Bay Area BYCers!

[jeremy]

Some* pictures from today.

The first photos are of my W/BW/SW Ameraucana cockerels. I'm holding on to like 10 boys this year in hopes of picking out a younger guy that is better than Claude. We'll see.

My Wheaten cockerel from Paul Smith, he's around 3 months old now, no name yet.

I also have a Splash Wheaten from Paul, I've been calling this one Harold lately. Dawn- whaddya think?

This Wheaten boy is from John Blehm, he's almost a month younger, hatched around the 20th of March. This is Hoyt.

Aaand, my Blue Wheaten hen Judy hatched chicks almost 3 weeks ago now, the darker chicks are OEs and the paler ones are EEs from Claude over Delaware hens.

I hatched chicks from Wayne Meredith on Easter, too. This little guy was one of the only ones who wanted to hold still enough for a photo... they're entering the gangly dinosaur stage right now.

I'm pretty sure this chick will be a Blue Wheaten cockerel, which is good. I don't have any older BW boys to grow out right now.

My Blue Copper Marans pullet from Monique's stock.

I think she has lovely coppering.

Finally a couple pictures of my Canaries, I mean Buff Leghorns.

These guys are from Bridget Riddle and are the most adorable chicks. They are complete freaks though, if you make ANY movement AT ALL around them they go into convulsions and start flapping around as if you were trying to kill them.

They're pretty though and I need a white egg layer, I've got 2 pullets and 1 cockerel. The cockerel will eventually go to a new home.

In person they are a much richer Buff color, especially the cockerel. It was overcast outside today and I couldn't really capture the depth of their color too well.

*Some might have been an understatement...

 

[PetRock]

Gorgeous birds, Jeremy! I love it when you post pics! Makes me want one of each!

I'm going to spend some time with my juvies today and get some pics to share.

 

[jeremy]

Quote:
Aww, thank you Debi!

Do you have any new pictures of Lemon Drop and Cossette to share? I'm really excited to see how they are maturing.

 

[dldolan]

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I have never seen a Splash Wheaten before! He is just gorgeous, actually! The Wheaton coloring makes him have a sort of lacing effect, which is beautiful. Now I will go on the genetic calculator to see what he can be crossed with to make a "designer" bird...! Or do you have a Splash WH pullet? I can't recall...
Dawn

 

[jeremy]

Dawn, I really like the SW boy too. His colors are so striking, I cannot wait to see how he matures.

I think I may have 1 Splash Wheaten pullet out of Claude, she's actually my youngest chick and is just now feathering in. I think she's a SW because I only see creamy brown colors and white feathers growing in. I've actually never seen a chick like her to date. SO I'll definitely be watching her more closely too.

My other older girls are all either BW or Wheaten, I'm actually pretty sure most are Wheaten. I'm slightly disappointed that I didn't get more of a variation but I have a BUNCH of girls to sort through and pick out the best examples of the breed, that's always a plus.

 

[dldolan]

Nice, and if you keep the SWh dude, you can cross back to a few Wheatie girls to get, what, 25%splash? or, blue patterned silver wheaten? So confusing...
Wheaten is a black base, right??

 

[jeremy]

Wheatens genetically are E^Wh plus a bunch of other genetic code which I believe means they are Gold based?

When you throw the Blue gene into the mix their genetic make up changes literally only by one or two alleles on a single chromosome.

Wheatens do not carry or express the Blue gene, there is no such thing as a Black bird with a recessive Blue gene. That's because the Blue gene dominates over regular black and dilutes it to the slate gray color which we refer to as Blue. So a Black bird cannot carry (a.k.a "hide") the Blue gene because it is dominant.

So Wheatens when referencing the Blue gene are bl+/bl+.
Blue Wheatens have 1 "copy" of the Blue gene, making them Bl/bl+.
Splash Wheatens have 2 "copies" of the Blue gene, Bl/Bl.

When breeding birds that are genetically Blue the offspring will differ depending on the parent birds bred together.

Blue X Blue = 50% Blue, 25% Black, 25% Splash
Blue X Splash = 50% Blue, 50% Splash
Blue X Black = 50% Blue, 50% Black
Splash X Black = 100% Blue
Black X Black = 100% Black
Splash X Splash = 100% Splash

If you're trying to figure out pairings a Wheaten, Blue Wheaten and Splash Wheaten are the same thing as Black, Blue and Splash.

Dawn, if you were to cross a W/BW/SW roo with your Silver Ameraucana hens, the offspring would then be sex linked, the chicks would be different colors at hatch depending on gender. That's because Wheatens are Gold based and Silvers are Silver based. The males would be lighter in color and the females would have much darker down. Don't ask me why a Gold based bird and a Silver based bird make sex linked offspring though... that I don't know!

Anyways, enough rambling.

I just can't wait until my babies mature so I can start playing with colors and genetics!i

 

[wolftracks]

Just markin my spot

 

[dldolan]

Quote:
Fascinating stuff!
So, you can cross your young Splash Wh roo x blue wheaton hens and get 50% splash, and I will take a chance on those eggs in the fall!!!

I think that is why I thought Black based, as for crossing purposes, Wheaton= Black.

I think I got that on the genetic calculator that W/BW/SW roo with my Silver Ameraucana hens would be gold-linked boys and silver-linked girls. Is that right? If I cross the White Am with the silver/wheaton/possible LAV hens, I'll get the following: *Remember I am still trying to figure the genetic calculator out, so do the simplest thing for now!
White x silver = white chicks if dominant, but if recessive, 50% Pullets, black patterned gold duckwing
50% Cockerels, black patterned yellow/golden duckwing
White x wheaton =50% Pullets, black patterned gold duckwing if the white is not dominant, otherwise white birds again?
White x Lav= black, unless the white is dominant then all white birds.

Is this about right?

 

[dldolan]

And I see that if I cross Lil' Joe, my Splash Marans to any of the potential pullets from the Blehm group for a designer Olive Egger, I only get blue! Splash x Wheaten Am = blue, Splash x LAV = blue and Splash x silver = Blue. Is this correct?