BLack bantam cochin roo...

[Godiva]

I have a young cockerel that is black except for some straw coloured feathers in his hackles.... I was wondering what that says about his parents and also his future offspring should I choose to breed with him....

 

[Godiva]

Does the straw coloured feathering mean he has a recessive buff gene? Wild guess here, but I was wondering which cochin roo to keep and I really don't want to have barred chicks (the only other roos I have after the last hatch) These are just for pets at this stage so it doesn't matter if they are show colours, more for eye candy and lovin'.

 

[tiki244]

well keep him then. It is easy enough to find a black cochin show bird for a small amount of money if that is what you want. So if he is a pet keep him.

I have heard of black birds having that sometimes in their hackles, and I suppose they do have some gold in their background, but I dont think it is a real problem, maybe you will have some interseting chicks

 

[tadkerson]

The straw color in his hackles mostly likely is caused by : 1. he carries a silver and a gold gene 2. he may also be heterozygous (split) at the E locus.

If he has some characteristic that is exceptional, I would go ahead and breed him. If he is ho hum, then keep him as a pet.

The buff color is due to four or more genes. It is a polygenic trait, caused by many genes, so it does not fall into the recessive or dominant category.

If you want to produce black chicks from barred birds, cross a barred female with a black male. The male offspring will be barred but the female offspring will be solid black.

Tim