Color genetics thread.

[junebuggena]

ok so i have a standard blue cochin rooster. and two gold laced sebright hens. and i have two questions. 1. is it phisically possible for the cochin who could be weighed in pounds to breed with the sebrights who could be weighed in ounces. and if so what would i get out of that breeding both size wise and color wise?

It's possible for him to breed those hens, but you would be risking serious injury. Chicks would be mostly solid black or blue, with rose combs and feathered legs. They would end up somewhere in between in size.

 

[Hatching]

ok so i have a standard blue cochin rooster. and two gold laced sebright hens. and i have two questions. 1. is it phisically possible for the cochin who could be weighed in pounds to breed with the sebrights who could be weighed in ounces. and if so what would i get out of that breeding both size wise and color wise?

You could always try to artificially inseminate the hens if you wanted to cross the two breeds. It's relatively easy to do all you really need is an eyedropper and the two birds. As with color most likely half blue half black with red leakage.

 

[morbius18]

Do cuckoo or barred birds that are heterozygous recessive white show some 'leakage'? Whilt technically not leakage, are these birds more prone to white tail feathers or primary feathers? My Golden Cuckoo Marans rooster carries recessive white and passed it to my f1s. He has a few mostly white primaries and 2 tail feathers. The f2s from the f1s have a few juveniles that show a few white primaries. The feathers are cuckoo 1/4 the way down and white the remaining 3/4.

I know this is a flaw and these birds will be sold as grade hens or eaten if roosters, but would this be an indication of them carrying the recessive white gene?

 

[Wappoke]

Do cuckoo or barred birds that are heterozygous recessive white show some 'leakage'? Whilt technically not leakage, are these birds more prone to white tail feathers or primary feathers? My Golden Cuckoo Marans rooster carries recessive white and passed it to my f1s. He has a few mostly white primaries and 2 tail feathers. The f2s from the f1s have a few juveniles that show a few white primaries. The feathers are cuckoo 1/4 the way down and white the remaining 3/4.




I know this is a flaw and these birds will be sold as grade hens or eaten if roosters, but would this be an indication of them carrying the recessive white gene?

It is not unusual for juvenile barred birds to have white flight feathers especially the primary feathers. Chickens normally go through two molts of the flight feathers from chick to adult plumage. Through the two molts, the mature bird may replace the white feathers with barred feathers. This has been my experience with birds that carry sex-linked barring. None of my birds carried recessive white ( to the best of my knowledge). My birds never produced white sports.

 

[Wishapup]

I am trying to figure out the genotypes of my Orpingtons.

I hatched a number of Buff Orps from purchased hatching eggs.

They are a few weeks old and something interesting has become evident. All the females are solid buff. Of the males, a few are buff and some are showing buff barring. Instantly I thought of lemon cuckoo parentage.

When I inquired, the breeder said that a few of the hens may carry the lemon cuckoo gene.

Now, from my knowledge of chicken genetics, a hen can't carry the barring gene without showing it. I may be wrong if lemon cuckoo works differently.

I thought roosters were ZZ and hens ZW. The barring gene is on the Z. Roosters can be single or double barred (B/b+ or B/B?). Hens are either B or b+.

So if all the breeder's flock were solid buff and showed no barring, how did I get lemon cuckoo cockerels?

The only thing that makes sense to me is that the rooster is single barred. But then I should have some lemon cuckoo hens as well, and the breeder would know if the rooster was barred or not.

Can someone correct whatever I have wrong here?

I am hoping to figure out the genetics of my buff pullets, buff cockerels, and lemon cuckoo cockerels.

 

[Lozuufy]

I am trying to figure out the genotypes of my Orpingtons.

I hatched a number of Buff Orps from purchased hatching eggs.

They are a few weeks old and something interesting has become evident. All the females are solid buff. Of the males, a few are buff and some are showing buff barring. Instantly I thought of lemon cuckoo parentage.

When I inquired, the breeder said that a few of the hens may carry the lemon cuckoo gene.

Now, from my knowledge of chicken genetics, a hen can't carry the barring gene without showing it. I may be wrong if lemon cuckoo works differently.

I thought roosters were ZZ and hens ZW. The barring gene is on the Z. Roosters can be single or double barred (B/b+ or B/B?). Hens are either B or b+.

So if all the breeder's flock were solid buff and showed no barring, how did I get lemon cuckoo cockerels?

The only thing that makes sense to me is that the rooster is single barred. But then I should have some lemon cuckoo hens as well, and the breeder would know if the rooster was barred or not.

Can someone correct whatever I have wrong here?

I am hoping to figure out the genetics of my buff pullets, buff cockerels, and lemon cuckoo cockerels.

I have never seen a lemon cuckoo hen in person, but from the pictures I've seen the barring looks barely noticeable (on the hens) so maybe the breeder can't really see if they are lemon cuckoo...

not sure if this helps at all.

 

[Wishapup]

I have never seen a lemon cuckoo hen in person, but from the pictures I've seen the barring looks barely noticeable (on the hens) so maybe the breeder can't really see if they are lemon cuckoo...

not sure if this helps at all.

I think you have it, Lozuufy. I was looking at images online. While the roosters definitely seem lemon cuckoo, the hens' barring is a lot less evident than I expected. In some pictures it looks like a light buff hen with a few white-ish feathers. So I can definitely see why the breeder could have lemon cuckoo hens and not know it.

After reading a little more, I much prefer the roosters' look! Perhaps this is why the colour has never really taken off. Or maybe it has, I just haven't heard much about it compared to things like chocolate and lavender.

Anyway, the two I have are beautiful! Thanks for replying!

 

[Wappoke]

I am trying to figure out the genotypes of my Orpingtons.

I hatched a number of Buff Orps from purchased hatching eggs.

They are a few weeks old and something interesting has become evident. All the females are solid buff. Of the males, a few are buff and some are showing buff barring. Instantly I thought of lemon cuckoo parentage.

When I inquired, the breeder said that a few of the hens may carry the lemon cuckoo gene.

Now, from my knowledge of chicken genetics, a hen can't carry the barring gene without showing it. I may be wrong if lemon cuckoo works differently.

I thought roosters were ZZ and hens ZW. The barring gene is on the Z. Roosters can be single or double barred (B/b+ or B/B?). Hens are either B or b+.

So if all the breeder's flock were solid buff and showed no barring, how did I get lemon cuckoo cockerels?

The only thing that makes sense to me is that the rooster is single barred. But then I should have some lemon cuckoo hens as well, and the breeder would know if the rooster was barred or not.

Can someone correct whatever I have wrong here?

I am hoping to figure out the genetics of my buff pullets, buff cockerels, and lemon cuckoo cockerels.

I agree with your genetics. I produced rhode bars ( barred rhode island red) and the females were a very light color and the barring was indistinct


parents of your birds

male buff x female buff/barred = males that are buff barred and females that are buff

 

[Simple-country]

I'm desperately hunting for an answer so I'm hijacking this post! Sorry!! Last year I acquired a splash Orpington pullet. This year I went out and found a super nice blue cockerel. I have had them in a breeding pen by themselves for over 2 months with another splash pullet. In the last couple days, one of my hens has hatched out 5 babies. Now here is the question. Out of her eggs, she has 2 splash, 1 blue, and 2 BLACK. How did this happen? I can't find an answer anywhere since blue and splash are suppose to be 50% blue/50% splash. PS My girls had ZERO contact with any other rooster than the blue. The eggs she is hatching out are hers and her sister's only.

 

[ShadesofSable]

I'm desperately hunting for an answer so I'm hijacking this post! Sorry!! Last year I acquired a splash Orpington pullet. This year I went out and found a super nice blue cockerel. I have had them in a breeding pen by themselves for over 2 months with another splash pullet. In the last couple days, one of my hens has hatched out 5 babies. Now here is the question. Out of her eggs, she has 2 splash, 1 blue, and 2 BLACK. How did this happen? I can't find an answer anywhere since blue and splash are suppose to be 50% blue/50% splash. PS My girls had ZERO contact with any other rooster than the blue. The eggs she is hatching out are hers and her sister's only.

Is it possible that one of the splash hens is actually heterozygonous for dominant white? Which could display as a white bird with blue or black markings?