Hi Folks -
Need some help here - I'm alittle perplexed by something...
I hatched some serama eggs a year ago. These eggs were from 3 different breeders in 3 different states and none of them were associated with each other. I kept 2 roosters from Breeder A, 2 hens from Breeder B, and 1 hen from Breeder C.
Last fall, I hatched some chicks of my own from these birds and gave all but 2 hens to a friend (we'll call this the F1 generation). Although my roosters and hens are unrelated, I don't know if any of these F1 chicks were siblings or not, as I housed all my original seramas together.
I haven't hatched any chicks from my two F1 hens yet, but my friend recently hatched her own chicks (F2) from the F1's she got from me. Her F2's are only a couple weeks old now - they're very healthy and look like your every day cute little serama chicks - but some have feathered legs/feet!!
Its not extra heavy leg/foot feathering like, say, a bantam cochin or d'uccle, but its a pretty apparent line of feathers down the outer shank to the outer toe on each leg/foot.
Now, none of the F1's have feathered legs, and neither do any of the original birds from Breeders A, B or C. The original eggs were sold to me as being from "pure" seramas - and to my knowledge, Breeders A, B and C were NOT working with booted seramas, or mixing breeds to get new colors. And ALL these birds (originals, F1's and F2's) have smooth feathers, light skin, 4 toes on each foot, and single combs. This is the first of 3 generations of seramas to show anything other than standard serama traits.
How does this happen? Is it spontaneous, or carried? If carried, for how many generations can this feathered leg/foot gene remain hidden? Could these be "booted" seramas? Or a throw back from a mixed breeding?
Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this for me. Your advice will help to to figure out where I'm going with my serama flock...
Need some help here - I'm alittle perplexed by something...
I hatched some serama eggs a year ago. These eggs were from 3 different breeders in 3 different states and none of them were associated with each other. I kept 2 roosters from Breeder A, 2 hens from Breeder B, and 1 hen from Breeder C.
Last fall, I hatched some chicks of my own from these birds and gave all but 2 hens to a friend (we'll call this the F1 generation). Although my roosters and hens are unrelated, I don't know if any of these F1 chicks were siblings or not, as I housed all my original seramas together.
I haven't hatched any chicks from my two F1 hens yet, but my friend recently hatched her own chicks (F2) from the F1's she got from me. Her F2's are only a couple weeks old now - they're very healthy and look like your every day cute little serama chicks - but some have feathered legs/feet!!
Its not extra heavy leg/foot feathering like, say, a bantam cochin or d'uccle, but its a pretty apparent line of feathers down the outer shank to the outer toe on each leg/foot.
Now, none of the F1's have feathered legs, and neither do any of the original birds from Breeders A, B or C. The original eggs were sold to me as being from "pure" seramas - and to my knowledge, Breeders A, B and C were NOT working with booted seramas, or mixing breeds to get new colors. And ALL these birds (originals, F1's and F2's) have smooth feathers, light skin, 4 toes on each foot, and single combs. This is the first of 3 generations of seramas to show anything other than standard serama traits.
How does this happen? Is it spontaneous, or carried? If carried, for how many generations can this feathered leg/foot gene remain hidden? Could these be "booted" seramas? Or a throw back from a mixed breeding?
Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this for me. Your advice will help to to figure out where I'm going with my serama flock...
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