DUMB QUESTION about bird colors

[astylishgirl]

How do you get various chicken colors. Breeding the same to the same? Or do people mix colors to get certain colors? For instance... how do you get a splash? What happens when birds of different colors breed?

I am really new to birds and I want to know how it all works!

 

[LilPeeps]

It all depends on what colors you're trying to achieve. To get splash, you can use blue x blue to get 25% black, 50% blue and 25% splash or blue x splash for 50% blue, 50% splash or splash x splash for 100% splash. If you're looking to make something more complicated, such as mille fleur, you'd need columbian, buff, and mottled genes. For some breeds, you can use genes already existing in that particular breed, or if you're looking to produce a new color for a breed, you'll need to introduce the genes via another breed.

 

[Henk69]

Definitely a future customer for the chicken calculator.
Also applicable to horses, dogs and finches...

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

T.T I cant read the calculator.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Here is an English version: http://home.hetnet.nl/~h.meijers69/kruising.html

 

[astylishgirl]

way cool!!

 

[hoppy]

Quote:
don't believe everything that calculator tells you. I have reason to believe it's wrong in some of the crosses I tried and really did but got way different results.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Unless you know the exact genetic makeup of each of your birds, there will be some cases where it misses.

And then there are various genes that are not well documented.

Personally I think it is a wonderful tool.

 

[Henk69]

Quote:
don't believe everything that calculator tells you. I have reason to believe it's wrong in some of the crosses I tried and really did but got way different results.

What's wrong then?
I have heard this kind of comment more often but those people either did not come forward with anything or there was a simple explanation, a very informative one often. It is like in aviation. The machines are stupid but it is always human error that causes the crash...

If you just state this kind of critique people start using the other chicken calculators out there.

Maybe you came on to something that wasn't found before. To much knowledge has been lost in the past by this modesty...

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
don't believe everything that calculator tells you. I have reason to believe it's wrong in some of the crosses I tried and really did but got way different results.

The problem is not that the calculator is "wrong", but that there is often more than one way to create a given color. For instance, I recently learned that there are several ways to create even a common color like gold duckwing. There's also at least three ways I know of to create the mille fleur pattern. So there's often no simple answer to your breeding questions. Since the calculator only gives you one answer, if your birds happen to have a different version of the color you may get different results than what the calculator gave you.