Best Guess as to Breed?

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Thanks, Nikki,

I THOUGHT, all along, that Baby was an Orp.  The farmer must not have realized he had an Orp rooster?  Or is it possible that my rooster could have the coloring he does with a white leghorn papa and a Buff Orpington Mama?  Could the Orp genes dominate the white leghorn ones, and make the feathering the gold-and-blue like he has????  Could that explain why he was a scrawny Orp?

Actually, I'm pretty sure white is recessive. It requires 2 copies for the bird to show up white. Even so, the white would have nothing to do with the blue. All of my Orps were scrawny as youngsters, just takes them a while to fill out and get that "beefy" look
Nikki

 

[ClareScifi]

That is so interesting! So he could be half white leghorn and half Buff Orpington, if white is recessive?

His two brothers both had mostly white feathers. One looked to be half Rhode Island Red, with a few dark red feathers, and the other looked somewhite like a silver-laced Wyandotte on the hackles. That's what the farmer who I gave him to thought he looked like. The two sisters are mostly white, also. One has a few dark red feathers like the rooster, and the other has a few golden feathers on her head that are the same color as this rooster's golden feathers, so I'm thinking she might have had an Orpington Mama, too? She is bigger than the other girl.

I think I read that sometimes a StepMama hen will try to kill a chick if it is a breed other than her own. I think I might have read that Barred Rocks don't care much for Orpingtons, so that might be why Esther Mary tried to kill Baby when he first hatched? She hated him for months and months, and I couldn't keep them together. She would charge and attack. But finally his charms won her over completely. It was such a happy ending. I could not believe it worked out successfully like it did!

 

[ClareScifi]

Yes, my boy was 'mating challenged' when he was first learning. It was so amusing to see him mount the girls backward. It didn't bother them, because they'd never been around a rooster before. I wondered whether he had thought up a new 'chicken position' or something. Poor Boy. He had no one to learn from... But he eventually figured it all out on his own. Before that, he tried mating with the back of my hand, when I'd feed him, so I had to start wearing heavy gloves for that chore. He thought I was his hen.

What a relief it was when the real hens accepted him! I'm glad he never tried to mate on top of my head. That could have hurt my scalp pretty bad.

Just as I thought, Orpingtons tend to get picked on by other breeds! I think this is why 'Baby' nearly got pecked to death when he hatched, by both his StepMama (a Barred Rock) and his two brothers (half white leghorns). 'Baby' was bigger than they were, but he had one eye stuck shut when he hatched, so he was a bit of a bumbler in the nest. This link says Orpingtons tend to get picked on by other breeds both because they are larger and more docile. I would think larger chickens would be less likely to get picked on by small ones (my little Bantie gets picked on the most of all my chickens, and she's the smallest), but I guess that is not necessarily the case:

http://www.pickinachicken.com/2010/05/buff-orpington.html

Everything is starting to makes sense, now that we have figured out my boy is truly an Orp. Thanks for your help!

 

[ChucktheChick]

How do you contact other people? Email? I just started to use my BYC account a couple days ago so I'm pretty new.....thanks for any help

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Genetics are a wonky thing. For instance, when breeding blues you can actually get 3 different results. Blue, black and splash (white with blue splotches). If one half of your birds and its sibling was a blue bird, the others that have the white feathers could be showing the blue genes in the splash color. Blue laced red wyandottes are a good example. On a silver laced Wyandotte the feathers are white with black edging. For the blue laced red, the red replaces the white. The lacing is blue and can be blue, black or splash. In a splash laced dotte, the lacing looks white and the blue is usually seen very diluted in the hackle and tail feathers. Its also very possible for blue birds to show leakage (usually in gold, silver and....ta da RED). When you start mixing colors, its hard to know what genes will come out on top- unless you've bred an entire line yourself, then they become a little more predictable. If find color genetic fascinating! But, I still have alot to learn. I do ALOT of reading in the Breeds, Genetics and Showing section. You'll find all sorts of interesting stuff there
Nikki

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

How do you contact other people? Email? I just started to use my BYC account a couple days ago so I'm pretty new.....thanks for any help

If you're trying to contact another BYC member the easiest thing to do is search their username, click on it and send them a PM (private message)
Nikki

 

[ClareScifi]

That is fascinating stuff, Nikki.

You've got me all stirred up about chicks now. LOL.

What would you suggest I breed 'Baby' with? I love the blue and gold combo he has.

 

[ChucktheChick]

Hank you!!!!!!!! That makes since. So how many birds do you have Nikki?

 

[ChucktheChick]

Sorry forgot the t

 

[ChucktheChick]

I know I am so dumb but where do you enter their name?