Cockatiel or Crested?

[Egzermalda]

Just Kidding!

This ~5 week old Cockerel (I assume) is looking more like a Cockatiel daily. As a chick he had muffs, which may grow back ae he finishes molting his down and gets his face and neck feathers.

He was bought at 2-3 days of age with 9 other chicks as an "Easter Egger", private breeder, not hatchery. She gave me a list of the possible roosters and the possible hens. There were clean and feathered legged chicks, I chose only clean legged). I bought 5 "light" (mostly yellow) colors and 5 "dark" (mostly blue/black) colors.
Roosters: Splash Silverudd Blue and Cochin
Hens: Frost White Legbar, Black Americauna (breeder, not hatchery), Olive Eggers (look like cream legbars), Brahma, Cochin, White Leghorn, Black Copper Maran(feathered legged).
So my best guess is this guy is the Silverudd over either the Frost White Legbar or possibly an Olive Egger? He has a few small smudges of light blue, but is basically white.
Any other guesses?
I would also like to know if the crest in Legbars is the same gene as other crested chickens (Polish. Houdan etc), because it looks so different (smaller). And what is the genetics of the crest in Legbars/Aurucauna/Ameicauna?

 

[NatJ]

I would also like to know if the crest in Legbars is the same gene as other crested chickens (Polish. Houdan etc), because it looks so different (smaller).

I think it is the same gene that causes the chicken to grow a crest, but there are other genes that affect how big the crest grows. Those other genes would be the ones making it a different size.

And what is the genetics of the crest in Legbars/Aurucauna/Ameicauna?

Legbars have a crest.

Araucana in the USA does not have a crest. Araucana in some other countries does have a crest (same name, same blue eggs, bird looks very different.)

Ameraucana does not have a crest.

This ~5 week old Cockerel (I assume) is looking more like a Cockatiel daily. As a chick he had muffs, which may grow back ae he finishes molting his down and gets his face and neck feathers.

Yes, he probably will grow muff feathers too.

So my best guess is this guy is the Silverudd over either the Frost White Legbar or possibly an Olive Egger? He has a few small smudges of light blue, but is basically white.

I agree about the father, since you only got clean-legged chicks, and the Silverudd is the only clean-legged rooster. The Cochin would probably have produced chicks with feathered legs.

I don't think Silverudds have crests or muffs, so the mother should have both of those. Ameraucana should not have a crest, and Legbar should not have muffs, so that would leave Olive Egger as the only option. The other breeds you listed would not have crest or muffs, so that obviously rules them all out.

 

[Egzermalda]

Yes, he probably will grow muff feathers too

Indeed, it is a week later and the muff is definitively growing back in.

I agree about the father, since you only got clean-legged chicks, and the Silverudd is the only clean-legged rooster. The Cochin would probably have produced chicks with feathered legs.

Many of the chicks available at the breeder had feathered legs, I deliberately chose those without.

I don't think Silverudds have crests or muffs, so the mother should have both of those. Ameraucana should not have a crest, and Legbar should not have muffs, so that would leave Olive Egger as the only option. The other breeds you listed would not have crest or muffs, so that obviously rules them all out

Interesting about the Olive Egger mom, OK, thanks. I thought maybe the Silverudds and the Americaunas both having Crested (legbars for the Silverudds) and Muffed (Araucauna for the Americauna), in their breed development could potentially produce a chick with both.

 

[NatJ]

Interesting about the Olive Egger mom, OK, thanks. I thought maybe the Silverudds and the Americaunas both having Crested (legbars for the Silverudds) and Muffed (Araucauna for the Americauna), in their breed development could potentially produce a chick with both.

Crest is caused by a dominant gene. So if it a chicken does not show a crest, it does not have that gene, so it cannot give that gene to the chick. So no matter what was used to develop the Silverudds, if the current rooster has no crest, he cannot give a crest to his chicks.

Muffs are also caused by a dominant gene. If a chicken does not show muffs, it does not have that gene, so it cannot give that gene to the chick.

Araucana in the USA does not have muffs. It has ear tufts instead, which are caused by yet another gene. Araucana does have muffs in some other countries, and Ameraucana does have muffs too.

Yes an Ameraucana could give muffs to the chick. The only reason I ruled out the Ameraucana mother is because the chick needs to get muffs AND crest from the mother, if the father has no crest. The Olive Egger is the only kind of chicken in the list that could have both muffs and crest.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Araucauna

Araucana have Tufts. A completely different gene than what Ameraucana and Americana have, which are muffs

 

[Egzermalda]

Crest is caused by a dominant gene. So if it a chicken does not show a crest, it does not have that gene, so it cannot give that gene to the chick. So no matter what was used to develop the Silverudds, if the current rooster has no crest, he cannot give a crest to his chicks.

Muffs are also caused by a dominant gene. If a chicken does not show muffs, it does not have that gene, so it cannot give that gene to the chick.

Araucana in the USA does not have muffs. It has ear tufts instead, which are caused by yet another gene. Araucana does have muffs in some other countries, and Ameraucana does have muffs too.

Yes an Ameraucana could give muffs to the chick. The only reason I ruled out the Ameraucana mother is because the chick needs to get muffs AND crest from the mother, if the father has no crest. The Olive Egger is the only kind of chicken in the list that could have both muffs and crest.

Cool. So, does this mean this rooster will pass on his crest and muffs to all his chicks? And hopefully his blue egg genes?

 

[NatJ]

So, does this mean this rooster will pass on his crest and muffs to all his chicks? And hopefully his blue egg genes?

He will probably give crest to about half his chicks, and muffs to about half his chicks. Some chicks will get crest and muffs, some will get just one or just the other, and some will not get either one.

He almost certainly has has one gene for crest and one for not-crest. That means he shows a crest (because it is dominant), but can give either gene to his chicks. The same with muffs, he would have one gene for muffs and one for not-muffs. He shows muffs because that is the dominant gene, but he can give either gene to his chicks.

If he inherited the blue egg gene from both parents, then he will give it to every chick he sires. But some olive eggers also have the not-blue egg gene, so he might have inherited that instead. If that happened, he will give the blue egg gene to half his chicks, and not-blue to the other half.

 

[Egzermalda]

He just keeps getting handsomer.