I got three Ayam Cemani chicks in about the middle of October just to start off what I'm hoping to turn into a project of mine. One unfortunately died shortly after purchase, but I ended up with a Pullet and a Cockerel out of the remaining two, so I'm pretty content with what I have for breeding this spring/summer. I've been a pretty amateur breeder (but only with ducks, I'm fairly new with chickens) for a while, I just cross whatever I have and do some research into what alleles I'm dealing with to create some interesting phenotypes. I have a flock of backyard chickens, but I haven't done any breeding yet. I'm hoping to start breeding legitimately (at least some small populations of purebreds to fuel my mad-scientist's desire to cross-breed them.) I'm hoping to start a few projects, but without extensive knowledge of chicken genetics or breeds, I have a more "primitive" idea to start off and see if I can get anything interesting and refine it from there. My plan, basically, is to just put several breeds of chickens together and let them breed on their own, keeping track of who exactly parents which chicks (I'll only have one rooster per group.) Right now, I have seven hens discluding my AC pullet, a Buff Orpington, a Barred Plymouth Rock, a Black Copper Maran, and four Easter-Eggers of varying phenotypes. The AC cockerel is going to be my only rooster for next year's test batch. I'll be putting him in with a harem of all of the hens I previously described once he's big enough and waiting for babies. I know that the fibromelanism is dominant, but I've also seen people say that the gene is "tricky" or "weird", but they never actually explain it, so what exactly are my possibilities here? Is it just that when the birds only have one copy of the fibromelanism gene, the black phenotype is weaker? I'm not new to genetics or breeding at all, I'm just not familiar with how the AC allele interacts with other color and pattern alleles.
I know that "varied phenotypes" isn't exactly descriptive, but I'm not sure what to call my EEs. I know that one is Wheaten. I'll add some pictures of them.
I'm very happy with the development of my AC cockerel so far. He's still young, but his comb is coming in and his feathers are already in, and he's a beautiful solid iridescent black with no mulberry (yet.) He's already got a proper pretty-boy form developing. On the other hand, my AC pullet is also solid iridescent black, but I'm not happy with how she looks. She's got a longer face than her companion, and her eyes are much smaller in proportion to her face. Her comb is also coming in sort of flopped-over-like. I'll add a picture below. Is this just going to exasturbate as she grows, or will it grow out?
This is the pullet, I'll put the cockerel below.
I know that "varied phenotypes" isn't exactly descriptive, but I'm not sure what to call my EEs. I know that one is Wheaten. I'll add some pictures of them.
I'm very happy with the development of my AC cockerel so far. He's still young, but his comb is coming in and his feathers are already in, and he's a beautiful solid iridescent black with no mulberry (yet.) He's already got a proper pretty-boy form developing. On the other hand, my AC pullet is also solid iridescent black, but I'm not happy with how she looks. She's got a longer face than her companion, and her eyes are much smaller in proportion to her face. Her comb is also coming in sort of flopped-over-like. I'll add a picture below. Is this just going to exasturbate as she grows, or will it grow out?
This is the pullet, I'll put the cockerel below.
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