B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[pysankigirl]

dang...dilute is a dominant gene. so how do you breed out the recessives? is there a prescribed way?

 

[ki4got]

Quote: yeah i chopped all the rabbit genetics, LOL.

birds and mammals are opposite. the hen determines the sex, thus has the XY (normally shown x/- in birds) the silver is carried on the X gene, so since a hen only has one, she can only show what's there. so it'll either be S (silver) or s+ (red).

yes the dilute, silver and blue are dominant. actually the majority of chicken mutations are dominant over the wild type. blue and silver are also both co-dominant, so have a 'step effect', where B/B or S/S will be the lightest (splash or silver), with only 1 copy of the gene somewhere in the middle. BUT the difference between them being, silver is sex linked, so the 'inbetween' can only show up in the rooster. plus blue only affects black pigments not red, silver affects red pigments, not black.

the dilute gene is also dominant, but appears the same as heterozygous or homozygous, so test breeding would need to be done to tell if it's 'split' or not. it also restricts red pigments, but not to the extent silver does. melanizing is also a dominant gene, but seems to vary in it's appearance, depending on what other mutations are present. there may also be other melanizing mutations present as well in the coloreds, possibly including charcoal. IMO the melanizing gene in dorkings intensifies the hackle striping and black tips on the breast of the hens, while the charcoal may be responsible for the black head and darkening of the body/back/wing feathers. I have one hen (i've posted her before i think) that is a standard silver grey in every way, but she has a black head. her mother was a colored from sandhill lines (possibly not pure colored but mixed with red) and her sire a silver grey. she has NO heavy hackle striping or breast tips, but does have a very black head. test breeding her to a silver grey, i'm anticipating that i'll get 50/50 black headed without any dark hackles at all.

to eliminate the dilute, simply breed her to a red. you'll get some dilute/blue some dilute/black, red/blue and red/black... presuming she's heterozygous for all of that...

keep the ones you like, cull the rest. if you're looking for red/blue, that would be what i'd use, with a nice red roo.

if i missed something let me know... take it private if you want, to spare everyone else the non-sop headaches. LOL

 

[ki4got]

dang...dilute is a dominant gene. so how do you breed out the recessives? is there a prescribed way?

test breeding would be the only way i can think of to eliminate a recessive... breed a possibly split bird to a mate of whatever the recessive variety is. so if you WANT dilute, say for example, and don't know if it's pure or split, breed it to a red. if it's split, you'll get 50/50. if it's not, you'll get 100% dilute... or just don't worry about it and if you get a red now and then, you'll know both birds are heterozygous.

 

[abmaddox1981]

I am planning to get Silver Gray Dorkings.....just as soon as I find a breeder who isn't sold out! Lol. If y'all can help me out, that'd be awesome!

 

[abmaddox1981]

Sooooo.....My usband just ordered my silver gray dorkings! 21 little babies should be here between the 27th and 30th of this month!!! WOO HOO!

 

[kimberly35042]

Aww...congratulations. My group received in February are getting their big kid feathers. They are a true joy to be around. You'll love them.

 

[abmaddox1981]

They are sooo pretty! We ordered from mcmurray hatchery, and they were UBER nice! my genius husband was planning to surprise me when they got here, but he left his debit card here. So therefore, he had to call me and have me call them to make the payment. I was like, "Nice, honey." What's their personality like? We plan to divide them up into chicken tractors instead of building (yet another) coop.

Aww...congratulations. My group received in February are getting their big kid feathers. They are a true joy to be around. You'll love them.

 

[kimberly35042]

These are also McMurray, and I had a great experience with their customer service department. My box must have gotten chilled, and I lost quite a few of the 25+freebie including the freebie. I only ended up with 11.

As far as personality, I swear they purr.

 

[ki4got]

These are also McMurray, and I had a great experience with their customer service department. My box must have gotten chilled, and I lost quite a few of the 25+freebie including the freebie. I only ended up with 11.

As far as personality, I swear they purr.

i'll agree, the dorkings have the best personality tho i find chicks tend to be a bit spazzoid. once i turn them loose to free range, things turn around and all of a sudden they're following me EVERYWHERE. can't say the tractor thing, mine didn't like it at all, but then again, i also free range as much as possible so they get used to being loose.

 

[BGMatt]

Those look really nice, especially for hatchery birds, that's always a nice surprise. How is their weight coming along? They look like they're about the same size as the ones I got from Urch in late Feb.