Developing My Own Breed Of Large Gamefowl For Free Range Survival (Junglefowl x Liege)

[Florida Bullfrog]

As long as each generation has at least one pea comb bird that carries single comb, and that bird passes on single comb to a bird in the next generation, it can continue forever.

As a practical matter, it is likely that breeding only from birds who show pea comb will eventually yield a line that is pure for pea comb-- but likely is not the same as certain!

Here is some more evidence that Jager/Orion, the black Wahl aseel that fathered Indo, carried recessive straight comb. Apparently Indo carries it too.

This chick is one of a few dozen Indo to either RIR or Austrolorp I've produce where I kept them penned together with no major likelihood of breeding with another rooster. This cockerel has come out straight combed. Indo is of course pea combed, and both his father and mother were pea combed.

This makes it more likely that the new game pullet I have that is supposed to be half-Blueface, half-Orion, but has a straight comb, is in fact what she is thought to be.

 

[Mugwumpgame]

@Florida Bullfrog. This might help. Comb type in chickens basically is controlled by two different genes on two different chromosomes. One is the rose comb gene (represented by the letter R), and the other is the pea comb gene (represented by the letter P). A presence of the gene is represented by the uppercase letter; an absence of the gene is represented by the lowercase letter. Both the rose comb gene and the pea comb gene can express themselves in the heterozygous state. That is, only one copy of the rose comb gene or the pea comb gene is sufficient for that type of comb to occur. Therefore, both genes can be thought of as dominant genes.

• When at least one copy of the rose comb gene is present and the pea comb gene is absent, the result is a rose comb. In other words, a chicken with a rose comb has one of two possible gene combinations: RRpp or Rrpp.
• When at least one copy of the pea comb gene is present and the rose comb gene is absent, the result is a pea comb. A chicken with a pea comb has one of two possible gene combinations: rrPP or rrPp.
• When at least one copy of each gene is present, the result is a walnut comb. A chicken with a walnut comb has one of four possible gene combinations: RRPP, RrPP, RRPp, or RrPp.
• When both genes are absent, the result is a single comb. A chicken with a single comb has the only possible gene combination: rrpp.

To further understand the genetics of comb type, consider the results of breeding certain chickens. For example, what happens if a chicken that breeds true for pea comb (that is, a chicken that has the gene combination rrPP) is crossed with a chicken that breeds true for rose comb (that is, a chicken that has the gene combination RRpp)? Considering that each parent contributes to the offspring one each of the two genes that control comb type, the only possible gene pair that the parent that breeds true for rose comb can donate is Rp. Similarly, the only possible gene pair that the parent that breeds true for pea comb can donate is rP. Consequently, as shown in Figure 3, all offspring from such a mating would have the heterozygous state for both genes (that is, RrPp) and would thus have walnut combs. The offspring, however, would not breed true for walnut combs; that is, birds with walnut combs bred to birds with walnut combs could produce offspring with other comb types.

Figure 3. Gene combinations resulting from mating a chicken that breeds true for pea comb with one that breeds true for rose comb.
Exploring further, if two of the offspring depicted in Figure 3 are crossed, the number of possible combinations of genes increases. Each parent could contribute one of four possible gene combinations, resulting in 16 genetic combinations in the offspring. By considering the phenotype associated with each different genotype combination, you can calculate the odds of a particular comb occurring in the offspring. As shown in Figure 4, there would be a 9/16 chance for a walnut comb, a 3/16 chance for a rose comb, a 3/16 chance for a pea comb, and a 1/16 chance for a single comb.

Figure 4. Gene combinations resulting from mating offspring of the cross depicted in the previous figure.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

So the Wahl aseel and Indo would have to be rrPp to breed to rrpp (straight combed) to produce a straight comb in the direct offspring. I can follow that. What I can’t follow is the odds. Wouldn’t the odds be 50/50 or better when Indo breeds to the straight comb to get straight combed offspring? What I’m seeing is only one in every few dozen are coming out straight combed.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Or, is it not true that a straight comb can never come from a first generation crossing from rrpp to rrPP?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Or, is it not true that a straight comb can never come from a first generation crossing from rrpp to rrPP?

If a chicken is pure for the pea comb gene, it cannot produce single combed chicks.

 

[genesis1verse1]

So @Florida Bullfrog are you wanting a particular comb for either project?

 

[AGeese]

I think he's going for a terror comb.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

So @Florida Bullfrog are you wanting a particular comb for either project?

I want the dinos to stay pea combed and the Crackers to stay straight combed, but I’d love to be able to sneak aseel blood and bury it in the Crackers while retaining bankivoid traits. I can likely do that through the straight combed half-aseel pullet I recently obtained.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

So here’s what I got:

Pea combed aseel to straight combed American: one pullet out of several dozen pea combed offspring came out straight combed. That happened off farm so I can’t the accuracy of the breeding.

Pea combed aseel to pea combed Liege produced pea combed Indo. Then pea combed Indo bred to straight combed layer produced one straight combed stag out of several dozen pea combed offspring. I can verify the accuracy of the breeding.

If the breeding is rrPp over rrpp, why aren’t more coming out straight combed? Shouldn’t half the chicks get Pp and half get pp?

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

In comparison, my brother bred a pea combed Sumatra to a straight combed American and produced several straight combed offspring, which is what I would expect based on the odds when rrPp is crossed to rrpp.