Deerhen Project

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2 more have hatched! One black and one with a gold face and possibly a tad more gold on its body than cookie did when she was born.

If the sexlink theory holds true then the gold faced one will turn out female and the white will be a male. Unsure about the black one.

 

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Here's the new chick compared to its mother cookie when she was born.

 

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Here's Marshmallow when he was born compared to the new white chick.

 

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There's definitely minor differences in beak color and the white one has yellow legs which I kinda figured would happen. I'm unsure if the gold faced one has feathered legs or a top notch of feathers on the head. But I suppose the top notch is less visible at this age. Even on Cookie her top notch of feathers is very minor. Her full brother Tim has some that's a bit more visually apparent. Their mother curry was a Crested cream legbar.

The black chick looks like it's taking after it's father Marshmallow with some leg feathering and I'm curious if any will come out with both a top notch and feathered legs.

 

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If I were to continue with this line what birds would I need to keep the inbreeding to a minimum. The breeding line so far has been (Golden commet x Golden duckwing pheonix = Sampson).
(Sampson x black copper maran= Marshmallow). (Sampson x crested cream legbar= Cookie).

Would I need to get more birds like Sampson in order to make more like cookie and Marshmallow or could I just get new BCM and CCLB's and breed them to Sampson?

 

[NatJ]

If I were to continue with this line what birds would I need to keep the inbreeding to a minimum. The breeding line so far has been (Golden commet x Golden duckwing pheonix = Sampson).
(Sampson x black copper maran= Marshmallow). (Sampson x crested cream legbar= Cookie).

Would I need to get more birds like Sampson in order to make more like cookie and Marshmallow or could I just get new BCM and CCLB's and breed them to Sampson?

As regards inbreeding, given that you started with 4 different breeds, I think you could go for quite a while before it would become a problem.

You could probably do it either way, or use descendants of Sampson with newly-bought hens, or buy a rooster from one or another of the breeds involved. I've forgotten which way you are trying to go with this line, so I can't say off the top of my head which one of those strategies will be best for your overall goals. But I think any of them will be okay as regards inbreeding, at least for several years.

 

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As regards inbreeding, given that you started with 4 different breeds, I think you could go for quite a while before it would become a problem.

You could probably do it either way, or use descendants of Sampson with newly-bought hens, or buy a rooster from one or another of the breeds involved. I've forgotten which way you are trying to go with this line, so I can't say off the top of my head which one of those strategies will be best for your overall goals. But I think any of them will be okay as regards inbreeding, at least for several years.

I may do some clan breeding so that's why I was wondering. So if I got hens and roosters from breeding cookie and Marshmallow who are already half siblings I could probably breed those full sibling pairs in order to get f2 to f4 chicks? These new chicks would technically be f1.

 

[E flowers]

I may do some clan breeding so that's why I was wondering. So if I got hens and roosters from breeding cookie and Marshmallow who are already half siblings I could probably breed those full sibling pairs in order to get f2 to f4 chicks? These new chicks would technically be f1.

Also would the breeding go something like this? About what generation would I need to bring in fresh birds?

 

[NatJ]

I may do some clan breeding so that's why I was wondering. So if I got hens and roosters from breeding cookie and Marshmallow who are already half siblings I could probably breed those full sibling pairs in order to get f2 to f4 chicks? These new chicks would technically be f1.

Hmm.

I think you could probably breed full-sibling chicks for at least one generation, maybe two, but you should probably add at least a few more birds before you go much further than that.

If you want clans, maybe set up each clan with some new hens from the various breeds you want (one breed per clan could make up to 4 clans), and the original roosters can be Sampson, Marshmallow, and one or two males descended from the Cookie/Marshmallow pairing. Then if you swap cockerels from one clan to another, they will all have different mothers, so there won't be too much inbreeding overall, even if you follow the pattern for quite some years. Each clan will have a heavier influence from whichever hen breed went into it at first, but they will all have some influence from the other breeds as well, because of swapping cockerels around.

Possible starting pens might be:

Since Marshmallow already has a Black Copper Marans mother, and his father was Sampson (Golden comet x Golden duckwing pheonix), he might have a pen of Cream Legbar hens. That makes all 4 breeds represented in one pen.

Because Sampson is already Golden Comet x Golden Duckwing Phoenix, he might get a pen of Black Copper Marans hens or Cream Legbar hens (but Cream Legbars would overlap with what Marshmallow gets, so maybe give Marans to Sampson.)

Any breed of hens might get a son of Marshmallow & Cookie, but Golden Comets or Golden Duckwing Phoenix are the ones I didn't already suggest a rooster for. I don't know if you want any more Phoenix traits or not-- if you don't want any more of that, go with Golden Comets for a third pen and don't bother having a fourth pen.

You could do a spiral mating system (pullets stay in the clan they came from, cockerels move to the next pen over to produce chicks with the pullets there.) Or you could interbreed within a clan for several generations, then swap some birds from one clan to another and interbreed within a clan for a while longer.

 

[E flowers]

Hmm.

I think you could probably breed full-sibling chicks for at least one generation, maybe two, but you should probably add at least a few more birds before you go much further than that.

If you want clans, maybe set up each clan with some new hens from the various breeds you want (one breed per clan could make up to 4 clans), and the original roosters can be Sampson, Marshmallow, and one or two males descended from the Cookie/Marshmallow pairing. Then if you swap cockerels from one clan to another, they will all have different mothers, so there won't be too much inbreeding overall, even if you follow the pattern for quite some years. Each clan will have a heavier influence from whichever hen breed went into it at first, but they will all have some influence from the other breeds as well, because of swapping cockerels around.

Possible starting pens might be:

Since Marshmallow already has a Black Copper Marans mother, and his father was Sampson (Golden comet x Golden duckwing pheonix), he might have a pen of Cream Legbar hens. That makes all 4 breeds represented in one pen.

Because Sampson is already Golden Comet x Golden Duckwing Phoenix, he might get a pen of Black Copper Marans hens or Cream Legbar hens (but Cream Legbars would overlap with what Marshmallow gets, so maybe give Marans to Sampson.)

Any breed of hens might get a son of Marshmallow & Cookie, but Golden Comets or Golden Duckwing Phoenix are the ones I didn't already suggest a rooster for. I don't know if you want any more Phoenix traits or not-- if you don't want any more of that, go with Golden Comets for a third pen and don't bother having a fourth pen.

You could do a spiral mating system (pullets stay in the clan they came from, cockerels move to the next pen over to produce chicks with the pullets there.) Or you could interbreed within a clan for several generations, then swap some birds from one clan to another and interbreed within a clan for a while longer.

Cookie does have a full brother (Tim) who's Cuckoo barred I believe. Could I pair him with golden commets?