A Couple of Questions

[sunstruckpebbles]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to BYC and I've seen a lot of helpful posts from experienced users, so I've decided to make a thread with a couple of big questions that I can't really find the answers to on Google. I hope this is the right board for that - if not, please redirect me

I don't know if this is a dumb question or entirely ridiculous, but all the same: if you breed a chicken of a certain breed, can its characteristics/genes resurface many generations later, even if those generations are no longer purebred? I've noticed that a lot of certain, distinctive looks have repeated over and over in my flock, even when their parents didn't necessarily look anything like them but, say, their grandparents or great-grandparents might've. I also have quite a few chickens that have shocking resemblance to certain chicken breeds, but I know for a fact that they're not purebred because all chickens bred by myself are cross/mixed breeds.

An example of that is our current rooster; he's much larger and stockier than any of our previous roosters, and he looks a LOT like the 'Bielefelder Kennhuhn' breed's roosters. Is there any way that his appearance is due to having that breed, or some other similar breed, in his lineage? It seems like a bit of a stretch to think that, but neither of his parents looked anything like him (though I can see how them mixed together could result in the likes of him), and he just has so much resemblance to Bielefelder roosters that I feel like it'd be too much of a coincidence for him to look as similar as he does to those, and have the same characteristics. I know that Bielefelders are a rare breed, though, so at the same time it seems highly unlikely...

However, we also have another young chicken from the same mother that looks exactly like a Bielefelder chicken. At first I thought she probably had Welsummer in her because she is quite similar to those, but her colours aren't as saturated (a bit bluer and softer), which makes her look just like a Bielefelder. One of our old roosters also looked like these.

If there's no chance of them looking like they do due to Bielefelder genes, does anyone know how exactly it is that similar appearances/looks repeat with no apparent pattern in random chickens of my flock? Is it because of carried genes showing themselves in certain chickens or something? I'm clueless when it comes to genetics, haha (though I'd absolutely LOVE to learn all about chicken genetics), so any help on the topic would be appreciated

Sorry for rambling, it's one of my strengths... Attached I have images of one of our former roosters, our current rooster, and the chicken who bears resemblance to that of a Bielefelder respectively. (Hopefully, anyway - if they'll post in order! By the way; I have no idea how to put images directly into my post instead of having them attached, so if anyone could let me know how, that'd be a huge help!)

Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!

 

[sunstruckpebbles]

Also, here are the parents (I believe) of the current rooster in question:

 

[Kusanar]

Genetics are crazy and chickens have a ton of variables, but it is totally possible for recessive genes to hide for generations only to pop out when lease expected.

Chicken genetics calculator: https://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

 

[sunstruckpebbles]

Genetics are crazy and chickens have a ton of variables, but it is totally possible for recessive genes to hide for generations only to pop out when lease expected.

Chicken genetics calculator: https://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

I'm about 99% sure that they have Bielefelder in them now, because we purchased a few pullets and older chickens a couple of years ago and one of the pullets (that later turned out to be a rooster, lol) looked just like a Biefelder as well; he was also exceptionally taller than most of our chickens and very strong and sturdy, which I believe is the typical build of them. I talked to my mum about my assumptions yesterday and she told me that she remembers the old owners of those chickens actually noting at some point that 'they have the German breed ____ in them.' (She's forgotten what the breed they said was called, but she 100% remembers that it was a German one). Given all of this I'm pretty sure that a lot of our current chickens are descended from Bielefelders! I'm so excited about this because they're a beautiful breed and I'd love to see more of our future chickens look like them <3

Thank you for linking the calculator! I'll check it out

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

There are many mixed breeds that appear similar to Bielefelders. The Calico Princess and Rainbow Rangers right off top of my head. Having raised Bielefelders in the past, I'm not seeing any traits that make me assume them. They look like a mix of barred and solid colored birds. Their parents also don't look like Bielefelders, the hen almost looks to be part partridge perhaps, I believe I'm seeing pencilling. I just think the mixture of a barred rooster on that hen happened to make a mix that looks vaguely similar

 

[sunstruckpebbles]

There are many mixed breeds that appear similar to Bielefelders. The Calico Princess and Rainbow Rangers right off top of my head. Having raised Bielefelders in the past, I'm not seeing any traits that make me assume them. They look like a mix of barred and solid colored birds. Their parents also don't look like Bielefelders, the hen almost looks to be part partridge perhaps, I believe I'm seeing pencilling. I just think the mixture of a barred rooster on that hen happened to make a mix that looks vaguely similar

Thanks for the feedback! What traits can identify a Bielefelder, exactly? I've searched online but had no luck - only found that they're big meat birds, have big brown eggs, etc.

I looked up the birds you mentioned, but they don't seem that similar to mine, to be honest? They do bear similarities, but neither seemed to have both the hen and the rooster matching my chook and roo perfectly. I don't know anything about them, though, so I could be wrong.

 

[Kusanar]

but neither seemed to have both the hen and the rooster matching my chook and roo perfectly.

You admit that yours are mixed breeds, why would you assume that your birds would match any breed perfectly?

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

The color just isn't quite right and looks like many other mixed chickens I have seen on this forum with no traits that make me assume Bielefelder. There are plenty of other large chickens that lay brown eggs. To figure out what breeds they could be, look at the chickens that are the closest to not being mixed, the parents. Like I said, she could potentially be part something partridge, maybe Partridge Rock and the rooster probably part Barred Rock

 

[sunstruckpebbles]

You admit that yours are mixed breeds, why would you assume that your birds would match any breed perfectly?

They are - I simply thought that because they so closely resemble the breed, they might have it in their lineage. I've been trying to discover the exact patterning/genes of our current rooster for ages and just haven't found anything with the exact same kind of colouration, patterns etc..

I didn't know that a bird can look so similar to that of a different breed if both aren't descended from similar breeds - I know that Bielefelders were developed from various others (like Wyandotte etc., if I remember correctly), and I don't have any similar combinations in the lineages of my chickens, so I considered that they might look like this because of Bielefelder. Chicken genetics are wild, though, so I'm guessing there must be ways to create a similar-looking chicken through a different combination of breeds.

 

[sunstruckpebbles]

The color just isn't quite right and looks like many other mixed chickens I have seen on this forum with no traits that make me assume Bielefelder. There are plenty of other large chickens that lay brown eggs. To figure out what breeds they could be, look at the chickens that are the closest to not being mixed, the parents. Like I said, she could potentially be part something partridge, maybe Partridge Rock and the rooster probably part Barred Rock

I know the father is from the very first rooster I posted - I don't know anything about him, since he's the one we purchased from different people, but he could be part Barred Rock. Not sure about the girl since it was a while ago, but her mother was Rhode Island Red x Barnevelder/Rhode Island Red (we have one pure Rhode Island Red and two crosses). I think her dad was another Barnevelder. Not sure how that could create how she looks, so I might be wrong. Her pattern does look like that of a partridge - she might have that in her.

Sorry for the lengthy posts, I'm pretty knew to all of this - I've never really bothered with the breeds of my chickens, lol. Thanks for helping me!