Ha, chickens are like a box of chocolates in the fact you never know what you are going to get! Hidden traits can always arise from within. If you have a box of crayons and blend 2 or 3 different colors together, (shading), the outcome generally produces a color within the spectrum, but not always! We know oil and water don't mix well and they separate. Colors when mixed can separate also and give a splash or unknown effect such as barring or something totally different.. Some color transfers are dominant from the rooster, (such as barring effect), transferring to the hens. Working with solid colors can be more predictable to the outcome. Confused? There are genetic guidelines or color equations describing what should be the outcome by percentage of predictability. Black to black = 100% black and so on. It is all formulated as a standard of practice. But! It can take multiple generations to get a color to start breeding true within a new color strain. It is easier to go to a paint store and look and hundreds of color charts and choose which one you like. They mix the paint dye additives and you have the perfect shade and color you want!
Crossbreeding a specific breed of 2 different colors can awe you with an oddball hatch color you fall in love with and want more of the same! You are gold mining and struck it rich! Its rare and you have an itch for more. Got to love that yellow pigment! Keep digging.
Confused? Yes
Theres a method to the mayhem in the world of breeding.
Of course if youre breeding birds that you have no idea of their genetic makeup then youre not going to know what youll get.
If youre breeding birds that you know then you know exactly what youll get.
Breeding birds isnt anything like crayons. Its not simple blending colors. Cant breed a blue rooster to a red hen and get purple chicks.
Oil and water? Not sure about any of this blending colors or colors separating. Splash isnt from colors separating and dont just pop up out of anywhere. It comes from two genes for blue. Blue shows so if youre not breeding blue chickens then it isnt likely to be popping up.
Same with barred. Barred shows so if youre breeding a barred bird it is going to show up in chicks if youre not breeding barred it doesnt pop up out of nowheres in chicks.
Dont know about it being rooster dominate or what you mean.
It is a sex link gene as are some other genes so roosters have two copies while hens can only have one.
Barring is a dominate gene but its dominate for hens too. Black rooster over barred hens gives you barred male and black female offspring.
Solid colors are no more predictable really then patterns. It doesnt get more simple as far as a color then solid black or solid white but both of those can carry just about anything unseen. If you dont know their breeding and whats behind them then they can cause more issues then a complex looking patterned bird.
If you know the genes your birds carry you will know what to expect. Some patterns/colors are more complex then others so more choices in how their genes will connect and the outcome of the chicks.
Other colors are simple and you will have few choices of what the chicks will be. BBS i think is great for starting out in breeding.
It also all depends on what genes are dominate and what ones are recessive in your birds.
Recessive ones are what causes things to pop up if they do. Some genes are dominate but can be hidden by other genes. Such as the mentioned splash and barring. They can both be hidden on a white bird. You just have to break down what genes are in your birds that you are breeding.
Theres not a lot of charts because theres so many genes in chickens it would be too much for a cart. Check out the chicken calculator.
Just like your chart said black x black = 100% black. Thats only for BBS breeding and only concerning those genes. Theres been tons of times ive bred black to black and got other colors. In lavender breeding lavender is recessive so you can have two black chickens that both carry lavender and end up with 25% lavender and 75% black. You can split black with a lot of things since black is so dominate to others. Black can carry recessive colors like lavender. Sex link colors like chocolate. Other patterns like wheaten or wild type and combinations of more then one.
Understanding chicken breeding as a whole and every aspect of it can seem impossible and even the veteran breeders will never know everything thing but its not like a box of chocolates.
If someone wants to try to figure it out start small and build up from the basics. Pick a breed or a bird and break it down genetically. Understand what makes it look the way it does. What is dominate and what is recessive. Learn in small steps instead of looking at it as so complicated.
I was wondering if the Birchin will help make sexlinks kinda like Isbars hens and Cream Legbar Roo combo. Trying to decide if I should keep the Blue Birchin Maran Roo
