Barred + Mottled + Lavender Thread

[Capricoco]

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They're laying the prettiest glossy blue eggs and I'm looking forward to setting my first hatch this week.

How’s the project going so far?

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

How’s the project going so far?

I was just thinking I really should get out there and get some photos! As expected, I've had a huge range in the phenotype of the chicks. I'm finding myself most attracted to the black mottled/barred chicks, the wildtype ones are...not appealing to me and I have none that are wildtype + mottled and only one that is wildtype + barred. So far all that are mottled+barred are single barred so there really is zero sexual dimorphism on that front.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Side note, I found these Australian Houdans that I believe to be cuckoo+mottled.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

First photo is the two decent double barred boys, one mottled and one recessive for mottled, second photo is a couple of backup single barred+mottled boys and a barred cream wildtype pullet that soars to be recessive for mottling.

The double barred boys will be bred to both Houdan and cream Legbar hens. I don't have any lavender Legbar girls this year so I'll have to wait to suss out that trait unless I go for real mongrels (why not) and breed the double barred mottled boy to my lavender legbar/leghorn crosses.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

This project is coming along well. This would be f3 of this project, I suppose. Here's some of the lavender cohort. I'm loving seeing this dilution on all the other patterns--duckwing, barred and mottled in all sorts of combos.

The one up front has almost everything I'm looking for in the Houdan project... white skin, great feet, v-comb. Weeding out lots of yellow skin and single combs, still... looking for the elusive beard and muff.

Also have traditional 55 Flowery chicks, probably cream, female and males.

Of course, huge range of "details" as far as comb, skin color, feet etc. It will be challenging picking out which patterns I want to pursue from here, but my 4 hens are laying like gangbusters and the hatch rate is excellent so I'm just gonna keep going.

Here's the breeding pen these wound up coming from: Two f1 cuckoo hens, an f2 cuckoo hen, an f2 "Ancobar" hen and a single barred "Ancobar" cock.

Replacing this boy is a top priority, I will probably keep working with the cuckoo hens on the next generation. May pass the mottled pullet to a new home with Buttercup boy, here. They're a nice looking pair, could be good for someone wanting to go back in the mottled Legbar direction.

 

[NatJ]

looking for the elusive beard and muff.

Is it just that beard & muff is not showing up in the birds that have the right other traits?
I see it on at least two of the females in the breeding pen you showed.

Muff/beard is a dominant trait, so if you breed two birds with clean faces you will get offspring with clean faces too. (I see that you mentioned plans to keep working with the cuckoo hens on the next generation, so that obviously gives a chance of getting bearded/muffed chicks.)

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Is it just that beard & muff is not showing up in the birds that have the right other traits?
I see it on at least two of the females in the breeding pen you showed.

Muff/beard is a dominant trait, so if you breed two birds with clean faces you will get offspring with clean faces too. (I see that you mentioned plans to keep working with the cuckoo hens on the next generation, so that obviously gives a chance of getting bearded/muffed chicks.)

Beard/muff is a weak spot in even my pure Houdan line unfortunately, I guess that's what I had in mind when I wrote that. Some of these will definitely have this trait, that little duckwing chick is looking very promising for example and the two v-comb lavender chicks looking straight at the camera might as well.

Feather picking from boredom might be at play in not seeing good expression in the ones that do have beards... they're overdue to being promoted to the outdoor brooder due to weather. I find that I'm much more cautious and worrying with these things when each bird is literally 1-in-100 (or more!)

Especially after losing my two preferred cockerels last year!

 

[kurby22]

Super interesting project! I love the look of your little F3s!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Really happy with how this generation is coming along. I hatched over 100 chicks from this pen this spring and got solid pairs for probably 8 different phenotypes. Think I'm going to go with a general black based lavender pen, a black cuckoo and "ancobar" marking pen, and a duckwing pen that will include both cream (no undiluted gold that I've seen!) and Isabella birds.

I did wind up selling off the more Legbar-like birds and we're selecting for v combs, beards and muff, white skin/shanks, and good 5th toes.

Only a handful of birds have it all, but since all of these traits tend to be fairly dominant I definitely feel like the breeding groups I'm putting together could get there in the next generation.

(These are legit giving me better feet than hatchery Houdans in many instances )