Golden Comet Help

[tstiles01]

Hi I have a really crazy question to ask.
I have raised New Hampshire Reds and White Rocks for the pourpose of making Golden Comets. Well with that said when hatching these fertale eggs the are coming out looking like Cream Rhodebar. When the males should be coming out white and females should be red with white tips on tail and wings, The males are coming out with blackish grey barring and females with cream barring.So here is what I am thinking. I bought my chicks from Welp Hatchery I am figuring that they used some type of barred Rock to make the reds there for making them not pure breed. My question is how many generations do I have to breed to make them pure breed.( New Hamp Reds and White Rocks)
Thanks

 

[donrae]

My first thought was it was your whites causing the issues, not the reds. White Rocks can be a poor choice for sex link crosses due to the dominant white often hiding other genes, including barring. But I'm confused about your pullet offspring having barring. If your white Rock hens had barring hidden under the dominant white, your offspring would be a form of black sex link, sexable based on barring. For a female chick to get barring, though, her father has to have it. I'm not aware of any way a red bird can carry barring and not express it. Dominate white doesn't really "cover" the barring, there are still white bars present, but you can't see them due to the entire bird being white. A red bird that has the barring gene should show white bars, to some degree.

Do you have pics of your parent stock and offspring?

 

[tstiles01]

Thanks i will try to get pics when I get Home.
Thanks so much

 

[Matt1616]

Hi I have a really crazy question to ask.
I have raised New Hampshire Reds and White Rocks for the pourpose of making Golden Comets. Well with that said when hatching these fertale eggs the are coming out looking like Cream Rhodebar. When the males should be coming out white and females should be red with white tips on tail and wings, The males are coming out with blackish grey barring and females with cream barring.So here is what I am thinking. I bought my chicks from Welp Hatchery I am figuring that they used some type of barred Rock to make the reds there for making them not pure breed. My question is how many generations do I have to breed to make them pure breed.( New Hamp Reds and White Rocks)
Thanks

Well, first off this section of BYC is for "pure bred" and "exhibition" lines of chickens not common hatchery birds. So in the future please find the appropriate forum in which to post your questions.
But, I can answer your question. Golden Comets are best produced by breeding Production Reds to Rhode Island Whites. There are publications that say that breeding New Hamps to White Rock will also produce them but they are not usually as consistant in color because the hatchery lines of all birds have various things mixed in them as you have seen. There is obviously a barring gene in there or you wouldn't be getting barring.
To answer your question about how many generations to breed them before they are pure...never. Hatchery birds are basically mutts with many different breeds mixed together so they can never be pure.
My question to you is if you wanted Golden Comets then why didn't you buy Golden Comets? I have some and they are great layers.

Matt

 

[donrae]

Well, first off this section of BYC is for "pure bred" and "exhibition" lines of chickens not common hatchery birds. So in the future please find the appropriate forum in which to post your questions.
But, I can answer your question. Golden Comets are best produced by breeding Production Reds to Rhode Island Whites. There are publications that say that breeding New Hamps to White Rock will also produce them but they are not usually as consistant in color because the hatchery lines of all birds have various things mixed in them as you have seen. There is obviously a barring gene in there or you wouldn't be getting barring.
To answer your question about how many generations to breed them before they are pure...never. Hatchery birds are basically mutts with many different breeds mixed together so they can never be pure.
My question to you is if you wanted Golden Comets then why didn't you buy Golden Comets? I have some and they are great layers.

Matt

It's the "Exhibition, Genetics, & Breeding to the Standard" section. Until the mods separate a section specifically for genetic questions, this seems to be the place to post questions such as this.

 

[Matt1616]

It's the "Exhibition, Genetics, & Breeding to the Standard" section. Until the mods separate a section specifically for genetic questions, this seems to be the place to post questions such as this.

You are correct kind of...It is intended for Genetics of Exhibition Poultry that are bred to the Standard. It is not however intended for genetics of standard hatchery birds. The whole rest of BYC is dedicated to that. They made this section just so that Exhibition Poultry could be discussed. There is a large brown colored paragraph at the top of this page with a picture of the APA standard...please read it and you will have a better understanding what this section of BYC is for.

Matt