Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Grandma The Chicken]

Intruder Alert

 

[Ponypoor]

Intruder Alert
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What/who’s the intruder?!

 

[Marie2020]

I don't know how I could have forgotten this. In my very first flock, 10 years ago, I had 2 Australorps. I named them LaVerne and Shirley, but LaVerne turned out to be Verne. We lost most of our first flock to a bald eagle attack. We didn't have them very long. The river has fish again, so the eagles are not bothering anyone's chickens anymore, but we all had a rough year around here.

I've been in love with the Australorps from the beginning. They have such sweet soulful eyes and great personalities. Here are two of my 3 current 8 year olds with a couple flock mates.

I bought that little coop 8 years ago to raise these 3 australorps in a climate controlled garage room. I've kept it ever since, although we've never used it since then. We call it the restaurant at the end of the universe. We used to make it a feeding station, but it leaks now so we don't do that anymore.

View attachment 4067251

 

[rural mouse]

I am confused. I think this says something different.
Post in thread 'How does the autosexing gene work?'
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-does-the-autosexing-gene-work.1308092/post-21319522

It's saying the same thing but it's getting into more than just barring.

Barring is on the Z chromosome. Hens ( works for all birds) are ZW while Roos are ZZ. The one spot vs 2 spots the post talks about. Becase a hen only has 1 Z chromosome, she can only ever have 1 copy of the barring gene. A roo has 2 Z chromosomes so CAN have 2 copies. Barring is a dominant trait so ALWAYS shows.

Sex link breeding frequently (but not exclusively) takes advantage of this by breeding a barred female with a not barred (that wild type mentioned in the linked post) male. Results: female gives barring to male offspring but cannot give barring to female offspring because MUST give W gene for offspring to be female. Male gives not barred to both on Z gene. Thus a sex-link (sexable at hatch) like @Ponypoor Shirley is the result, but could come from a roo like @Desertvalleychickens Ijak who is clearly double barred (ZZ with barring on both genes). It's used with 2 separate breeds to create the first step in an auto-sexing line, but the subsequent breeding never gets completed for new auto-sexing breeds.

A roo like Ijak will give barring to ALL his offspring, so isn't usable for sex link breeding. Auto-sexing comes in when the barring and the black breasted/salmon breasted (BBR) have been combined (purposfully) over enough generations for both the barring and the BBR to happen with EVERY hatch. Your cream legbars and the other _____bars are perfect examples of that.

If someone were truly interested in doing so, taking....say the Cuckoo Marans (not French): barred, chocolate eggs and the Salmon Faverolle: bearded/muffed, 5 toes, BBR....they could create an auto-sexing new breed of dark brown, 5 toed, bearded/muffed, barred birds (likely dubbed Cuckoo Faverolles). It would take about 7 generations to get the auto-sexing fixed into the project, but lots more to get the body type consistent due to the need to breed back in some of the other traits.

Isabel gets into similar things by combining BBR with lavender rather than with barring, but barring can get mixed in also, making for a more complicated breeding program being as 1, lavender is NOT on the Z chromosome, but rather a different area and 2, HIDES when only 1 copy is present. This does mean that ALL lavender birds (Hattie, Piglet, Laverne) have 2 copies of the lavender gene in order to show lavender at all. In breeding for the color, lots of birds carry but don't show the trait. This creates the need for either genetic testing (pricy) or lots of test hatches to see if a bird carries the trait (breeding a black roo to lavender hens or a lavender roo to black hens, the black birds being suspected of hidden lavender) keeping careful records and marking EVERY bird to keep track of that is a full time job.

 

[RoyalChick]

It's saying the same thing but it's getting into more than just barring.

Barring is on the Z chromosome. Hens ( works for all birds) are ZW while Roos are ZZ. The one spot vs 2 spots the post talks about. Becase a hen only has 1 Z chromosome, she can only ever have 1 copy of the barring gene. A roo has 2 Z chromosomes so CAN have 2 copies. Barring is a dominant trait so ALWAYS shows.

Sex link breeding frequently (but not exclusively) takes advantage of this by breeding a barred female with a not barred (that wild type mentioned in the linked post) male. Results: female gives barring to male offspring but cannot give barring to female offspring because MUST give W gene for offspring to be female. Male gives not barred to both on Z gene. Thus a sex-link (sexable at hatch) like @Ponypoor Shirley is the result, but could come from a roo like @Desertvalleychickens Ijak who is clearly double barred (ZZ with barring on both genes). It's used with 2 separate breeds to create the first step in an auto-sexing line, but the subsequent breeding never gets completed for new auto-sexing breeds.

A roo like Ijak will give barring to ALL his offspring, so isn't usable for sex link breeding. Auto-sexing comes in when the barring and the black breasted/salmon breasted (BBR) have been combined (purposfully) over enough generations for both the barring and the BBR to happen with EVERY hatch. Your cream legbars and the other _____bars are perfect examples of that.

If someone were truly interested in doing so, taking....say the Cuckoo Marans (not French): barred, chocolate eggs and the Salmon Faverolle: bearded/muffed, 5 toes, BBR....they could create an auto-sexing new breed of dark brown, 5 toed, bearded/muffed, barred birds (likely dubbed Cuckoo Faverolles). It would take about 7 generations to get the auto-sexing fixed into the project, but lots more to get the body type consistent due to the need to breed back in some of the other traits.

Isabel gets into similar things by combining BBR with lavender rather than with barring, but barring can get mixed in also, making for a more complicated breeding program being as 1, lavender is NOT on the Z chromosome, but rather a different area and 2, HIDES when only 1 copy is present. This does mean that ALL lavender birds (Hattie, Piglet, Laverne) have 2 copies of the lavender gene in order to show lavender at all. In breeding for the color, lots of birds carry but don't show the trait. This creates the need for either genetic testing (pricy) or lots of test hatches to see if a bird carries the trait (breeding a black roo to lavender hens or a lavender roo to black hens, the black birds being suspected of hidden lavender) keeping careful records and marking EVERY bird to keep track of that is a full time job.

Thank you!!!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Hi everyone.

Just popping in for a few minutes before I head to work. I hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday. I cannot wait until tomorrow. I did all the heavy cleaning the last 2 days so tomorrow I can be lazy and not feel guilty. Tomorrow I am either napping or outside with the chickies. Dad is picking me up another bag of the Kalmbach feed today. They are going crazy over it, love it and not wasting any so it is worth the extra dollar or two per bag. I got a dozen eggs Thursday and 13 yesterday. I cannot give credit to the feed, it is that time of year for them to be picking up laying. I will say they eggs are tasty, but they always are and very strong shells.

George is adjusting to not being with the silkies. It does help that he can see them and talk to them through the coop door. I thought he would finally start roosting. Nope, he has convinced Mrs. E. to snuggle with him at night on top of the tote. 1 of the silkies is using the roost in their coop. The rest of them all have a nice cuddle pile under the roost. After 2 nights of attempted roost training I admitted defeat and gave them some hay to sleep in. I still put them on the roost at night, but they have a warm bed to pile up on when they choose.

Turkey is still a wild tiny terror who does not want me to hold her or touch her. She is all for flying on top of my head to sit though.

 

[Ponypoor]

Hi everyone.

Just popping in for a few minutes before I head to work. I hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday. I cannot wait until tomorrow. I did all the heavy cleaning the last 2 days so tomorrow I can be lazy and not feel guilty. Tomorrow I am either napping or outside with the chickies. Dad is picking me up another bag of the Kalmbach feed today. They are going crazy over it, love it and not wasting any so it is worth the extra dollar or two per bag. I got a dozen eggs Thursday and 13 yesterday. I cannot give credit to the feed, it is that time of year for them to be picking up laying. I will say they eggs are tasty, but they always are and very strong shells.

George is adjusting to not being with the silkies. It does help that he can see them and talk to them through the coop door. I thought he would finally start roosting. Nope, he has convinced Mrs. E. to snuggle with him at night on top of the tote. 1 of the silkies is using the roost in their coop. The rest of them all have a nice cuddle pile under the roost. After 2 nights of attempted roost training I admitted defeat and gave them some hay to sleep in. I still put them on the roost at night, but they have a warm bed to pile up on when they choose.

Turkey is still a wild tiny terror who does not want me to hold her or touch her. She is all for flying on top of my head to sit though.

Oh she sounds like a character, I look forward to seeing updated photos of her.

Tomorrow I am going to see if I can get Georgie and her dumplings to start roosting in there. Georgie is very interested in going back to the gang at night. But I need to be sure the dumplings can get up there and back down.

Ok well I am off to the feed store. Need feed and shavings.

 

[Ponypoor]

It's saying the same thing but it's getting into more than just barring.

Barring is on the Z chromosome. Hens ( works for all birds) are ZW while Roos are ZZ. The one spot vs 2 spots the post talks about. Becase a hen only has 1 Z chromosome, she can only ever have 1 copy of the barring gene. A roo has 2 Z chromosomes so CAN have 2 copies. Barring is a dominant trait so ALWAYS shows.

Sex link breeding frequently (but not exclusively) takes advantage of this by breeding a barred female with a not barred (that wild type mentioned in the linked post) male. Results: female gives barring to male offspring but cannot give barring to female offspring because MUST give W gene for offspring to be female. Male gives not barred to both on Z gene. Thus a sex-link (sexable at hatch) like @Ponypoor Shirley is the result, but could come from a roo like @Desertvalleychickens Ijak who is clearly double barred (ZZ with barring on both genes). It's used with 2 separate breeds to create the first step in an auto-sexing line, but the subsequent breeding never gets completed for new auto-sexing breeds.

A roo like Ijak will give barring to ALL his offspring, so isn't usable for sex link breeding. Auto-sexing comes in when the barring and the black breasted/salmon breasted (BBR) have been combined (purposfully) over enough generations for both the barring and the BBR to happen with EVERY hatch. Your cream legbars and the other _____bars are perfect examples of that.

If someone were truly interested in doing so, taking....say the Cuckoo Marans (not French): barred, chocolate eggs and the Salmon Faverolle: bearded/muffed, 5 toes, BBR....they could create an auto-sexing new breed of dark brown, 5 toed, bearded/muffed, barred birds (likely dubbed Cuckoo Faverolles). It would take about 7 generations to get the auto-sexing fixed into the project, but lots more to get the body type consistent due to the need to breed back in some of the other traits.

Isabel gets into similar things by combining BBR with lavender rather than with barring, but barring can get mixed in also, making for a more complicated breeding program being as 1, lavender is NOT on the Z chromosome, but rather a different area and 2, HIDES when only 1 copy is present. This does mean that ALL lavender birds (Hattie, Piglet, Laverne) have 2 copies of the lavender gene in order to show lavender at all. In breeding for the color, lots of birds carry but don't show the trait. This creates the need for either genetic testing (pricy) or lots of test hatches to see if a bird carries the trait (breeding a black roo to lavender hens or a lavender roo to black hens, the black birds being suspected of hidden lavender) keeping careful records and marking EVERY bird to keep track of that is a full time job.

I want an auto sexing silkie

That would be very helpful!

 

[Ponypoor]

For the last time, cut down on your wine consumption!

Homebrew you mean!

 

[Ponypoor]

Happy Friday!

View attachment 4067342

HRH has spectacular fluffy derrière. Topped off with a lovely plethora of tail feathers worthy of royalty