- Jul 14, 2010
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1000 chicks fine on current bedding. It's not really a bedding issue IMHO. I can't put my finger on it yet, but I'm working on it.
Could be you got some bad genetics mixed into the same line as that which is producing your tuxedos. Instead of being a characteristic of tuxedos, it might be a characteristic of the parent stock somewhere along the way.
Maybe try again with a variety of different breeding stock. If the problem continues to reoccur, from widely disparate stock, then perhaps you might be onto something.
I certainly won't deny the possibility. I've seen genetic issues tied to color with other animals before. For example, there is a particular color within Rocky Mountain Horses that is closely tied to a certain type of eye problem. A veterinary inspection is necessary to determine whether or not individuals of that particular color display the eye condition. I've heard of similar issues within other species of animals. I'd assume -- and this is assumption only since it's not a field I've done much reading on -- that the genes for color & those that create the other problems are on the same chromosome. Thus individuals getting one gene (or set of genes) are more likely to inherit the other, as well.
It may be that the same kind of thing occurs in quail & you are breeding in sufficient quantity to observe the results more clearly than those breeding in smaller numbers. (I, for one, would never make any such association with a cap of a few dozen total birds at any one time in my life.)
1000 chicks fine on current bedding. It's not really a bedding issue IMHO. I can't put my finger on it yet, but I'm working on it.
Could be you got some bad genetics mixed into the same line as that which is producing your tuxedos. Instead of being a characteristic of tuxedos, it might be a characteristic of the parent stock somewhere along the way.
Maybe try again with a variety of different breeding stock. If the problem continues to reoccur, from widely disparate stock, then perhaps you might be onto something.
I certainly won't deny the possibility. I've seen genetic issues tied to color with other animals before. For example, there is a particular color within Rocky Mountain Horses that is closely tied to a certain type of eye problem. A veterinary inspection is necessary to determine whether or not individuals of that particular color display the eye condition. I've heard of similar issues within other species of animals. I'd assume -- and this is assumption only since it's not a field I've done much reading on -- that the genes for color & those that create the other problems are on the same chromosome. Thus individuals getting one gene (or set of genes) are more likely to inherit the other, as well.
It may be that the same kind of thing occurs in quail & you are breeding in sufficient quantity to observe the results more clearly than those breeding in smaller numbers. (I, for one, would never make any such association with a cap of a few dozen total birds at any one time in my life.)
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