Black crested White Polish

[ElPaso]

Hey @ElPaso on the topic of down color, what did your BCW polish/buff Orpington crosses look like as chicks? I ask out out of curiosity for what the ewh and other genes of the Buff orpington might’ve affected.

The boys were white or cream. The girls were darker. I don't recall any of them having striped backs. But the BCW x BCW did have faint striping.

 

[ElPaso]

The boys were white or cream. The girls were darker. I don't recall any of them having striped backs. But the BCW x BCW did have faint striping.

The Silver laced x buff was different. Both boys and girls looked like silver laced do as chicks. I'm still scratching my head as to why the girls were darker in the BCW x buff.

 

[NatJ]

The boys were white or cream. The girls were darker. I don't recall any of them having striped backs. But the BCW x BCW did have faint striping.

I'm still scratching my head as to why the girls were darker in the BCW x buff.

Which breed was the father and which was the mother?

If you crossed a Buff Orpington rooster with a Black Crested White Polish hen, you should get sex-linked chicks (daughters show gold, sons show silver but carry gold.) That would be a simple explanation for the females being darker (gold) and the males lighter (silver).

If you crossed it the other way (Buff Orpington hen, BCW Polish rooster), then daughters would be silver and sons would be silver carrying gold, so both should look equally light. If that is what you did, then I am just as puzzled as you about why the females could be darker.

 

[ElPaso]

Which breed was the father and which was the mother?

If you crossed a Buff Orpington rooster with a Black Crested White Polish hen, you should get sex-linked chicks (daughters show gold, sons show silver but carry gold.) That would be a simple explanation for the females being darker (gold) and the males lighter (silver).

If you crossed it the other way (Buff Orpington hen, BCW Polish rooster), then daughters would be silver and sons would be silver carrying gold, so both should look equally light. If that is what you did, then I am just as puzzled as you about why the females could be darker.

Both crosses were polish male on buff hens. By darker I mean more melanised.

 

[ElPaso]

Both crosses were polish male on buff hens. By darker I mean more melanised.

This could be an effect of Db dosage in hens. But that too doesn't add up.

 

[NatJ]

Both crosses were polish male on buff hens. By darker I mean more melanised.

This could be an effect of Db dosage in hens. But that too doesn't add up.

That is definitely puzzling. I don't have any good ideas about why, but it's interesting to hear about unexpected things like this

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Year is about to end, I currently have 8 chicks growing at the moment. Hopefully things get better next year. Fertility seems fine, and There aren’t many eggs who die off in the early stages of incubation, but most of the ”losses” are fully formed chicks that just don’t hatch.

Current chicks are all doing well. I have two small little chicks who hatched yesterday and the day before, so hopefully there are no issues with those two(none present yet, but the first week is always when I’m most cautious about a chick dying). Everyone else above 2 weeks old is doing well.

9 weeks old, unsure of sex. No inkling of either being male yet, but I’m holding off a few more weeks before I make my final guess.

This one is about 7 weeks old.

This curious looking chick will be 4 weeks old on the 29th. It started out mostly black, so I’m curious to see how it’ll look as an adult.

Then I have two who are 2 weeks old, very light colored, and 2 that just very recently hatched. My two who just recently hatched are completely non-vaulted, 1 black looking one and 1 lightish one. Things have been incredibly hectic lately, and I don’t know the mothers of any chick 1 month old or younger, but hopefully within the next month or so I’ll get back on track with keeping record of that.

 

[NagemTX]

Wow, apparently I don't deserve updates. LOL.

Post to kick the updates to start coming again.

Looking good.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Congrats on the new babies!

 

[I Like Turkeys]

I’m nearly done hatching polish for a little while. The BCWs are in a pen with my houdan hens, a silver laced hen, and a white hen, so at the moment I can’t guarantee any eggs laid were by the BCW hens.

Oct 23-24 hatch, nearly 3 months old for these two. I saw wattle development on the original males around 2.5 months old, but their direct father was very slow to mature. I see nothing to say male yet on either of these birds. The white one is a bit standoffish, but they’re all naturally skittish birds, so I can’t fully mark that down to it being a male.

November 1st hatch. The friendliest chick I have, but not a cuddler.

November 29th, I think. It’s whitening out well for it‘s color at hatch.

December 12th hatch

This one below has a crooked toe. It showed up a few days after hatch.

I also had 2 hatch around Christmas-ish, they’re both doing well. Each is non-vaulted.

I had one hatch last week as well though, which is part of the reason I’m gonna pause for a bit until I can fix stuff. 2 are obviously crosses, one for sure from the white hen. The other could be as well, or a houdan cross, but it doesn’t have 5 toes. Polydactyly is a ridiculous can of worms to deal with though. The tinier 2 I’m fairly certain are ”pure” BCW chicks. Also non-vaulted, or the vaults are very minimal. Probably from Arby’s, my 3rd hen. I only set eggs because she was laying. It’s In my intention to use my other polish hens, but I don’t want to use the houdans so much, and right Now I can’t differentiate them. The polish hens have longer backs and nicer crests than mine, plus longer tails. I’m mostly fond of them for the longer back length they can help introduce in. The two crosses are growing much quicker than the pure BCW chicks.