Breeding a new chicken breed

[Arjun Masthi]

It's possible to not get a crest at all sometimes.

Silkie X RJF/HybridView attachment 2800419

I'm attaching a picture of one of my Silkie hybrid crossed with a landrace× another hybrid of a landrace and Giriraja (read about the breed early on in this thread). He's a sibling that I let roam around with another flock of mine. This picture was a day after he returned fighting some other rooster
Since his dad had only one crest gene, and his mom didn't- he had a 50% chance of getting it. Also sad that the Birchen gene didn't give him a black breast.

 

[Arjun Masthi]

I don't know about crest genes I'm afraid, and the kippen calculator makes my brain scramble! @NatJ is great with genetics.

I'll have to go back through old photos and see if my polish and/or silkie had vaulted skulls when they hatched. None of their offspring did, that I am sure.

I only meant the meat part as a contribution to your preference for leaner meat. Size would definitely come from the Brahmas!

Understood. I'm definitely considering though.

Thank you! I sold the gold laced as although he was lovely and sweet, he was by far the noisiest chicken I've ever had! Would have made a fantastic burglar/predator alarm! He would sound off at a gate shutting, a footstep, or a strong wind! Kept the black and paint. I've never seen such iridescence on a pullet.

I had a Polish rooster, a blonde-white guy who was forever noisy too. Would sometimes get up at 1am to crow.

 

[Arjun Masthi]

I can at least translate the question

Arjun Masthi is trying to figure out whether the crossed chicks (that had crests but no vaulted skull) had one copy of the gene for crest, or two copies of the gene.

This was the question! I mixed in another question about vaulted genes together and made it super confusing my bad!

If you aren't sure about the genes, can you remember whether both parents had crests or just one parent had a crest? We can figure part of it out from that.



More explanation (ignore if you're not interested):

"Heterozygous" for crest gene means the chicken only has one gene for crest, plue one gene for not-crest. It's what you get when you cross a Polish to a not-crested breed. Some people say "split" to mean the same as heterozygous. "Hetero" means two things are not the same.

"Homozygous" for crest gene means the chicken has two genes for crest. It's what you usually get when you breed a Polish to another Polish. Some people say "pure" for a gene to mean the same thing. "Homo" means two or more things are the same.

If your crested chicks had one parent with no crest, then those chicks must have been heterozygous (split) for crest. The only way to get a chicken homozygous (pure) for crest is if both parents have crests.

Thanks for taking the time to type this down

 

[MysteryChicken]

I'm attaching a picture of one of my Silkie hybrid crossed with a landrace× another hybrid of a landrace and Giriraja (read about the breed early on in this thread). He's a sibling that I let roam around with another flock of mine. This picture was a day after he returned fighting some other rooster
Since his dad had only one crest gene, and his mom didn't- he had a 50% chance of getting it. Also sad that the Birchen gene didn't give him a black breast.

He has some thick legs.
But he's still pretty.

 

[Arjun Masthi]

Helpful as always! Thank you.

I think the discussion was not only about crests but also vaulted skulls. We know that chickens can have crests without vaulted skulls, which I think is what Arjun is aiming for.

Yes! That was the reason for choice of the Spitz over Polish chicken to begin with Because I won't be very sure. Also, I'd rather have a crest of a spitz, or as small as that of a legbar as a defining character, over vision impairment.

I can't remember whether my crosses' parents had vaulted skulls (which is only properly visible when they are chicks - I might be able to find some chick photos of them), but they certainly both have crests. Father is a silkie with a small crest, mother is a polish with a larger one.

When I crossed my silkie (crested) with my wyandotte (no crest), the offspring all had a very small crest (think legbar sized). If that's relevant, probably not.

I have a further cross with a Brahma from my Silkie cross that's posted in the beginning of this post. The chance offspring (as I thought I didn't use her mother's eggs during setting) has a tiny crest like a legbar male with a pea comb.

And don't you just love it when ancient Greek so obviously forms part of our language still!! That is so cool.

Yes it is!

 

[Arjun Masthi]

He has some thick legs.
But he's still pretty.

Not using him to breed. His legs are quite badly scaled- probably why his legs look so thick. (I had one hen with that issue, something I kept for only incubating other eggs- and guessing that's his mom ).

 

[MysteryChicken]

Not using him to breed. His legs are quite badly scaled- probably why his legs look so thick. (I had one hen with that issue, something I kept for only incubating other eggs- and guessing that's his mom ).

So, genetically bad scaled, or Mites?

 

[Arjun Masthi]

So, genetically bad scaled, or Mites?

Genetically bad scaled. I don't have a mite problem currently. He had it from the start, none of his batchmates have/had.
The second flock I spoke about us a random group of laying hens, completely free-ranged, no supplimentary diet, and this guy to protect them
I don't use those eggs to hatch, just for my omlettes and cheesecakes

 

[Amer]

Yes, so the plan is to see if the beard impedes vision. If they do, that goes out.

Typically no, though in some examples yes. It tends to be an over-large crest that impedes vision. Check out these beautiful brown eyes!

 

[Arjun Masthi]

Typically no, though in some examples yes. It tends to be an over-large crest that impedes vision. Check out these beautiful brown eyes!View attachment 2801405

She's beautiful!!! My faverolles don't have any impediment in vision inspite of those big beards too... Fingers crossed it'll get Carried on in crosses