Comb questions

[CashewVulture]

Unfortunately, the Deathlayer egg didn’t make it. I don’t know what happend, the egg was there a day ago, but it has disappeared. My guess it that the mom might’ve broken the egg, and then ate the inside. She is now left with 3 Light Brahma/Icelandic mixes, 1 Barred Rock/Icelandic mix, and 1 purebred Spitzhauben.

I’m actually not 100% sure the Brahma and Barred rock babies are mixed with Icelandic, I’m just assuming since our Spitz roo has had trouble impressing our Brahma hen. Also because we have let our Icelandic roo (who has been separated from the rest of the flock) mate with the Brahma and Barred Rock since he was getting lonely.

Technically, there’s a chance one of them could be part Spitz but it’s very unlikely. I would’ve loved to see a pea/V comb cross though!

Unfortunately, the Deathlayer egg didn’t make it. I don’t know what happend, the egg was there a day ago, but it has disappeared. My guess it that the mom might’ve broken the egg, and then ate the inside. She is now left with 3 Light Brahma/Icelandic mixes, 1 Barred Rock/Icelandic mix, and 1 purebred Spitzhauben.

I’m actually not 100% sure the Brahma and Barred rock babies are mixed with Icelandic, I’m just assuming since our Spitz roo has had trouble impressing our Brahma hen. Also because we have let our Icelandic roo (who has been separated from the rest of the flock) mate with the Brahma and Barred Rock since he was getting lonely.

Technically, there’s a chance one of them could be part Spitz but it’s very unlikely. I would’ve loved to see a pea/V comb cross though!

Turns out I was wrong! The chick did hatch! I thought it was a Brahma cross at first…but I looked closer and it has a rose comb! The Brahmas have little pea combs. I can also see that it has little “horns” (the V comb nubs) at the top! So it’s much likely a Deathlayer/Spitzhauben!

Also, I realized by comparing pictures of our older Deathlayer mix I’ve been taking pictures of, is that this new chicks comb is a lot wider. The last picture is to show how the newest chick has a thicker rose comb.


It also means our previous chick, was probably a Deathlayer/Icelandic, not part Spitzhauben.

Here are some pics of the new chick

 

[NatJ]

Turns out I was wrong! The chick did hatch! I thought it was a Brahma cross at first…but I looked closer and it has a rose comb! The Brahmas have little pea combs. I can also see that it has little “horns” (the V comb nubs) at the top! So it’s much likely a Deathlayer/Spitzhauben!

Also, I realized by comparing pictures of our older Deathlayer mix I’ve been taking pictures of, is that this new chicks comb is a lot wider. The last picture is to show how the newest chick has a thicker rose comb.


It also means our previous chick, was probably a Deathlayer/Icelandic, not part Spitzhauben.

Here are some pics of the new chick

Nice! It will be interesting to watch how both of them develop!

 

[CashewVulture]

Nice! It will be interesting to watch how both of them develop!

Yes for sure!

I also have an unrelated question. We have 4 Brahma/Icelandic mix chicks, only 2 have feathered legs and the 2 others don’t seem to have any feathers on their feet/legs. Why is that? Is it just random? I thought all of them would have feathered legs.

 

[NatJ]

I also have an unrelated question. We have 4 Brahma/Icelandic mix chicks, only 2 have feathered legs and the 2 others don’t seem to have any feathers on their feet/legs. Why is that? Is it just random? I thought all of them would have feathered legs.

I would have expected feathers on the feet of all of them.

Do the Brahmas have heavily feathered legs, or just a few feathers? If the Brahmas only have a few feathers, they are more likely to produce a few clean-legged chicks. If the Brahmas have heavily feathered legs, they are much less likely to produce any clean-legged chicks.

You say they are Brahma/Icelandic mix chicks. How sure are you? Is there any chance they have a clean-legged parent instead?

 

[CashewVulture]

I would have expected feathers on the feet of all of them.

Do the Brahmas have heavily feathered legs, or just a few feathers? If the Brahmas only have a few feathers, they are more likely to produce a few clean-legged chicks. If the Brahmas have heavily feathered legs, they are much less likely to produce any clean-legged chicks.

You say they are Brahma/Icelandic mix chicks. How sure are you? Is there any chance they have a clean-legged parent instead?

The Brahma hen we have has only a few. She used to have more but she lost them recently. She’s never really been heavily feathered though.

We only have two brown egg layers, one Brahma and one Barred Rock. The Barred rock lays dark brown eggs and the Brahma lays a light brown egg. All the rest of our flock lay white eggs. Before the chicks hatched, the majority of the eggs were light brown. There was only one dark brown egg. (I know which chick hatched from the dark brown egg because it has a single comb) And since the chicks have pea combs, not single combs, I’m pretty sure they are Brahma mixes.

 

[NatJ]

The Brahma hen we have has only a few. She used to have more but she lost them recently. She’s never really been heavily feathered though.

We only have two brown egg layers, one Brahma and one Barred Rock. The Barred rock lays dark brown eggs and the Brahma lays a light brown egg. All the rest of our flock lay white eggs. Before the chicks hatched, the majority of the eggs were light brown. There was only one dark brown egg. (I know which chick hatched from the dark brown egg because it has a single comb) And since the chicks have pea combs, not single combs, I’m pretty sure they are Brahma mixes.

In that case, I agree that the Brahma must be the mother.

So it's just a case of some chicks not getting the gene for foot feathers, because the Brahma also has a gene for not-feathered feet and that's what she gave some of those chicks.

 

[CashewVulture]

Turns out I was wrong! The chick did hatch! I thought it was a Brahma cross at first…but I looked closer and it has a rose comb! The Brahmas have little pea combs. I can also see that it has little “horns” (the V comb nubs) at the top! So it’s much likely a Deathlayer/Spitzhauben!

Also, I realized by comparing pictures of our older Deathlayer mix I’ve been taking pictures of, is that this new chicks comb is a lot wider. The last picture is to show how the newest chick has a thicker rose comb.


It also means our previous chick, was probably a Deathlayer/Icelandic, not part Spitzhauben.

Here are some pics of the new chick

Nice! It will be interesting to watch

I have a few questions regarding chicken color genetics…if you don’t mind

Would you happen to know why the youngest Deathlayer mix is silver and the oldest one is gold? I know they have different fathers but both the fathers are silver.

Also, we have a Gold Spitzhauben hen who produced silver chicks. The father is Silver Spitzhauben. Is silver dominant? And if so, why did the oldest Deathlayer mix chick turn out gold if the father is silver? (Father silver colored Icelandic)

And lastly (unrelated to the deathlayers), one of our oldest Spitzhauben hens is cream colored with black spangles. The hatchery said they had Gold and Silver running together. What colored parents did she have to be cream with black spangles?

 

[Amer]

I have a few questions regarding chicken color genetics…if you don’t mind

Would you happen to know why the youngest Deathlayer mix is silver and the oldest one is gold? I know they have different fathers but both the fathers are silver.

Also, we have a Gold Spitzhauben hen who produced silver chicks. The father is Silver Spitzhauben. Is silver dominant? And if so, why did the oldest Deathlayer mix chick turn out gold if the father is silver? (Father silver colored Icelandic)

And lastly (unrelated to the deathlayers), one of our oldest Spitzhauben hens is cream colored with black spangles. The hatchery said they had Gold and Silver running together. What colored parents did she have to be cream with black spangles?

Silver is sexlinked (sort of incomplete) dominant: father passed silver to sons and daughters, mother passed gold to sons. Sons will be silver/gold heterozygous, meaning they will be silver with some yellow, daughters will be silver.

The gold chick clearly and a different father. Sperm can remain viable in a hen's system for three weeks, sometimes more.

 

[NatJ]

Would you happen to know why the youngest Deathlayer mix is silver and the oldest one is gold? I know they have different fathers but both the fathers are silver.

One of the fathers is Silver carrying gold. Silver is dominant, gold is recessive.

If the gold chick is a pullet, that is the whole explanation. If the gold chick is a cockerel, then the mother must also be gold.

Silver/gold are on the Z sex chromosome.

Roosters have ZZ, so they can have two silver genes or two gold genes or one of each. A rooster inherits one Z chromosome from each of his parents, and gives one Z chromosome to each chick he sires.

Hens have ZW. The Z has either gold or silver, is inherited from her father, and will be given to her sons. The W makes her female but doesn't seem to do anything else we would care about. A hen inherits it from her mother and gives it to her daughters.

Also, we have a Gold Spitzhauben hen who produced silver chicks. The father is Silver Spitzhauben. Is silver dominant? And if so, why did the oldest Deathlayer mix chick turn out gold if the father is silver? (Father silver colored Icelandic)

Yes, silver is dominant, and a rooster who looks silver can also be carrying gold.

And lastly (unrelated to the deathlayers), one of our oldest Spitzhauben hens is cream colored with black spangles. The hatchery said they had Gold and Silver running together. What colored parents did she have to be cream with black spangles?

The black spangles would be the same either way. To look cream, she probably has the gold gene. That would be inherited from her father, who must be either gold or silver/gold split (looks mostly silver.) Showing cream instead of gold would mean there is a gene diluting the gold color. There are at least two genes that can do that (one is called "cream" for obvious reasons.) I am guessing that gene traces back to a Silver ancestor, but it could be on the mother's side or the father's side. A gene to make gold lighter can also have the effect of making silver a nice white color (some silvers can look a little yellowish or dirty, and this gene would help clean that up.)

I think I've seen the name "citron" for cream chickens with black spangles or some other black patterns.

 

[CashewVulture]

If the gold chick is a pullet, that is the whole explanation. If the gold chick is a cockerel, then the mother must also be gold.

The gold chick I kept posting pictures of is a cockerel.

Also I noticed our silver Icelandic roo has a tiny bit of gold leakage. One or two of his feathers have gold on them. More “proof” that he is carrying a gold gene!

Thanks for the explanations! Really interesting! Everything makes sense now



Gold leakage