fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[fuzzi]

Fingers crossed for you!! Cmon Martha, you can do it!

She seems like such a sweet mama Always lucky to have a good broody on the team!

She's been attentive to the chicks, but not hovering. One hen pecked at a chick and Martha put her own body between the hen and the chick. Another hen got very close to the chicks today, and this time Martha did give the hen a peck.

Samuel has watched, but not gotten close

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Who's the person who understands genetics here at BYC?

Not me!

There's a few on the genetics forums that may be able to help, you may want to post over there?

 

[rural mouse]

@rural mouse

They're all bantams.

• Rooster is Speckled Sussex, white legs
• Hens are Speckled Sussex (white legs) and Dominiques (yellow legs)
• One chick is black (Dominique mother)
• Two chicks are chipmunk colored like Sussex, but have yellow legs as if mother was Dominique

How does that work?

I was pretty sure the chipmunk chick eggs came from a Sussex hen, as I had colored the hens' vents, and the eggs had coloring on them.

From everything I've seen on leg color, it's a bit wonky. Unexpected colors can crop up from time to time. I did run the sussex roo x Dominique hen combo through a genetics calculator just to see if it popped anything surprising. Mottling (including mille-fleur) is recessive, so any babies from that cross will be "split to mottled" meaning the coloring is hidden UNDER the main color. Sometimes it pops through in later adult moults like this

The 2 black crested hens (at the back next to the barred rock) are gold penciled hamburg x mottled houdan. Until their last adult moult, they were identical all black...except for 2 white feathers on 1 wing of the one that now has all the white patches. The last moult, she popped all of that.

Your black chick is definitely from your Dominiques....and sexlinked. 100% of pullets from that cross will be black split to mille-fleur (or speckled). They may pop some of the Sussex coloring as they age. 100% of cockerels from that will be barred (and may pop some of the red tones later).

Leg color:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/leg-color-genetics.472912/post-5997315


Looks like yellow is recessive to white, so white leg birds can carry genes for yellow legs but not SHOW them. In order for the yellow to show up, both parents must carry the yellow and luck of the draw, pass it to the chicks. Based upon that info, there's a good possibility that all your Sussex carry the yellow leg gene. Recessive traits are difficult to breed out of a line being as they don't show but can go along for the ride.

If you're breeding for show, none of the yellow leg chicks will work, but any white leg will pass muster. Just bear in mind that they are likely carriers of the yellow leg trait. Punnet square math says that 25% of the offspring of those 2 birds will have yellow legs, 25% will be pure for white leg, and 50% will be white leg carrying yellow genetics. 75% of the babies will be white leg.....but roll the dice on every egg.


Edit: forgot to mention the cockerel will be single barred, so look just like the Dominique hens. Purebred roosters are double barred do look like they're white with black stripes. Barring in on the Z chromosome and hens have only 1 of those.

 

[fuzzi]

From everything I've seen on leg color, it's a bit wonky. Unexpected colors can crop up from time to time. I did run the sussex roo x Dominique hen combo through a genetics calculator just to see if it popped anything surprising. Mottling (including mille-fleur) is recessive, so any babies from that cross will be "split to mottled" meaning the coloring is hidden UNDER the main color. Sometimes it pops through in later adult moults like thisView attachment 3797985The 2 black crested hens (at the back next to the barred rock) are gold penciled hamburg x mottled houdan. Until their last adult moult, they were identical all black...except for 2 white feathers on 1 wing of the one that now has all the white patches. The last moult, she popped all of that.

Your black chick is definitely from your Dominiques....and sexlinked. 100% of pullets from that cross will be black split to mille-fleur (or speckled). They may pop some of the Sussex coloring as they age. 100% of cockerels from that will be barred (and may pop some of the red tones later).

Leg color:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/leg-color-genetics.472912/post-5997315


Looks like yellow is recessive to white, so white leg birds can carry genes for yellow legs but not SHOW them. In order for the yellow to show up, both parents must carry the yellow and luck of the draw, pass it to the chicks. Based upon that info, there's a good possibility that all your Sussex carry the yellow leg gene. Recessive traits are difficult to breed out of a line being as they don't show but can go along for the ride.

If you're breeding for show, none of the yellow leg chicks will work, but any white leg will pass muster. Just bear in mind that they are likely carriers of the yellow leg trait. Punnet square math says that 25% of the offspring of those 2 birds will have yellow legs, 25% will be pure for white leg, and 50% will be white leg carrying yellow genetics. 75% of the babies will be white leg.....but roll the dice on every egg.


Edit: forgot to mention the cockerel will be single barred, so look just like the Dominique hens. Purebred roosters are double barred do look like they're white with black stripes. Barring in on the Z chromosome and hens have only 1 of those.

Thank you so much.

So the chipmunk chicks are Sussex but the yellow leg gene surfaced? Oh well. I'm not breeding for show but am trying to keep and breed best to best.

Based upon the head spot I suspect the black chick is male.

 

[rural mouse]

Thank you so much.

So the chipmunk chicks are Sussex but the yellow leg gene surfaced? Oh well. I'm not breeding for show but am trying to keep and breed best to best.

Based upon the head spot I suspect the black chick is male.

The black chick with head spot IS male. If he has some of the red come through, he's going to be gorgeous.

I don't know if the standards for bantam are the same as for LF sussex, but if you're trying for breed standards, you're going to have to do a lot of test breeding to see if yellow legs pop up. At this point, you know both the rooster and the hen carry the trait. Keep them for test breeding with others: breed the roo to other hens (keeping the ones that test out clean), if a single one of those offspring have the yellow legs, you know the hen carries it. Same thing with the current hen testing out with other roos. To truly do it cleanly, you will need to keep this hen and this roo separated so there's no chance of another cross between them. If you're not worried about weeding out the yellow legs, then simply don't breed any of those.

 

[fuzzi]

The black chick with head spot IS male. If he has some of the red come through, he's going to be gorgeous.

I don't know if the standards for bantam are the same as for LF sussex, but if you're trying for breed standards, you're going to have to do a lot of test breeding to see if yellow legs pop up. At this point, you know both the rooster and the hen carry the trait. Keep them for test breeding with others: breed the roo to other hens (keeping the ones that test out clean), if a single one of those offspring have the yellow legs, you know the hen carries it. Same thing with the current hen testing out with other roos. To truly do it cleanly, you will need to keep this hen and this roo separated so there's no chance of another cross between them. If you're not worried about weeding out the yellow legs, then simply don't breed any of those.

Very helpful. How long does the sperm last once the hen is bred?

I don't know which Sussex hens contributed to the hatch. The food coloring method didn't work, didn't show on the eggs so I just used Blu-kote on all three Sussex.

If the yellow-legged Sussex chicks are female I'll probably not breed them, but use them for eggs only.

 

[fuzzi]

MARTHA THE MAGNIFICENT!!!!​

She did it! She brooded the staggered hatch eggs for three days after the first batch popped out!

With older brother...

Martha came over to the coop door to get treats, followed by her three chicks, but when I checked the nesting box I found an eggshell, and another, and two little peepers.

She fed bits of food to the elders, then went back in the box to warm up everyone.

Good Momma Martha!

 

[CoopBoots]

MARTHA THE MAGNIFICENT!!!!​

View attachment 3798659
She did it! She brooded the staggered hatch eggs for three days after the first batch popped out!

View attachment 3798661
With older brother...

View attachment 3798662
Martha came over to the coop door to get treats, followed by her three chicks, but when I checked the nesting box I found an eggshell, and another, and two little peepers.

She fed bits of food to the elders, then went back in the box to warm up everyone.

Good Momma Martha!

Oh, that's precious. Well done, Mama. She's definitely got the skills!

 

[kcan2]

MARTHA THE MAGNIFICENT!!!!

Wow! Maybe Martha can get some extra grapes for all her dedicated work? Amazing the chick size difference at only a few days apart!

 

[fuzzi]

I took some tiny zip ties and made leg rings for the two older Sussex chicks, one blue and one purple. As I attached the ties the chicks fussed. Martha came over and pecked my foot.

Good Momma!