Can you help with basic chicken genetics for a science fair project?

[TinyLittleFarm]

My daughter is going to try to hatch some eggs for her science fair project.

We have a light brahma roo. Our hens are light brahma, EE, and red star. For her project she would like to learn a bit about the basics of chicken genetics so she can try to make predictions about what traits the babies might have. For example, if she learns that feathered legs is a dominant trait, she'll predict all the babies will have feathered legs.

I'd like to direct her to a source that might help her out without being overwhelming. She's only 10 and though she is very smart a college level discussion of genetics isn't going to be helpful for her.

I'd also like to avoid something like a genetics calculator which will TELL her what she's going to get. I want her to make hypotheses and then see if they are right or not.

Thanks in advance if you can direct her to any sources that might be helpful.

 

[Doug the Chicken Man]

have you had a look at this link.

http://kippenjungle.nl/basisEN.htm

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know any sources that are really simple and that EE is really going to mess it up. Tadkerson has a real good post on sex links that might help. Tadkerson, Henk69, Sonoran Silkies, and maybe Rareroo are some of the experts I can think of off the top of my head that may be able to help you much better than me. There are plenty of others.

Tadkerson’s Sex Link Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261208

I have trouble coming up with any real experiment with the breeds you have, especially since I think you are mostly talking about something you can see in the chicks shortly after they hatch.

There are many different genes that determine color and pattern in chickens. Your EE could have anything so there is no telling what will happen with her offspring. It does not matter what colors or patterns you see, there could be about anything in her.

I'm not a feather-legged expert but I believe that feather-legged is dominant over not feather legged. If that is so, all offspring should have feathered legs. Not much of an experiment there.

A Light Brahma male over a Light Brahma female will give you Ligth Brahma chicks. They will all be yellow.

A Light Brahma male has the Silver gene. That is shown as SS". The Red Star has the gold gene shown as "s". A hen only has one copy of this gene, which she only gives to her male children. The daughters only get their copy from the father. So all female offspring of this mating will have Silver (S) from their daddy and be yellow chicks. The male offspring will get an S from their daddy and and s from their mommy, so they will have Ss. But this also gives a chick with yellow down. I really doubt you will be able to tell them apart as chicks. When the males with Ss mature and grow feathers, there is a pretty good chance some of the gold will show though as some shade of red. The hackle and saddle feathers will almost certainly have a reddish sheen, I call that rusty looking but others call it something else. And depending what else is in the Red Star, the pattern color, mainly the tail and around the neck, could be many different colors and shades from khaki to black to smoky to pure white in males and females, but as newly hatched chicks, that will not show up.

If somebody with a better handle on this does not reply, all the ones I mentioned above are usually really helpful, especially to a children doing an experiment. Not to slight the others, but if it were me, I'd probably PM Sonoran Silkies.

 

[TinyLittleFarm]

Doug, thanks for the link!

We raised our LB from day olds, so I think we'll be able to tell those chicks apart from the others.

She's going to do predictions on leg feathering (I also realize they'll all have feathered legs) and I think feather color. I know their baby fuzz will change color. But it's important (for me especially!) to remember that this is a 5th grade science fair project and we really don't need to get too complicated. I'm a teacher, so it's hard for me to restrain myself and let her do all the work! I always have ideas to make it bigger and more complicated than it needs to be.

I'm excited for her to learn the basics of genetics and to test a hypothesis. I haven't told her that all the chicks will have feathered legs. Hopefully she will figure that out on her own through the reading and understanding what a dominant trait is. If she hypothesizes that they'll all have feathered legs based on what she learns and then gets chickies with feathered legs, then yippee!!

The other part of the science project will be learning about incubation. She'll be documenting temps and humidity, learning to candle and watch chick development and she'll be studying the development of the fetus as well.

It's all just a giant conspiracy against my husband to have an excuse for hatching some babies, of course.

 

[TinyLittleFarm]

Thanks Ridgerunner for the link and the info. I realized I didn't thank you in my post above!

We also have silkies and a broody silkie who is sitting on a clutch of 7 right now. If she has any babies, we could use them in our predictions as well. Any ideas for interesting traits to look for in a silkie/light brahma cross? Other than adorability?

 

[Doug the Chicken Man]

I know that you indicated you did not want a calculator but I also find it useful to teach how the genes interact with each other and if they are dominant or recessive.

You may also be able to play on the combs as well as the foot feathering.

here is Henks calculator.

http://kippenjungle.nl/kruisingKipFlexTree.html?DATA=S;Chicken Plug-in Calculator;gallus;F;kipkiezer_bestanden/;JPG;1,G;H;Silky;;,G;F;Frizzle;;,G;Na;Naked Neck;;,G;Hf;Henny Feathering;;,G;Cp;Creeper;;,G;Pti;Foot Feathering (simplified);;,G;V;Vulture Hocks;;,G;Mb;Muff Beard;;,G;Cr;Crest;;,G;Et;EarTuft;;,G;Rp;Rumplessness;;,G;D;Duplex Comb;;,G;Bd;Breda Combless;;,G;R;Rosecomb;;,G;P;Peacomb;;,A;H;H+;;;D;;W;,A;H;h;;Silky;R;;;,A;F;F;;Frizzle semilethal;H;Frizzle;;,A;F;f+;;;H;;W;,A;Na;Na;;Naked neck;H;Naked neck SF;;,A;Na;na+;;;H;;W;,A;Hf;Hf;;Henny feathered;H;Henny feathered SF;;,A;Hf;hf+;;;H;;W;,A;Cp;Cp;;Creeper LETHAL;H;Creeper;;,A;Cp;cp+;;;H;;W;,A;Pti;Pti;;Featherfooted;D;;;,A;Pti;pti+;;;H;;W;,A;V;V+;;;D;;W;,A;V;v;;Vulture hocks;R;;;,A;Mb;Mb;;Beard;H;little Beard;;,A;Mb;mb+;;;H;;W;,A;Cr;Cr;;Crest;H;little Crest;;,A;Cr;cr+;;;H;;W;,A;Et;Et;;Eartufts lethal?;H;Eartufts;;,A;Et;et+;;;H;;W;,A;Rp;Rp;;Rumpless lethal?;H;Rumpless;;,A;Rp;rp+;;;H;;W;,A;D;D^v;;V-shape Duplex;D;;;,A;D;d+;;;H;;W;,A;Bd;Bd+;;;D;;W;,A;Bd;bd;;Combless;R;;E;,A;R;R;;Rosecomb;D;;;,A;R;r+;;non-rosecomb;R;;W;,A;P;P;;Peacomb;D;;;,A;P;p+;;non-peacomb;R;;W;,C;RP;Rosecomb;Peacomb;Walnutcomb;,C;RP;non-rosecomb;non-peacomb;Single comb;,C;RM;non-rosecomb;;;,C;RM;non-peacomb;;;,C;NVL;;;Single comb;&mgt=Sloc:s+/s+,Iloc:i+/i+,Eloc:e+/e+&fgt=Sloc:s+/-,Iloc:i+/i+,Eloc:e+/e+

 

[pips&peeps]

http://chla.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=chla;cc=chla;sid=8de07f55af9826893a6372da2d10868c;q1=Genetics%20of%20the%20Fowl;rgn=full%20text;idno=2837819;view=image;seq=0009

Here is a link to the Book Genetics of the Fowl. It is kind of hard to read for beginners, but gives a general idea of what is recessive, dominant, etc.

 

[VillageChicken]

When does she need to report?
Peacomb and straight comb are quite easy to identify at hatch. Comb prediction is also possible, none should end up with a straight comb like the red star.

Red stars carry dominant white. I've done lots of crosses with similar birds here in Europe.

Your daughter should understand heterozygous and homozygous. Red star hens should be heterozygous for White. It's why their tail feathers are white, not black.


Crossed with the light brahma rooster, the dominant white from the Red star will give some completely white offspring.

So as Ridge said, the girls will all be silver based, or white like your Brahma roo. But some will have black tail feathers, and some will have white.

It would be easier if your daughter narrows the predictions down to just the hens on feather color. Roosters are too complicated.

How many do you plan to hatch?

Maybe sex-linked genetics are too complicated for a 5th grader, but she could also understand that hens always get their base color from dad, and that's why none of the Red Star's daughters are red like her.

Also she should be able to understand that if a chicken is heterozygous, it could pass two different possibilities to its offspring. That's where the dominant White would be fun to watch.
About half the hens should have black in the neck and tail like the Brahmas, and half should be pure white.

You could simplify it to the question of what is dominant, white tail or black tail? If she's smart, when she gets some of both, she'll figure out that mom or dad must be heterozygous.

Sorry, it's hard to think like a 5th grader, but maybe this gives you a few ways you can guide her as the birds feather out. You need to know the possibilities before you can make any predictions. The EE is a genetic mixed bag, so it's impossible to predict feather color. With feather color, then the only one she could try to predict is the offspring from the Red Star, since the light brahma hen's offspring will be purebred and too predictable.

Maybe have her look at differences between your light brahma hen and red star. The basic differences are base color (white vs. red) and tail/neck feathers, black vs. white.
The base color may be too confusing because it's sex-linked. That's why I would maybe guide your daughter to predict what color tail and neck feathers the female offspring might have.

Do you have the capability to hatch the eggs in separate little baskets so you know which chick is from which hen? That will be important to the project as well, especially if you use the EE. Your little purebred brahmas will have more leg feathering than the others, so you'll be able to pick them out easily, but if your EE has feathered legs as well, then you might have some trouble.

Hope she has lots of fun with the project! And I hope you get some great additions to your flock!