Are they Cream colored?

[sekeyslaks]

I was looking at how my Buff Orp/EE chicks have been growing and I just noticed that my "white" chicks have been getting progressively more yellowish tones in their feathers! Which makes sense cause when they were born they were a very very light creamy gold color until they dried and looked white again.Even now you can barely tell the yellow is there!So is their color actually Cream or something different?

 

[redranger209]

To me they look white just yellowed feathers. They all look like cockerels too.

 

[sekeyslaks]

To me they look white just yellowed feathers. They all look like cockerels too.

Is there another way their feathers could have been yellowed other than natural coloring?

 

[sawilliams]

They are really cute. I can see the cream color you are talking about.

 

[nicalandia]

It makes sense, but they are not genetically autosomal cream "ig/ig" but they are cockerels that are genetically "Golden" The father is sex linked recessive gold based s+/s+ and the mother is sex linked dominant Silver based (S/-) that makes the cockerels S/s+ that will give them a "Lemon/Cream" color, the pullets from such cross will be Buff colored, a bit darker than the roosters.

The reason you see them "almost White" and some faint cream colors is first due to the columbian restrictors found on Buff Orps, they "resctrict" all of the black colored feathers to the very end of the body(think how RIR looks, black tail red) but in the case of buff breeds the restriction is so powerful that no black feathers is left in the body only the gold based feathers, making them all buff colored, but the reason they are buff colored and not red colored is the lack of red enhancers and the presence of gold diluters(Di, Cb) when you cross a buff breed like your rooster to the type of hen on the picture(I see a silver based, eb/eb based partridge hen with no other mutation that will alter the otherwise wildtype phenotype) you will get chicks that hatch cream/yellow and that will be very restricted when they start feathering out, very little black will be present at the end of the fly wings and probably a black feathers, but the body will be Golden/Pale yellow for the roosters and buff colored for the females.

From the looks of the picture the hen genetic code is is eb/eb co+/co+ di+/di+ cb+/cb+ S/- and the rooster is eWh/eWh, Co/Co, Di/Di, Cb/Cb s+/s+ , the result of such cross is eWh/eb, Co/co+, Di/di+, Cb/cb+ S/s+ for cockerels and eWh/eb, Co/co+, Di/di+, Cb/cb+ s+/- for pullets, making the pullets black tailed buff and the males black tailed golden, when they mature the breast will likely stay almost white but the hackle, saddle and shoulders will likely be Yellow/cream colored

You can confirm that with the chicken calculator using the codes I gave or using the reference phenotype:
http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

outcross outcome using the calculator that results on the same phenotypes and genotypes I mentioned

 

[sekeyslaks]

It makes sense, but they are not genetically autosomal cream "ig/ig" but they are cockerels that are genetically "Golden" The father is sex linked recessive gold based s+/s+ and the mother is sex linked dominant Silver based (S/-) that makes the cockerels S/s+ that will give them a "Lemon/Cream" color, the pullets from such cross will be Buff colored, a bit darker than the roosters.

The reason you see them "almost White" and some faint cream colors is first due to the columbian restrictors found on Buff Orps, they "resctrict" all of the black colored feathers to the very end of the body(think how RIR looks, black tail red) but in the case of buff breeds the restriction is so powerful that no black feathers is left in the body only the gold based feathers, making them all buff colored, but the reason they are buff colored and not red colored is the lack of red enhancers and the presence of gold diluters(Di, Cb) when you cross a buff breed like your rooster to the type of hen on the picture(I see a silver based, eb/eb based partridge hen with no other mutation that will alter the otherwise wildtype phenotype) you will get chicks that hatch cream/yellow and that will be very restricted when they start feathering out, very little black will be present at the end of the fly wings and probably a black feathers, but the body will be Golden/Pale yellow for the roosters and buff colored for the females.

From the looks of the picture the hen genetic code is is eb/eb co+/co+ di+/di+ cb+/cb+ S/- and the rooster is eWh/eWh, Co/Co, Di/Di, Cb/Cb s+/s+ , the result of such cross is eWh/eb, Co/co+, Di/di+, Cb/cb+ S/s+ for cockerels and eWh/eb, Co/co+, Di/di+, Cb/cb+ s+/- for pullets, making the pullets black tailed buff and the males black tailed golden, when they mature the breast will likely stay almost white but the hackle, saddle and shoulders will likely be Yellow/cream colored

You can confirm that with the chicken calculator using the codes I gave or using the reference phenotype:
http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

View attachment 1380346

outcross outcome using the calculator that results on the same phenotypes and genotypes I mentioned

View attachment 1380347

This was very informative,thanks so much! So if I am understanding you correctly the chicks aren't a true Cream,just a diluted Yellow/Gold on account of the hens silver gene?Does this make them a sex-link?Also although it doesn't show in the picture the hen on the left has a red breast,so I think she also has a sneaky red gene to go with her silver.Do you think the chicks will show some red leakage as they mature because of this?

 

[nicalandia]

Do you think the chicks will show some red leakage as they mature because of this?

Highly unlikely, due to the many genes in the buff orp sire that are working against it

 

[sekeyslaks]

Highly unlikely, due to the many genes in the buff orp sire that are working against it

Oooh good I like the idea of them turning a golden cream color with the minimal black.That will be beautiful!

 

[nicalandia]

Oooh good I like the idea of them turning a golden cream color with the minimal black.That will be beautiful!

Please post pics as they grow up as this would help us alot

 

[sekeyslaks]

Please post pics as they grow up as this would help us alot

If anyone wants to see their pictures go to my thread "newly hatched chicks" in Pictures and stories!I update with pictures every Tuesday to show their progress.