Breeding splash to non bbs colors? (Seramas)

[bullets]

So I've just had my two broodies successfully hatch a set of 9 chicks. The chicks mothers are the ones who hatched them. I have a few questions and I know all the rules don't seem to apply to Seramas due to their history of not being hired for any color standard - until recently.
First off, here are a couple of background details that may be helpful.

One hen is a solid black with no leakage American Serama.

The other hen is wheaten (not bred that way, that's just how she came into the world)

The cock is a splash

I don't know anything else about them. I don't know what method was used to get the black hen black and to breed true.
Out of the 9 chicks, 2 are blue, 1 is black, 2 have chipmunk-ish down, 2 have solid black feathers and solid white feathers, 1 is reddish like a partridge type, and 1 with some sort of Barring (pictured) which I was told was a duckwing color.

For the questions:

1)I know the very basics of bbs breeding. But how does a splash affect non bbs chickens, especially color genetics as mixed as Seramas?

2) Since cockerel is splash, would the results chicks of non bbs colors carry any of the blue, black, or splash color?

3) Is there a chance any of the chicks that aren't blue or black be the offspring of my black Serama? I had their eggs marked but the hens sat on the eggs together and couldn't keep track.

4) In regards to the pictured duckwing chick - any indicators this is a golden duckwing or silver duckwing or anything to look for at this stage? Anyway to sex duckwing before their adult plumage?


Any insight on any of this would be greatly appreciated and very helpful! I'm really looking forward to so answers or questions. Thanks guys!

 

[junebuggena]

Blue/Splash only affects black pigment. Everything else is unchanged. Since the rooster is Splash, all of his chicks will get at least one Blue gene. If a chick does not have the Blue gene, your Splash rooster is not the father.
And that's not barring. That's juvenile partridge patterning with a silver base color, like that hen pictured. And that hen is not Wheaten. She's what's called Silver Ginger in the Old English Game bantam world.

 

[junebuggena]

Should also note that the extended black of the black hen (and the rooster) is the most dominant of all pattern genes. Their chicks should all be solid blue.

 

[bullets]

Blue/Splash only affects black pigment. Everything else is unchanged. Since the rooster is Splash, all of his chicks will get at least one Blue gene. If a chick does not have the Blue gene, your Splash rooster is not the father.
And that's not barring. That's juvenile partridge patterning with a silver base color, like that hen pictured. And that hen is not Wheaten. She's what's called Silver Ginger in the Old English Game bantam world.

The splash is definitely the father. I only have 1 other cockerel, a bcm, and he has no access to the hens.
That said, since all of the chicks have one blue gene, does that one gene effect the black pigmentation? I'm assuming not, since I have a black chick and a a couple of mottled-ish chicks. If I bred these chick back to their splash father would that then express blue genes in their progeny? In what way?


Thanks for the clarification! I was told twice she was considered wheaten even though I questioned it after looking online for wheaten pullets, but I ended up accepting it as Seramas genetics are wonky and I dont know near enough about genetics in general.

Should also note that the extended black of the black hen (and the rooster) is the most dominant of all pattern genes. Their chicks should all be solid blue.

This where things get a little tricky for me. Certainly the 2 blues could be the only ones that the black got to hatch. And it makes sense that it be the case. But it's hard for me to believe. I thought for sure the only chick I saw still stuck in the egg after it hatched was one of the lighter downed chicks, the egg was marked as coming from my black hen.. Human tho, and have been known to make mistakes.

Im really tempted to take pics of each chicks feathers to put up for review..

 

[junebuggena]

The Blue dilute gene is dominant. If it's present it expresses. If you've got chicks with black instead of blue, the Splash was not the father. Blues have one copy of the gene. Splash have two copies of the gene. Blacks have no gene for it at all.
Did these hens have any contact with another cockerel/rooster within the month prior to setting eggs?

 

[bullets]

I lost my previous cockerel and a pullet the end of February to a predator. I usually keep them in the cage I built for them in the garafe, but it had been an unusually warm few days and decided to put the quad out in the small pen outside I had built for them. In the morning the wire was pulled up and 2 of them gone. Feathers everywhere. I found the 2 girls I still have hiding up in the kids jungle gym. They stopped laying for months. They started laying mid June. The black one laid 9 eggs and the silver ginger laid 8 eggs and went broody together. I got my cock at the end of May. The last time the girls would have had access to another cock would have been the end of February, then stopped laying from stress of the attack. The only other cockerel I have is a black copper marans. He's in the pen with the LF. I do not free range the Seramas. This is certainly a conundrum. Would it be possible for my girls to have held the original Serama cockerels seed for 4 months?

 

[junebuggena]

No idea if it's possible for them to still be fertile, but I do know that it isn't possible for a Splash anything to produce a black chick.

 

[Bunnylady]

It seems obvious to me - if you have any chicks that aren't blue (or some blued version of some other color), then the rooster isn't Splash. Do you know if his parents were blue (somethings)? I have a couple of Seramas that have that sort of mottling, and their parents were definitely not blues - that's about the only gene I know for sure my Seramas don't carry, 'cause I've never had a blue anything.

 

[bullets]

@TJChickens
@dotm8rix
@Glenda Heywoodo
@WVduckchick

Any of you care to weigh in on this?

 

[Bunnylady]

My little guy