Chocolate Serama Breeders - dun and blue can be included here as well

[smoothmule]

Cara,
I put the little hen I got from you in with T-Roo a couple of days ago. I named her Molly,

She may not be chocolate but I love her look and she could make some seriously nice Chocolate chicks with T-Roo.

Here is the updated picture of the lil chocolate chick,

Here is a chick by Blu-T, a full brother to T-Roo who produced the chocolate chick. I have no idea what color this chick is. Looks dun? but could be anything. I hatched a pullet out this color a couple of years ago but she died at 6 months. There may be a combination of genes making this color but I guess it's possible that it's also a chocolate but diluted with blue since Blu-T is a blue wheaten. I really don't know....anybody here know?

 

[bigb-71]

i so badly want a hen like that if anybody has one let me know! thank you all.
Quote:

 

[luvinrunnin]

Smoothmule, that hen is beautiful and I am sure hoping you'll put me on the list for some of those chocolates!!!

 

[smoothmule]

Thank you luvinrunnin but it will be a while and while I have a couple of breeders that I may swap something with, I won't have anything for sale till I have the color established and that will take time. I don't plan to have a waiting list because by the time I started selling, the people interested now may not even have chickens plus I'm not good at keeping track anyway. I will post progress here though so by the time I do have something for sale I can let everyone know. That could be a couple of years though. Personally, I do wish there were more out there being bred but with the breeders that are working on the black color right now, those blacks will be an excellent way to rapidly produce more solid chocolates if I can get my project going as well. If anyone is interested in the solid chocolates, the true, sex linked recessive chocolate that is, then I would suggest you help work on developing some good, solid black Serama's with no red in the hackles of the rooster. Sounds easy but it's "not". Hens from those roosters, bred to a chocolate rooster that is solid will be the foundation for more solid chocolates.

Also, a solid chocolate rooster bred to a hen that is suspected to be chocolate can help figure out if she's really chocolate since breeding a chocolate rooster to a chocolate hen would have to produce 100% chocolate chicks, no exceptions. The key will be getting a solid chocolate rooster with no red in the hackles or other patterns and bleed through and I understand that has not been done yet so it may be the biggest challenge.

If you can't get chocolate now, look for solid blacks and start working on them to get great type and black to black breeding. There are some breeders that are working hard on black. Even their culls with a little red are better starters than some you find with no background to know if they came from black to black crosses. I have one black hen and she's producing coal black chicks by T-Roo but I don't know if I have any cockerels for sure yet and it will be months before I see red leakage. Plus, these are not even black to black breeding so I have my work cut out for me.

 

[luvinrunnin]

Smoothmule, I'm just starting out and love both the chocolate and the cocoapops. I'd eventually like to focus my breeding efforts on those two areas.

 

[smoothmule]

The Cocopops are very cool and there are several breeders working on them, they seem to be breeding very well. Just keep in mind for the chocolates that they are still rare enough they will need some time to be developed and that the black hens to chocolate roosters are a really good way to get started but the blacks need work on too. I'll be working on blacks as well and had been asking all over for a decent black rooster but the breeders working on black are still "working" on the black roosters to get them where they need to be. A flock of good black hens with a good quality background with 1 true chocolate rooster and there would be a bunch of chocolate chicks. Chocolate pullets from that could be crossed back to the chocolate rooster to set in the type but also for 100% chocolate chicks. From that, and the previous chocolate roosters, there could be chocolates all over the place. I just have to get past the hackle bleed through issues with the chocolates and the blacks and keep good type then it will come easily. I want to work with B's and C's and get healthy, good producers too then I can line breed to set type, color and get smaller birds.....gimme a few years

 

[luvinrunnin]

Well, I'm really new to it all and need to study the genetics better. Thanks for the great info Smoothmuke! I'll have to see what I can do to get going with the black/chocolate. Thanks again, and I will excitedly be watching your progress!!

 

[smoothmule]

Here is my smallest black so far, hatched June 2nd, this one is teeny. Looks like it might be a pullet but some of the cockerels are slower to show themselves. I would sure love it if this one is a cockerel but a black pullet would be excellent too so it's a win, win. I just brought this one in to take pictures. I have another like it with blacker legs and beak, even the comb is black. It's older and pretty confident it's a pullet. She will be for sale when it gets cooler. Both black chicks are by T-Roo, my chocolate carrier so it's possible any of his black cockerels will also be chocolate carriers. The hens will not. If a hen is black, or even has a black feather, she can't be chocolate or carry chocolate.


This one is a keeper, HD June 2nd

 

[smoothmule]

Here is one of T-Roo's chicks that is feathering out differently than I expected. If it's a cockerel, it could carry chocolate....as always, it's a wait and see thing.

 

[smoothmule]

This is a day old chick out of Truffles and Blu-T, wheaten? If a cockerel, it can carry chocolate.