when one auctions off live creatures...impulse buying seems to run rampant in these situations and acquiring a living being without preparation is sometimes a disaster in the making with the acquired entity being the thing that pays the ultimate cost if our judgement skills regarding our abilities is impaired. Some auctions for poultry might be just fine but the ethics and morals that involve live beasts and live birds and the destination that they end up going...well it is a fine line we walk on what is cruel and what is correct in how these are handled. I personally make any person that wants to acquire any of our creatures go thru the wringer on proving to me that they are a good responsible choice to have some of my dependents. That they can provide well for them, and the critters will be happy and kept safe by their new owners--otherwise, why send the being on if its future is less than ideal--in the case of poultry, I would sooner wring its neck humanely for consumption than find out I let them down to a life of misery or neglect because I allowed them to be owned by a bad human. Animals are considered "property" under our laws here and not everyone cares well for their "property," eh.

While I believe it is a nice thing that there is help for people by holding hatch-a-longs, the pressure to set eggs and counting thousands of eggs being set as some sort of "success" to be tallied up, no, I quite honestly do not condone that sort of thing fully. I am sure there are lots of others that are just fine with this...but I would not be true to myself if I never said my piece on this, it being my thread here and all.

Again, thanks for the Easter story contest heads up Ron.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

OK...do the visual phenotype Punnett Square four outcomes for ...

Black x Splash = ????


For BONUS points (ha ha ha...feels like Who's Line is it Anyway...no points that matter, anyway...)...wanna say why and why not would one do a breeding of Black to Splash if the outcome you wanted was the Laced version of this colour variety?

I think you get

I don't know enough about how pattern works to do the bonus.
Scott

Absolutely CORRECT! Thank you...

BLACK X SPLASH =

x =

Black bred to Splash = Blue. Ratio of 100% Blue in phenotype and 100% Bl/bl"+" in genotype; Ratio of 1.​

So before we move onwards...gonna do the two Punnett Squares I talked about but never posted the visual phenotype of...the Blue x Splash and the Blue x Black... Post those here and now in the phenotype Punnett Square so we have the VISUALS for all the blue dilution breedings (Blue x Blue, Splash x Splash, Black x Black, Blue x Splash, Blue x Black, and Black x Splash).



BLUE x SPLASH so half the kids will be the Splash and the other half will be the Blue...genotype ratio of 1:1 or 50/50 with Bl/Bl (splash) : Bl/bl"+" (blue).

BLUE X SPLASH =

x =

Blue bred to Splash = 2 Blue and 2 Splash. Ratio of 50% Blue and 50% Splash in phenotype and 50% Bl/bl"+" and 50% Bl/Bl in genotype; Ratio of 2:2 or 1:1.​

BLUE x BLACK breeding equals an outcome of half the progeny in Black and the other half will be the Blue...genotype ratio of 1:1 or 50/50 with bl"+"/bl"+" (black) : Bl/bl"+" (blue).

BLUE X BLACK =

x =

Blue bred to Black = 2 Blue and 2 Black. Ratio of 50% Blue and 50% Black in phenotype and 50% Bl/bl"+" and 50% bl"+"/bl"+" in genotype; Ratio of 2:2 or 1:1.​

And Scott, no worries about not answering the pattern question. It takes a while to realize that a Laced Blue may have issues if you don't watch it carefully. Even many of the keepers of the Laced Blues don't know what I am about to say...

So to answer...why and why not would one do a breeding of Black to Splash if the outcome you wanted was the Laced version of this colour variety?

The Self-Blue is just that...one colour of BOO...the Laced-Blue is a Self-Blue with black edged lacing around each feather. Andalusian Blue is a Laced Blue...compared to Self-Blue as found in Booted Bantams, Old & Modern Games, Dutch, Jap, d'Uccle, d'Anvers, Minorca...

The combination of genetics that give the edged lace of black in the Laced Blue is Columbian (Co), Melanotic (Ml), and the Pattern gene (Pg)...does not have to be pure (homozygous) but best if it is because impure jest means you might lose one of the vital components along the way and then POOF...there goes the lacing and it becomes a Self-Blue you are breeding...kinda OK as in some of the breeds, both Blue and Self-Blue are recognized varieites...imagine that & how it makes sense!

So you choose to breed a Black to a Splash...why would you? Well you get 100% predictable progeny, outcome is all BLUE...good right? Well sorta...there are traits you CANNOT examine in a Black and a Splash (though LacyBlue did post an awesome Splash that exhibited some lacings...very KEWL!). The items you cannot usually critique ARE the quality and presence of the LACING and the depth of the BLUE colour you will produce. So the parents are unknowns for lacing and intensity of the blue they may create...both very important factors for Laced Blues.


A Black bird is, well uh, BLACK...should NOT be any lacings on the feather edge (even if the bird HAS the full set of Co/Ml/Pg...you shouldn't be able to SEE that--a good Black chicken does not require lacing and may not have it at all and still be a GOOD BLACK chook--A black sport from blue laced breedings, sure that Black chicken may have the trio of genetics needed for lacings--but not visible as that ruins the self-black, eh) and how can you tell what quality the blue dilution will make from the black pigment...will the blue be intense...will the blue colour be washed out...how you gonna know until AFTER you breed a black to a splash and l00k at the blue babies. The babies will tell you if you chose parents that had good lacings and good blue colour when bred together...AFTER the fact...when there are babies on the ground to critique.

In a Splash, again, how do you judge the lacing on the feather, not usually there AND what kinda blue colour will come from either of the double dose of blue dilution...you don't KNOW until you are looking at the end results...sounds a tad risky...leap of faith that could be good...but until you do it, no real way to know, right?


So while a Black x Splash gives one ALL Blue kids (no sports as in Splashes or Blacks if your objective is to produce the Blues)...the quality of the blue and the lacing (if even there??) cannot be easily judged in the parent stocks. You could literally be breeding Black to Splash thinking...:"Heh heh heh... I am SO smart because I am not making anything but the BLUES!" but the Blues you produce could be not the quality you would want. Make sense?


Now often it is suggested when someone says that their Blue Laced birds are not as an intense blue as they want...getting too pale for their personal tastes....what they are often told is to go get a Black (not from their own sports off their Blue matings...a different Black altogether...so NEW blood in a Black bird). I just posted a reply like that on The Coop yesterday.

If the intensity of the blue colour is weakening...in reality, what people may be doing is selecting away from firmer textured blue lace feathered birds. Usually a female that has a softer feather will also have the opportunity to use up less resources to make her eggs...she is better insulated against variations in hot and cold conditions, so not wasting resources on keeping herself at the ideal temperature...then she can take those resources she is not wasting on keeping herself in an ideal state temperature wise and use those resources to produce MORE eggs. Because she produces MORE eggs than the firmer feathered females, she then may influence the whole flock by having her offspring grow more numerous in numbers in the flock. The Fancier suddenly loses the intensity of desired blue colour because the flock is getting a progressively softer feather--the soft feathered gals are taking over the place...conquering their WORLD--world domination plot at its finest!

Firm feather exhibits a nice intense blue and has to be continuously selected for.

Suggesting to someone to get a new Black chook to breed into their Blue Laced flock to fix less intense blue...also risks the continued existence of the Blue Laced flock in future generations, to lose that laced edging wanted in Laced Blues. If the Laced Blues have pure Co/Ml/Pg and are crossed on the Black that has pure co"+"/ml"+"/pg"+" ...the resulting progeny may still have the visual phenotype look of laced edging... F1's that are Co/co"+", Ml/ml"+", Pg/pg"+" may STILL express good lacing in this impure or heterozygous form...it is in the next generation, the F2's that could be dropping the Co, Ml and/or Pg entirely and TADA...more issues than a less intense blue happens from breeding to that ONE Black with no lacing combination of genetics in them. Now you lost the edged black lacing...

Breeding blue poultry is not easy peasy...there is a whole host of things to be mindful of. Beautiful in the Laced variety...beauty too in the Self colour expression also. But not just for the casual person that has no want to produce numbers of offspring to get the desired results. We here keep back the top three percent as breeding prospects and don't have any blue dilutions (yet?) that we are messing about with in a serious sense. That may change, it may...

This gal is a Laced Blue...there is blue dilution in one dose, Melantoic and Columbian with the Pattern gene (explains the dark edging), Barring...(the combo of Pg and B are what I think is making the starbursts at the bottom end of her feathers) along with recessive blacks (lookit the dark iris pigment...just oozes blackness). ​

Took these pics yesterday...last years hatches of young bantam (commonwealth or UK styled) Partridge Brahmas...narrowed it down to six gals and five guys.

See the peacomb breast ridge in the cockerel on the right...​

Posted this piccy to show that feature...genetic expectation with pea comb breeds (even shows up in Chants cushion combs too) ...Lookit the Cornish breed's one...tis a breed feature, eh.

I've named the cockerel Harry (princely, eh?) but not chosen a name for the pullet beside him.​

She's a sweety and laying the biggest egg of the pullets in her pen...

​

Utter Goofuses...you can tell they are young, into checking out everything and anything...
​

Busy busy, er NOT! The cockerel on the right is like sound asleep...two speeds; ON or OFF!

Now ponder adding a single dose of blue dilution eh to the Partridge pattern...and your mind wants to EXPLODE at the potentials...hmm, what will a Splash Partridge l00k like...uhmmmmm....

​

Blue Partridge Chanteclers...Got blue in the Standards already.....hmmmm....marvelous...oh the many projects you could jump to...yeh...could...but should one??

​

Once you sorta understand what you are up against, you can embrace the challenge and do well by it. Of particular note...since a Blue x Blue breeding only ever nets you a fifty percent rate of Blue progeny, right off the blocks you gotta be aware you are going to be one of those persons that has exponential poultry math in play. Half the kids are not the right exhibition outcome...if Blue is the desired results.

Twice as many offspring to produce the desired outcome as many other varieties face.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

So thought I would start up a little mini-series here about the poultry breeds and varieties we choose to keep here at Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta, Canada...much of this information I am harvesting off our website, of which you are free to go to and peruse as you so wish.

http://www.wolven.ca/higgins/ratranch/


These are the creatures we keep...

LANDFOWL:
BANTAM Chickens - Brahmas (Buff, Dark, Light, Partridge), Wyandottes (White, Silver Laced, Golden Laced, Barred), Booteds (White and Mille de Fleur), & Chanteclers (White, self-Buff, Partridge, Black).
STANDARD Chickens - Chanteclers (Partridge, Buff, RedOrangeClay, & White).

Heritage TURKEYS: Wishard Bronze, Red Bronze, Blue Bronze (Red/Bronze Slate/Fawn), Red Blue Bronze, Blue Slate, Rusty Black, Dilute Rusty Black, Narragansett, Jersey Buff, JB Grey downed, Bourbon Red, Lilac, White & antiquity heritage Sweetgrass/Ronquière [Black, Red & White (Desert Palm/Sweetgrass tricolour/Yellow-shouldered Ronquière), Black & White (Royal Palm BLACK patterned Ronquière Jaspee), and Red & White (Royal Palm RED patterned Ronquière Fauve)].

PHEASANTS: Red Golden & Silver.


WATERFOWL:
DUCKS: Calls (24 varieties), East Indies, Mandarins (White & Wild), Crested Ducks (Grey, White, Black, & Black bibbed), Australian Spotted, Dutch Hookbills, & Appleyards.

GEESE: Buff, Buff Pied, & Buff Tufted American.

DUCK/GOOSE: Ruddy Shelduck/goose.

SWANS: Australian Black.


Registered: Australian Cattle Dogs, Jacob Sheep, Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats, & Llamas. Pond Fish.



That is a mess of critters...so let's get started with the chickens first then...no confusion in regards to that EGG thing either about which is first now...

Chickens
​

Here at Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, we proudly raise HERITAGE chickens. When we call our birds "heritage" we mean they conform to the heritage definition as per the Livestock Conservancy (quoted below), not just something we dreamt up! Heritage Chickens are natural mating, have long productive outdoor lifespans, and slow growth rates PLUS heritage chicken breeds must also conform to the American Poultry Association Standard (A.P.A.) to be deemed "heritage." For chicken eggs to be titled "heritage," they must be produced from heritage chicken breeds. Do note, we do produce some "varieties" of chickens that are not currently recognized by A.P.A. (such as Partridge Brahmas, self-Buff and the Red Orange Clay Chanteclers) but they are varieties from breeds that are recognized by A.P.A.


http://www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/heritage-chicken:

BOOTED BANTAMS​

Varieties we keep here are the Mille de Fleur and White.

​

Booted Bantams are recognized by ABA (American Bantam Association) in the following varieties:

Black, Blue, Buff, Golden Neck, Grey, Mille Fleur, Mottled, Porcelain, Self Blue, and White.​

Booted Bantam chicks​

In the 17th Century, the Booted Bantam was brought to Holland from Burma or South China.

Booteds have feathered legs with an alert, upright and stately carriage, these single combed bantams lay nice brown eggs and make good setty mothers.

Nix, our very first Booted Bantam in White​

White - Popular in days of old, the White Booted is very rare in North America.

In the spring of 2008, we were approached by a gentleman in the States that had been looking for White Booteds since the 1960's and without any success, thought he would have to import them from Europe. We told him we would breed some up and bred up nine birds to give to him.

Dr. Roy Crawford (the editor of the poultry "bible" Poultry Breeding and Genetics) advised us that our whites were most likely recessive white (c/c) and this has proven in practice to be the case.

White Feathered Booted females with dark skin​

The dark skinned ones are Id and hypothesized to be Fm like the Silkie and the Ayam Cemani (ours are black right from the skin down to their very bones and organs).

Breeder White feathered but dark skinned female on left, Exhibition White feathered with light skinned female on right​

Quite the vivid contrast to see white feathers and such dark pigments in combination. These Whites with dark skin are not SOP compliant for the White variety and are for breeding the one dose of recessive white into the MDF stock (which are to have dark pigmented skin to be SOP compliant).

White Booted Bantam Day Old Chick
July 2008​

This Booted above has the SOP compliant light skin wanted in the White Variety.


Dr. W. Clive Carefoot worked with recessive white and theorized that one might be able to visually distinguish recessive white carriers. The Booteds that carry recessive white, show white in their primaries and tail feathers.

MDF's that are heterozygous for recessive white ​

​

Old time poultry fancier (back from the days of poultry "stringmen") Mr. Gordon Ridler told me that they always liked to see White feathered sports in their Booted MDF breedings, that this told them that they had all the right "stuff" in their flock. What Mr. Ridler could not tell me is the actual "genetics;" that this was the expression of recessive white, which gives the MDF Booted its brilliant top coat.

​

Mille de Fleur - This pattern is recognized as a breed originating in Germany (originally named Gold Porcelaines), The Mille de Fleur name was established by the Belgian Specialty Club and means thousands of flowers.

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Booted Bantam Chicken Eggs
Booted Bantams lay surprisingly large eggs

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Temperament wise, the Booteds are very sure of themselves. Although our smallest bantam, nobody messes with the Booteds!

Setty White female Booted...
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We have golf balls on the floor of the Duece Coop for "fake eggs" and well, this gal decided that GOLF BALL needed to be hatched (make more??)

Lookit the attitude...yeh, watch out, Momma ALERT!

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Hmmm...wonder how many days it takes of incubation to hatch a golf ball, eh?

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Just about as determined a mother as our Bantam Brahmas...

The Booteds lay surprisingly large eggs for their size, make incredibly good setty mothers (some setty MDF hens remind one of a patterned tea cosy, all puffed up!), and are a really regal edition to anyone's flock.

White Booted cockerel blending in with the concrete duck statues in the bird yard last summer ​

Booted Bantams are one of the few breeds where the Standards request that they possess vulture hocks.

Vulture hocks on a MDF Booted Bantam; Vulture hocks have feathers like WING feathers in texture​

This photo also helps you remember which pigment is the speediest...first NO pigment (white), then OK, pigment that shows up is black (eumelanin) and then the red (phaeomelanin).

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I would not consider the Booted Bantams to be a dual purpose bird as they are slim structured and not meaty. Rooster "BQ" is quite safe sittin' on a bucket.

Day olds from 2014 hatching season
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The MDF's Booted Bantams here are based on eb and e"+".

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eb Brown in bottom chick / e"+" duckwing in top chick

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Most interesting occurrence, my Half/Half cockerel! He showed up in the first hatch of 2014...been enjoying him ever since. Best we can conclude, his skin colouration is probably due to mottling in the variety.

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Kewlest thing ever...kewl kewl, and did I say, KEWL??

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Love how his feets could not make up their mind...to be light or dark...so be BOTH!

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Half and Half - Nov 2014​

Cockerels from the 2014 breeding season
Dark pigmented skin and light pigmented skin (half/half dozing in center), feather colour of MDF or White​

So that be that on the topic of the Booted Bantams.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Having a nice string of warm weather...

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Stuff is a melting and fast...

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The Chinook winds have been helping too

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But still some snow coverage, rumour has it maybe snow for next week...perhaps?

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Melting in lots of areas...bit of frozen in the morning. Don't seem to bother the Red Golden males though.

So much warmth outside that...we had the first BQ of 2015 out on the Man Porch.

Rick called, said he was coming on home and had bought some cheapy white hotdog and hamburger buns...I said I would boil up some of the overflowing pullet eggs we have been getting and fix up a potato salad, cold beans and cottage cheese...

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Food is prepared and ready for BQing on the Man Porch

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Best meal on the planet...dogs and burgers...means we are home, on the Man Porch and enjoying Pear-A-Dice


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Been laughing at the dogs...

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The ordeal they hafta negotiate is sloppy melting.

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Belly bathing themselves to stay cool in the unseasonably warm temperatures.

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Yes, indeed, March is being middle of the road, a lamb half way thru...wonder if we need to be afraid of that LION come month end, eh?

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[perchie.girl]

@CanuckBock

Could there be perhaps another option for your "half and half" Roo? Like Chimera-ism? Seen it in horses. Some horses that are brindle can often times have two different sets of DNA.


http://americashorsedaily.com/one-in-a-million-part-2/#.VQH9meEYO-c


""Dunbars Gold, a 1996 brindle stallion by Two D Nine and out of Outa Chiggers by Outa Utopia. Genetic testing has shown the horse to be an extremely rare chimera, an individual with two DNA types.""

But Chimeraism comes in many animals even humans and plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)

very interesting stuff.

Hey do your black skinned hens have black meat?

deb