Cuckoo Pekin breed

[mellissa]

ive Just bought 2 x blue/black cuckoo Pekin pullets and have a splash hen.

What colour rooster would be best to produce cuckoo? Some have said I need black rooster with cuckoo gene.

And how would splash hen and blue cuckoo or black with cuckoo gene?

Thankyou

 

[sylviethecochin]

You'd probably want a barred/cuckoo black rooster, yes. A black cuckoo rooster (with both copies of cuckoo) will produce 100% barred peeps. That should combine with the blue hens to make 50% blue-cuckoo, 50% black cuckoo peeps. It should combine with the splash for 100% blue-barred peeps.

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[mellissa]

Thanks do you mean black rooster (cuckoo gene) or actually barred cuckoo.

 

[mellissa]

I have edited my first post forgot to say pullets are blue/black cuckoo barred.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Cuckoo is dominant. If a chicken has a copy of the cuckoo gene, that chicken will, by definition, be cuckoo.

And cuckoo is a chicken that is fast-feathering and barred pattern. Barred is a chicken that is slow-feathering and barred pattern. Barred is a cleaner, crisper color than cuckoo is.

A rooster can carry two copies of the cuckoo gene, a hen can only carry one. Roosters with both copies are lighter in color than roosters with only one copy are.