ID'ing chick colors - UPDATE Post #7

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TurtleFeathers

TurtleFeathers

Fear the Turtle!
15 Years
Jan 9, 2009
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By the Chesapeake Bay
Hi all -

Here are a couple EE/silkie crosses that I hatched in July - the EE hens were silver duckwing, blue wheaten, or partridge, and the silkie roos were blue, grey and blue partridge. I have no white or cuckoo birds, so the colors of these birds have thrown me for a loop!

Is this barring? Or will this one probably molt into something totally different down the road?

20890_barring1.jpg


And THIS chick - well, lets just say, if you draw a line from the tip of her beak, straight down her spine to her tail, and divide her in half - her right side is feathering in totally white, but her left side has random black feather patches. This isn't what I've seen referred to as a "paint", is it?

20890_paint_1.jpg


20890_paint_2.jpg


Any thoughts or comments are welcome!

Thanks -
 
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The first chick is probably autosomally barred, which is a specific combination of genes (Pg & Db).

The 2nd indeed may be paint--are the black feathers completely black--not mixed white and black on a single feather?
 
Pattern gene (Pg) as in partridge & grey silkies gives a barring effect in juvenile plumage.

The second chick could be 'split' for dominant white. We have some hybrid chickens called 'California Whites' which were said to be crosses of white leghorns (dominant white), & California Greys (no idea about their genotype). These 'California Whites' are mostly white with patches of black; a lot larger black patches than black leakage than I'd previously seen from a white leghorn X.
 
Ok, so I take it the first bird is a partridge or more likely a grey (as in silkies), but with hard feathers, correct? The chicken genetics calculator appears to think that the silver duckwing EE was the mother, and the father was probably either my blue partridge silkie roo or my grey silkie roo.

Shoot... I was hoping for some kind of hidden cuckoo gene...

Now as for this other chick... I have no idea as to the genetic background on my EE's, but I CAN say that so far, none of my silkies have produced white in their offspring. These are the first eggs I've hatched from my EE's. So, if this is a "split to" dominant white situation, does that mean that only one parent has to carry it to produce offspring of that color? I thought dominant genes were "in your face" type genes, whereas they couldn't be "carried"?

And what's the difference (genetically) between the California white and the paint?

And yes, Sonoran, the black feathers are completely black - quill and all. Its similar to a pied cockatiel, whereas the effect creates contrasting patches of feathers. But why would it only show up on the left side of the bird???

Thanks again -
 
Some EE birds have dominant white though they can be red & white. If crossed wth a blue or black bird the offspring would be white with leakage.
I don't know all of the genotype of our California White hybrids just that they are het. dominant white on black & some have rather large black patches. I have never seen het dominant white have large black patches before. Previously I've only seen it look like little black flecks.
 
Just a note on the first bird it can be called ither barred or dark.
Like dark Brahma verses barred rock. I think in this case it is a barred but looks more darkish.
 
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Well, here we are, 3 months later, and those chicks above look like this now:

20890_hawkeyedotty.jpg


Dorothy is the white pullet with black flecks, and she looks pretty much the same as she did 3 months ago. Can anyone tell me how to duplicate her color?

Hawkeye, the multicolored cockerel, is a patchwork of color and patterns - I know he doesn't have his full adult plumage, but he's definitely NOT what I was expecting at all! In the right light, his black feathers are purple, and the barring in his chick feathers is being replaced with solid red and somewhat laced red and cream feathers. He also has a single red spot in his otherwise cream crest. Does this color/pattern have a name? Other than "hodge-podge", I mean? I just can't figure out what's going on with him, genetically speaking...

Any comments and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 

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