Frizzle gene.... how does it work?

[Paige2213]

So I have a frizzled cochin chick about 4 months old. I dont know if its a hen or roo yet (if you can tell by the picture please let me know) but I was wondering how the frizzle gene works. If its a hen will she pass the gene down to her chicks? What about if its a roo? I do know that you can't breed frizzle to frizzle and thats about as far as my knowledge goes when It comes to frizzles.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

The frizzling gene is an incompletely dominant gene. What that means is that if a bird carries the gene at all, they will show its effect, but that there's a slightly different effect with one copy of the gene than there is with two copies. The gene is not sexlinked, so it does not matter if the frizzled bird is the male or the female, it will be passed on in equivalent numbers to both sexes in the offspring.

Two copies of the frizzle gene causes extreme frizzling and brittleness of the feathers, and issues with the heart and metabolism of the bird as well. Birds with two copies are known as 'frazzles' because, well, they often look quite frazzled. This is the reason why you should never breed frizzle to frizzle, because some offspring from that crossing will inherit two copies of the gene and be frazzles.

Your bird does not appear to have two copies of the gene. With one copy, a bird has normal frizzling and no apparent internal issues. They will only pass the gene on to about half of their offspring, however, so only half of their chicks when bred to a smooth-feathered bird will be frizzled, and the other half will just be smooth. If bred to another individual with one frizzle gene, about half of the chicks would be frizzled, one quarter smooth, and one quarter frazzled.


As far as whether your bird is male or female, it's hard to say from those pictures because near as I can tell this is not a pure Cochin. The leg feathering is very sparse for a Cochin, and the leg coloring is incorrect. I also can't tell for sure because of how far away the bird is in the pictures, but it almost looks like this bird has a rose comb instead of a single comb like Cochins should have? Closer, clearer pictures would help a lot for identification.

 

[Paige2213]

The frizzling gene is an incompletely dominant gene. What that means is that if a bird carries the gene at all, they will show its effect, but that there's a slightly different effect with one copy of the gene than there is with two copies. The gene is not sexlinked, so it does not matter if the frizzled bird is the male or the female, it will be passed on in equivalent numbers to both sexes in the offspring.

Two copies of the frizzle gene causes extreme frizzling and brittleness of the feathers, and issues with the heart and metabolism of the bird as well. Birds with two copies are known as 'frazzles' because, well, they often look quite frazzled. This is the reason why you should never breed frizzle to frizzle, because some offspring from that crossing will inherit two copies of the gene and be frazzles.

Your bird does not appear to have two copies of the gene. With one copy, a bird has normal frizzling and no apparent internal issues. They will only pass the gene on to about half of their offspring, however, so only half of their chicks when bred to a smooth-feathered bird will be frizzled, and the other half will just be smooth. If bred to another individual with one frizzle gene, about half of the chicks would be frizzled, one quarter smooth, and one quarter frazzled.


As far as whether your bird is male or female, it's hard to say from those pictures because near as I can tell this is not a pure Cochin. The leg feathering is very sparse for a Cochin, and the leg coloring is incorrect. I also can't tell for sure because of how far away the bird is in the pictures, but it almost looks like this bird has a rose comb instead of a single comb like Cochins should have? Closer, clearer pictures would help a lot for identification.

I'll get better pictures in a bit (this chick isn't really keen on being bothered and its adopted mama sure doesn't like it when we go messing with her baby, I did have 3 cochin chicks but a coon got 2 of them.) I've always seen cochin batams have feathered legs. Even on the internet. Are they not supposed to have feathered legs and feet? Do you have a picture of purebred cochin i could see?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'll get better pictures in a bit (this chick isn't really keen on being bothered and its adopted mama sure doesn't like it when we go messing with her baby, I did have 3 cochin chicks but a coon got 2 of them.) I've always seen cochin batams have feathered legs. Even on the internet. Are they not supposed to have feathered legs and feet? Do you have a picture of purebred cochin i could see?

Cochins are supposed to have more feathers on their legs
This one is pretty sparse

 

[Paige2213]

Cochins are supposed to have more feathers on their legs
This one is pretty sparse

Sorry I missed that. I didnt read it right or something. Lol and ill go back through my calendar to see how old it is for sure. I could have its age completely wrong lol

 

[Paige2213]

Sorry I missed that. I didnt read it right or something. Lol and ill go back through my calendar to see how old it is for sure. I could have its age completely wrong lol

So I got its age completely wrong. I got them on May 14th when they were about a week old.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yes, your chick doesn't have as much foot feathering as I'd expect for a Cochin. The skin of its legs is also slate instead of bright yellow as a Cochin should have, which leads me to believe this little one is a mixed breed of some sort. Likely part Cochin, but certainly not pure.

This is one of my Cochin bantams as an example. Those legs are so thickly feathered that you can hardly tell there are legs under them.

I'm going to wait to see if you can get better pictures before I comment on whether it's male or female. Right now, I can't see anything well enough to be confident.

 

[Paige2213]

Yes, your chick doesn't have as much foot feathering as I'd expect for a Cochin. The skin of its legs is also slate instead of bright yellow as a Cochin should have, which leads me to believe this little one is a mixed breed of some sort. Likely part Cochin, but certainly not pure.

This is one of my Cochin bantams as an example. Those legs are so thickly feathered that you can hardly tell there are legs under them.

View attachment 3180960

I'm going to wait to see if you can get better pictures before I comment on whether it's male or female. Right now, I can't see anything well enough to be confident.

I got some better pics. (Atleast I hope so) the leg pic is a little weird

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Those are better for sure! Your little one does have a rose comb as I thought I'd seen in the original pictures. Cochins should only have a single comb like this:



So between that and the slate legs, your bird is definitely a mixed breed. I'm not sure what the mix is, all I can say is that this is not a pure Cochin.

If I'm counting correctly, from what you posted earlier, this little one is about 9 weeks old? I would lean toward cockerel on your bird based on the color in his face and the comb and wattle size already, but rose combs are tricky to sex by so I'm not 100% confident in that guess.

 

[Paige2213]

Those are better for sure! Your little one does have a rose comb as I thought I'd seen in the original pictures. Cochins should only have a single comb like this:

View attachment 3181380

So between that and the slate legs, your bird is definitely a mixed breed. I'm not sure what the mix is, all I can say is that this is not a pure Cochin.

If I'm counting correctly, from what you posted earlier, this little one is about 9 weeks old? I would lean toward cockerel on your bird based on the color in his face and the comb and wattle size already, but rose combs are tricky to sex by so I'm not 100% confident in that guess.

Do you ship hatching eggs?