Black chick

[ArkAvian]

hatched a totally black chick. The mother a cross between a halfbreed Leghorn hen and Cornish cross roo. The father could be the brother from the same batch or it could be her own father OR a RIR looking roo I reverse bred from the red sex link chicks. I will upload more pics tomorrow. I need help in identifying really what I have combined from so many crosses. Only one black chick survived the rest died because the eggs were all double yolked. Also is that normal? The hen only lays a single yolk rarely all others are double yolked is this strange?

 

[ArkAvian]

It is possible for one or even two chicks to hatch from a double yolked egg but it is extremely rare to even get one. It usually takes a lot of intervention. Some people enjoy the challenge but I consider trying to hatch double yolked eggs setting yourself up for failure.

When a hen's internal egg-making factory is working the way it was designed, she releases one yolk a day. IF she releases two yolks in a day she might lay two eggs that day. Often the second one is soft-shelled or thin-shelled and often the shells are marked if they share space in the shell gland for a time. If she releases two yolks at a time and they go through that internal journey along her assembly line together you get a double yolked egg. If either of these occurs rarely it's not a big deal, we are all entitled to an occasional oops.

Some people consider a double yolked egg the neatest coolest thing ever and would love to have a hen that regularly laid double yolked eggs, but they do not suit my goals. I'm not going to try to hatch them, they usually don't fit in an egg carton, if I want an egg for a baking recipe they are not the right size or proportion. Having one that lays almost all double yolked eggs is pretty rare. Some people would love to have her, I would not. We all have different goals.

I don't know what that half-breed leghorn was bred from, the leghorn part could even be something other than white. I don't know what genetics you are working with in her. There are different ways to make a solid white chicken. You can do it with Dominant White on what would normally be a solid black chicken or Recessive White on about anything. Black is often used as a base to make white, but there are also different genetic ways to make a solid black chicken. When you are dealing with black chickens or white chickens you cannot always tell by looking what the genetics actually are. Right now I don't even know if that half-leghorn hen is white.

When you cross crosses you can get a lot of differences in the chicks' colors/patterns. Of course it depends on what you start with but it is not unusual when you breed crosses to crosses that you can get dozens of different possibilities. Black is pretty dominant so it does tend to limit those possibilities if it is in the mix.

It is possible the hen's hatchmate could be the father. It is possible your red rooster is the father. I could even come up with a scenario where your Cornish Cross could be the father if he is based on Recessive White. There is just no way of knowing for sure.

The original half breed leghorn was full white with big eggs almost white but not quite. Will I get more black chicks from this one if its a pullet? Also why is the fur so short? And the legs beak and comb are also black

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

You sure momma hen didn't sneak out late at night to the next door neighbor's coop?!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

The original half breed leghorn was full white with big eggs almost white but not quite. Will I get more black chicks from this one if its a pullet? Also why is the fur so short? And the legs beak and comb are also black

How well do you understand basic genetics? It's a little more complicated than just dominant or recessive genes, there are some that an incompletely dominant. That's where if one incompletely dominant is at that gene pair you one reaction, if both are incompletely dominant you get a different reaction. That's probably not in play with your situation but some genes only have a reaction if another specific gene is present. I think that is relevant to you.

It sounds like you don't know what breed or color the other parent of that leghorn mix is. Knowing that could help a lot with this. It sounds like she got Extended Black and one gene of Dominant White from her parents. Extended Black often causes feet and other areas to be dark. Dominant White is one of those genes that only acts if another is present. Dominant White changes feathers that would normally be black to white. Both of those are dominant. So if she has just one of each she will be white. If she has two Extended Black and one Dominant White she will be white.

It also sounds like she may have barring. You can't see barring in a solid white chicken but some breeders put barring on a white chicken as it makes the white look even more white. In any case it is masked by white, you don't know if a white chicken has it or not. Barring is a sex linked gene. A pullet can only get barring from their father. A pullet cannot get it from her mother. A cockerel can get barring from either its father or mother. So if the pullet has barring and your three roosters do not then you are making sex links, provided the barring can be seen in the colors you get. You don't know if her brother has barring or not if he is white. You don't know if the Cornish Cross has barring or not as he is white. You should be able to tell by looking if your red rooster has barring. There are so many unknowns here that this does not help you determine who the father is.

Assuming the Leghorn mixed hen has Extended Black and one copy of Dominant white, if her chick inherits Extended Black but not the Dominant White she will contribute the genetics to make a black chick. If her brother is the father, those genetics could come from him instead of her. So it is possible her brother is the parent.

If the Cornish Cross rooster has Extended Black and Dominant White he can't be the father, that would give you a white chick. But if he is based on Recessive White he could be the father.

The red rooster could be the father as her dominant Extended Black and Dominant White would overpower the red rooster's genetic contributions.

If the unknown parent of the mixed Leghorn and her brother contributed Recessive White I can come up with a Scenario where the red rooster is the father but not where either of the other two are, provided the mixed leghorn's brother is white.

There are other ways to make black other than Extended Black. You can't be 100% sure that you don't have Recessive White instead of Dominant White. But I think you are most likely dealing with Extended Black and Dominant White. In that case, depending on who the father is, that chick has the genetics to have black chicks. Being a mix with unknown genetics for the other half of those gene pairs it is also possible that chick could have the genetics to have offspring of many different colors and patterns, depending on which gene at that gene pair is inherited.

To me that is a big part of the fun of hatching mixes, you just don't know what you will hatch.

 

[Ridgerunner]

hatched a totally black chick. The mother a cross between a halfbreed Leghorn hen and Cornish cross roo. The father could be the brother from the same batch or it could be her own father OR a RIR looking roo I reverse bred from the red sex link chicks. I will upload more pics tomorrow. I need help in identifying really what I have combined from so many crosses. Only one black chick survived the rest died because the eggs were all double yolked. Also is that normal? The hen only lays a single yolk rarely all others are double yolked is this strange?

It is possible for one or even two chicks to hatch from a double yolked egg but it is extremely rare to even get one. It usually takes a lot of intervention. Some people enjoy the challenge but I consider trying to hatch double yolked eggs setting yourself up for failure.

When a hen's internal egg-making factory is working the way it was designed, she releases one yolk a day. IF she releases two yolks in a day she might lay two eggs that day. Often the second one is soft-shelled or thin-shelled and often the shells are marked if they share space in the shell gland for a time. If she releases two yolks at a time and they go through that internal journey along her assembly line together you get a double yolked egg. If either of these occurs rarely it's not a big deal, we are all entitled to an occasional oops.

Some people consider a double yolked egg the neatest coolest thing ever and would love to have a hen that regularly laid double yolked eggs, but they do not suit my goals. I'm not going to try to hatch them, they usually don't fit in an egg carton, if I want an egg for a baking recipe they are not the right size or proportion. Having one that lays almost all double yolked eggs is pretty rare. Some people would love to have her, I would not. We all have different goals.

I don't know what that half-breed leghorn was bred from, the leghorn part could even be something other than white. I don't know what genetics you are working with in her. There are different ways to make a solid white chicken. You can do it with Dominant White on what would normally be a solid black chicken or Recessive White on about anything. Black is often used as a base to make white, but there are also different genetic ways to make a solid black chicken. When you are dealing with black chickens or white chickens you cannot always tell by looking what the genetics actually are. Right now I don't even know if that half-leghorn hen is white.

When you cross crosses you can get a lot of differences in the chicks' colors/patterns. Of course it depends on what you start with but it is not unusual when you breed crosses to crosses that you can get dozens of different possibilities. Black is pretty dominant so it does tend to limit those possibilities if it is in the mix.

It is possible the hen's hatchmate could be the father. It is possible your red rooster is the father. I could even come up with a scenario where your Cornish Cross could be the father if he is based on Recessive White. There is just no way of knowing for sure.

 

[ArkAvian]

I hope its a pullet

 

[ArkAvian]

You should name the chick lucky LOl

Lol how bout mystique? I still don't know why the down feathers so short the rest of the chicks so fluffy.

 

[Feathers4Fun2]

Quite the puzzle. Humm. Mating a Plymouth Barred Rock with a Rhode Island Red a rooster will produce a Black Sex link. If the chick is completely black it will be a hen if the chick has a black with a white spot on its head it will be a rooster. Unless you know for sure the breed of the parents its tough to know what's being produced.

 

[ArkAvian]

You sure momma hen didn't sneak out late at night to the next door neighbor's coop?!!

Lol Im the only one around with chickens.

 

[ArkAvian]

Quite the puzzle. Humm. Mating a Plymouth Barred Rock with a Rhode Island Red a rooster will produce a Black Sex link. If the chick is completely black it will be a hen if the chick has a black with a white spot on its head it will be a rooster. Unless you know for sure the breed of the parents its tough to know what's being produced.

No bared rocks but I did get a barbed roo from the same leghorn cross. I've been breeding chicks for 1 year and I've never gotten another barbed chick.