Basics of blues...

[Egghead_Jr]

Don't breed pullet #1. It is a single comb sport. Or my eyes are deceiving me. Rose comb is dominant. Birds with one copy of rose show rose. Any single comb sports should not be bred as you'd just be perpetuating a problem that should be weeded out of the line.

Where did you get these birds?

There is a thread on Blue Laced Wyandottes you should check out and post in.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/blue-laced-red-wyandotte-thread.466415/

 

[Rlmp817]

Don't breed pullet #1. It is a single comb sport. Or my eyes are deceiving me. Rose comb is dominant. Birds with one copy of rose show rose. Any single comb sports should not be bred as you'd just be perpetuating a problem that should be weeded out of the line.

Where did you get these birds?

There is a thread on Blue Laced Wyandottes you should check out and post in.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/blue-laced-red-wyandotte-thread.466415/

I noticed that too. I will cull her from the line.
They were from a reputable breeder, but picked up third party at a local feed store. (I am in the somewhat quarantined state of confusion... I mean California )

 

[ColtHandorf]

Good catch. I didn't even notice the single comb on her.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

View attachment 1819665 here are 2 of the older ladies (12 weeks here) I will take photos of the other 3 later today.

The one on the left is blue laced red, the other is splash laced red. The younger chicks are also blue laced red.

 

[nicalandia]

Any single comb sports should not be bred as you'd just be perpetuating a problem that should be weeded out of the line.

That is really not the case, if the pullet is an outstanding specimen, she should be the backbone of his breeding project, people think that single comb Wyandottes are the results of bad breeding management but its actually the contrary, a homozygous rosecomb rooster will have poor fertility.


Low Fertility in Rose Comb Breeds: https://www.rosecombs.com/documents/low_fertility.pdf?page_id=116

Excerpt from the article:

"Duration of fertility: One possibility for the noticeably low fertility in rose comb breeds could be that the spermatozoa simply do not live long enough to fertilize many eggs. Crawford and Smyth’s study: Crawford and Smyth set out to study whether homozygous rose comb birds had lower fertility in comparison to heterozygotes and single comb birds. Duration of fertility was measured as the number of days between fertilization and the last fertile egg laid as a result of that insemination (Crawford and Smyth 1964b). When males of the three genotypes were mated to rr females, it was found that RR males had a duration of fertility that was roughly half that of Rr and rr males. Moreover, RR males had about 30% more sterile matings than other males. RR females, on the other hand, appeared to have an increased duration of fertility in comparison to females of the other comb genotypes (Crawford and Smyth 1964b)"

Homozygous Rosecomb(R/R) and Heterozygous R/r+ roosters are indistinguishable from each other except that R/r+ have greater fertility.

 

[Rlmp817]

That is really not the case, if the pullet is an outstanding specimen, she should be the backbone of his breeding project, people think that single comb Wyandottes are the results of bad breeding management but its actually the contrary, a homozygous rosecomb rooster will have poor fertility.


Low Fertility in Rose Comb Breeds: https://www.rosecombs.com/documents/low_fertility.pdf?page_id=116

Excerpt from the article:

"Duration of fertility: One possibility for the noticeably low fertility in rose comb breeds could be that the spermatozoa simply do not live long enough to fertilize many eggs. Crawford and Smyth’s study: Crawford and Smyth set out to study whether homozygous rose comb birds had lower fertility in comparison to heterozygotes and single comb birds. Duration of fertility was measured as the number of days between fertilization and the last fertile egg laid as a result of that insemination (Crawford and Smyth 1964b). When males of the three genotypes were mated to rr females, it was found that RR males had a duration of fertility that was roughly half that of Rr and rr males. Moreover, RR males had about 30% more sterile matings than other males. RR females, on the other hand, appeared to have an increased duration of fertility in comparison to females of the other comb genotypes (Crawford and Smyth 1964b)"

Homozygous Rosecomb(R/R) and Heterozygous R/r+ roosters are indistinguishable from each other except that R/r+ have greater fertility.

Interesting! I will have to read up on this more. Thank you for sharing!

 

[nicalandia]

Interesting! I will have to read up on this more. Thank you for sharing!

You may want to look for: COMB DIMORPHISM IN WYANDOTTE DOMESTIC FOWL. POPULATION GENETICS OF THE ROSE COMB GENE by C. F. Wehrhahn, R. D. Crawford

excerpt from the article:

"Despite continuous selection against it, the incidence of single comb genotype remains high" That article was published decades ago(half a century) and the incidence of single comb in Wyandottes remains, this is due to R/r+ Roosters being indistinguishable from R/R roosters but more energetic and fertile than R/R males. You could say that in this particular case natural selection is what is aiding and perpetuating R/r+ males even against the breeder's attempts to breed against it.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What are you talking about @nicalandia? Is there some new standard that calls for single comb Wyandottes that I'm not aware of? These should not be bred for the sole fact that two recessive genes are required for single comb. If you breed it you are making every offspring carry one copy of single comb. That in turn makes for more single comb sports down the line. This is why you don't do it.

With test matings you can figure out which birds are carrying the single comb gene and weed out the gene all together in the line. That is the goal. Every bird with two copies of rose.

 

[nicalandia]

With test matings you can figure out which birds are carrying the single comb gene and weed out the gene all together in the line. That is the goal. Every bird with two copies of rose.

Perhaps you are brushing off all of the research on Rose-comb homozygotes having low fertility? Or perhaps you can point us to a recent research that says otherwise? Good luck trying to get rid of the single comb recessive gene, Wyandotte breeders have spent nearly a century trying to do so and failed miserably because they can't test mate every championship roosters they have and the R/r+ are more vigorous, mate more often and will leave more progeny.

 

[Rlmp817]

I love this debate we have going! Carry on! I will take notes