Genetic Mystery

[Minky]

Takes two copies to show and should make a white a bird.

The dark eye color is indicative of the "quality" of Marans being worked with.

Please note the shade/darkness of any individual egg will have zero impact on the genetic input/output.. and egg shade varies by point in the lay cycle and speed at which it passes that gland. So only setting "the darkest" eggs.. is a fallacy.

Only keeping birds that lay an average shade acceptable and setting ALL acceptable eggs.. WILL achieve the same results, maybe faster, IMO.. just for informational purposes.


Glad you'r having lots of fun hatching adventures!

yes I know..these aren't show birds. never said they were. just trying to figure out my mystery pullet

 

[EggSighted4Life]

yes I know..these aren't show birds. never said they were. just trying to figure out my mystery pullet

My apology.. there was ZERO rudeness intended on my part and it was meant as a genetic statement ONLY. And also according to my very limited understanding.. Maybe those "marans" aren't pure at all?

ETA: That's why I used "quotes" around the term quality.. to denote that it was a subjective term.

 

[connieconnie]

Just seen this and I just had a yellow chick hatch from a crested cream legbar cockerel crossed with either a blue or black Maran, just yesterday!

Wondering if the same genetic thing happened? My other Maran cross cream legbar chicks are black, and one of the black chicks has no feathering on the legs!

Here are the parents:

Father (CL - Noodle - White and grey mottled undercoat, with gold, cream and red barred top feathering, and a grey mottled and barred tail, small head crest):

Mothers of CLxM chicks (M - Coconut (blue copper Maran) or Pie (black copper Maran)):

Here are the chicks that hatched:

Cream Legbar Cockerel crossed with either Blue or Black copper Maran Hen (CLxM):

• Chick A (Pita) CLxM - Yellow, Yellow feathered legs, light yellow underbelly with slightly more gingery top, no headspot, wing feather coming through brown

• Chick B (Momo) CLxM - Black, white chest, Large white headspot, feathered legs, Yellow legs

• Chick C (Katsu) CLxM - Black, white chest, scattered white headspot with some ginger marks within, no feathering on legs

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I’m going to say recessive white. Recessive white is common in Marans. You would be able to see if a bird carried wheaten because it would have a lot more red, so it isn’t a gene that can “hide.”

@Amer look at the hen in this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/photos-of-marans-mixed-with-other-marans.809679/. She doesn’t have too much leakage, though that was the only picture of a wheaten x black copper cross I could find, so it isn’t the best evidence. Maybe wheaten x black could produce a bird that looks like a regular black copper?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Just seen this and I just had a yellow chick hatch from a crested cream legbar cockerel crossed with either a blue or black Maran, just yesterday!

Wondering if the same genetic thing happened? My other Maran cross cream legbar chicks are black, and one of the black chicks has no feathering on the legs!

Here are the parents:

Father (CL - Noodle - White and grey mottled undercoat, with gold, cream and red barred top feathering, and a grey mottled and barred tail, small head crest):

Mothers of CLxM chicks (M - Coconut (blue copper Maran) or Pie (black copper Maran)):

Here are the chicks that hatched:

Cream Legbar Cockerel crossed with either Blue or Black copper Maran Hen (CLxM):

• Chick A (Pita) CLxM - Yellow, Yellow feathered legs, light yellow underbelly with slightly more gingery top, no headspot, wing feather coming through brown

• Chick B (Momo) CLxM - Black, white chest, Large white headspot, feathered legs, Yellow legs

• Chick C (Katsu) CLxM - Black, white chest, scattered white headspot with some ginger marks within, no feathering on legs

Are you absolutely sure about the parents? The lack of leg feathering is common in marans crosses, since they only have lightly feathered legs to begin with. The leg color of the chicks also isn’t unusual, since that’s the color white legged chicks usually start out with. The feather color, though, is harder to explain.

 

[Amer]

@Amer look at the hen in this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/photos-of-marans-mixed-with-other-marans.809679/. She doesn’t have too much leakage, though that was the only picture of a wheaten x black copper cross I could find, so it isn’t the best evidence. Maybe wheaten x black could produce a bird that looks like a regular black copper?

I suppose so, though if you bought her as a black copper it’s unlikely.

 

[connieconnie]

Are you absolutely sure about the parents? The lack of leg feathering is common in marans crosses, since they only have lightly feathered legs to begin with. The leg color of the chicks also isn’t unusual, since that’s the color white legged chicks usually start out with. The feather color, though, is harder to explain.

Certain, however, I don't know which Maran (blue or black) is mother to each chick. The Marans are the only ones with feathered legs in my flock Plus I saw the yellow chick hatch from the Dark brown egg!

I played around with the chicken genetic calculator: http://kippenjungle.nl/Overzicht.htm#kipcalculator

(which I've probably done wrong), but when I played around with the genes till I got what was most similar to my CL cockerel and what was most similar to my Maran hens, I found this:

CL cockerel x black copper maran:

CL cockerel x blue copper maran:

From this, if my cockerel bares a single Dom White gene (I/i+) (as he's very light in colour and was white barred/mottled when he was a chick) you can see the Dom White gene being expressed in half the chicks? Does this chick colouration match this potentially?

(I am a total newb with chicken genetics, so I apologised if I've got this all wrong )

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Certain, however, I don't know which Maran (blue or black) is mother to each chick. The Marans are the only ones with feathered legs in my flock Plus I saw the yellow chick hatch from the Dark brown egg!

I played around with the chicken genetic calculator: http://kippenjungle.nl/Overzicht.htm#kipcalculator

(which I've probably done wrong), but when I played around with the genes till I got what was most similar to my CL cockerel and what was most similar to my Maran hens, I found this:

CL cockerel x black copper maran:
View attachment 2595174View attachment 2595175

CL cockerel x blue copper maran:
View attachment 2595176View attachment 2595177

From this, if my cockerel bares a single Dom White gene (I/i+) (as he's very light in colour and was white barred/mottled when he was a chick) you can see the Dom White gene being expressed in half the chicks? Does this chick colouration match this potentially?

(I am a total newb with chicken genetics, so I apologised if I've got this all wrong )

Are you sure about the father? Hens can store sperm for months.

Your cockerel doesn’t have dominant white. Cream legbars are barred cream gold duckwing. Here’s what the rooster described on the calculator would look like (not my picture).

Dominant white gets rid of black.
You might want to mark the rooster as gold/wildtype (aka gold duckwing) instead of birchen, too.

It’s alright, I can’t use the calculator too well either.

 

[connieconnie]

Are you sure about the father? Hens can store sperm for months.

Your cockerel doesn’t have dominant white. Cream legbars are barred cream gold duckwing. Here’s what the rooster described on the calculator would look like-
View attachment 2595235Dominant white gets rid of black.
You might want to mark the rooster as gold/wildtype (aka gold duckwing) instead of birchen, too.

It’s alright, I can’t use the calculator too well either.

So pretty!

Yep, dead certain he's the father. There is no other cockerel for miles, they live in a completely closed garden, I hatched all the chicks myself and they haven't left our yard! There is no way they aren't the parents

Could it be some weird throwback from the cream legbars?
The chick looks like it has Maran chick markings, if the light yellow was white and the dark yellow was black! or some weird melanin inhibiting gene?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

So pretty!

Yep, dead certain he's the father. There is no other cockerel for miles, they live in a completely closed garden, I hatched all the chicks myself and they haven't left our yard! There is no way they aren't the parents

Could it be some weird throwback from the cream legbars?
The chick looks like it has Maran chick markings, if the light yellow was white and the dark yellow was black! or some weird melanin inhibiting gene?

The throwback would have to come from the marans. Looking at your pictures again, the black hen does have a lot of extra leakage I haven’t seen on purebred black coppers. She could be a wheaten cross or maybe a marans crossed with another breed.
Also, the chicks really do have bright legs, so they may keep that yellow color as they grow up. I’m not sure yet. That would suggest that the marans have the recessive genes for yellow legs, meaning they most likely aren’t purebred.