Brahma Thread

[big medicine]

I am goping to test my learning here and ask...

Wouldn't it be best to test mate the 2 silvers (to each other) hatch a bunch of those eggs to be sure you are breeding silver to silver and THEN see what comes?

big medicine - correct me if I am way off as I am learning at your knee - so to speak

Well the old hen, and pullet, should be silver based. It appears all her available silver males are split to gold.
This breeding should produce
25 % silver laced pullets
25% gold laced pullets
25% silver laced cockerels
25% silver/gold split cockerels

 

[oshun55555]

Alright, a lot of information to digest here.

Let's start by going over a few few different things we are going to be talking about here, simplified some, because that's how my brain operates best.

1) Vuture hocks is a resessive trait. Full blown VH requires a copy inherited from each parent. A full blown VH bird will pass on a copy to each and every one of it's young. A bird with only one copy will appear normal, but will still pass a copy to 50% of it's young.

2) All chickens are either gold or silver based. Only males can be split gold/silver. Females can not, they are one, or the other. Now there are a ton of enhanser/modifiers that can muddy the water here, but we're keeping it simple. Female chick's base color is determined by the their father. Male chicks color is a combination of both parents contributions.

3) There are two types of white. Recessive, which requires two copies to show itself, and acts kind of like a switch and turns off the color, resulting in an all white bird. And dominant white, which will show itself with only one copy present. Dominant white is more effective removing the color black from the feather, leaving the base color. To my understanding , buff laced is basically gold laced with the addition of dominant white. So these birds being called buff laced/gold laced split are buff laced carrying a single copy of dominant white, and have a 50-50 shot of passing dominant white on to their young.

Now to some of the particulars. In your first breeding pen consisting of the buff laced male, buff, gold, and a silver laced female. The silver laced female produced the silver/gold split laced cockerels. Her pullets would have been either gold or buff laced. None of the gold or buff laced hens produced any silver laced chicks with that buff laced male. Not sure what to make of white chicks out of this pen. It is possible it could be a silver/gold split cockerel out of the silver laced hen that recieved dominant white from dad, effectively removing the black lacing. Now one thing we have learned here by the presence of the VH silver/gold cockerels is that the silver laced hen carries a copy of VH, as does the buff laced male.

As to the second breeding, silver/gold split male over same hens. Did this breeding produce any full blown VH chicks ? Did you get any "white" pullets ? This breeding should have produced some clean silver laced pullets, unless mom threw dominant in the mix.

The breeding of the buff laced pair producing no VH chicks make me think the hen you used carried no VH. Which means half those chicks likely recieved a copy from Dad.

We know the old silver laced hen is carrying a single copy of VH. The pullet may be also, or may be clear. I would say you probably need to use both. You could also use the gold laced hens with a split silver/gold laced male to potentally produce both clean gold, or silver laced pullets, and cockerels, as well as more split cockerels.

If you know which buff laced female you pair mated to the buff male that produced the clean hocked chicks, I would get every chick out of her you can. She appears to be clear of VH.

Thank you so much this is great info, I will take all your advice with much appreciation. Tomorrow I will check the bands on the white cockerel and the white hen and then check my records I could have made a mistake in the post. The big old silver boy I will put over the gold laced hens, I have some of his gold laced daughters I was thinking of using with him as well. Or do you recommend using the son over mom and possibly his sister gold laced? Do you think the cockerel in the last post I made has VH or am I being paranoid? He does have feathering down his middle toe, I have other Silver males that have nicer heads and feathering but no middle toe feathering, you think I should go with one of those and not the one in the photos?

 

[oshun55555]

forgot to add the clear of VH Buff Laced hen is banded and I know who she is, you took the words out of my mouth about getting all the chicks I can from her, do you think I should use one of her sons over her and maybe we will get some clear buff laced? I know the sons carry the potential of the VH from their sire as well as the possibility of being clear for VH.

 

[big medicine]

Thank you so much this is great info, I will take all your advice with much appreciation. Tomorrow I will check the bands on the white cockerel and the white hen and then check my records I could have made a mistake in the post. The big old silver boy I will put over the gold laced hens, I have some of his gold laced daughters I was thinking of using with him as well. Or do you recommend using the son over mom and possibly his sister gold laced? Do you think the cockerel in the last post I made has VH or am I being paranoid? He does have feathering down his middle toe, I have other Silver males that have nicer heads and feathering but no middle toe feathering, you think I should go with one of those and not the one in the photos?

Now your big old silver boy, as you called him, has produced VH chicks correct ? If so, you know he will spreading more VH into future generations. I realize you have an emotional investment in this guy, but I think I would roll the dice with one of his clean hocked sons. You can not do any worse, Junior may be carrying a single copy (like Dad), or you may get lucky and he is clear. I believe I would put more emphasis on type, and head, than toe feathering, at this point.

 

[big medicine]

forgot to add the clear of VH Buff Laced hen is banded and I know who she is, you took the words out of my mouth about getting all the chicks I can from her, do you think I should use one of her sons over her and maybe we will get some clear buff laced? I know the sons carry the potential of the VH from their sire as well as the possibility of being clear for VH.

Roughly half of those chicks will be carrying VH, so you got a 50-50 shot of getting lucky. You also have a 25% chance of getting chicks with two copies of dominant white, which will then breed true buff laced.

 

[oshun55555]

Thanks big medicine, you have been very good for helping me get my head around this issue. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks I am 65 years young. Been dealing with chickens for 50 years all hatchery birds, first time working with quality birds and now in my old age I am swept up in a passion for it. Again thanks

 

[Sk8inChick(en)]

A common problem for many back yard chicken folks is, once they get a few Brahmas, their other chickens soon start to pale in comparrison. Then there is often the mental anguish of wondering why it took them so long to try Brahmas. Thinking of all the time/feed/work they had invested in raising common chickens when their were Brahmas out there the whole time can be quite disheartning for some folks.

Does this mean that it's a good thing that I started with Brahmas??

 

[cherylcohen]

I'Plan to take some more current pics today, as these babies are now4-5 months old!

Just wanting some advice about setting up my two pens now that I have some F2's to work with.

I currently have this flock of Gold Partridge Roo, 2 gold hens and only 1 blue. I will probably be replacing my giant gold roo with one of his sons, as I need more height and a better comb, hopefully I'll get that.

Would you think pens with a Gold Roo and Blue hens and then Blue Roo on Gold Hens is the obvious best choice-I'm not interested in Splash/Pyle so I don't want to breed blue to blue.

 

[big medicine]

Thanks big medicine, you have been very good for helping me get my head around this issue. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks I am 65 years young. Been dealing with chickens for 50 years all hatchery birds, first time working with quality birds and now in my old age I am swept up in a passion for it. Again thanks

Any time I come across somebody with a sincere interest to learn, and I am fortunate enough to be able to help, I will do what I can. I think the same could be said for Tim, and a few others here. We just got lucky and hit on something I needed to do a little reading up on myself a few years back.

 

[big medicine]

Was sorting my young birds today. One of the blue laced red project cockerels was convinced I was going to eat him, or something, freaked out and bit my hand. The other Brahmas were shocked by his outlandish behavior. I blame his Wyandotte ancestory.



Kind of hard to make out in photo, but how may birds can give you a heart shaped momento of their affection ?