Guys? Confusion? 🤔

[lilwanderer]

He’s a beauty, I love fuzzy legs

You know I have a feeling that buttery colour is his true feather colouring.

Mr P’s chicks started getting yellow and I thought they were dirty, I tried to wash it off and realized that like their Dada they would have yellow on their feathers!

This is one of his daughters, out of a barnyard mutt mama.

Try as I might I couldn’t wash that yellow off
View attachment 3803069

i was told by who he came from to take a 50/50 mix of peroxide and water and it'll clean him up. Haven't done it yet.

 

[Ponypoor]

i was told by who he came from to take a 50/50 mix of peroxide and water and it'll clean him up. Haven't done it yet.

He’s gorgeous as he is

 

[lilwanderer]

@NatJ @pipdzipdnreadytogo @BlueTheBrahma
I didn't think I'd be back to this so soon, but here I am.
3 weeks ago I was given some eggs to try an hatch from friend. They're from her white cochins.
She's never hatched from them before and only gave me 3 eggs just so I could test them for her. 2 are from the same hen, the other a different hen. (she's only got 2 hens with her roo.)
They've started hatching, but they aren't very white, and I'm even getting dark skin on the first one.
First to hatch, 1 just did and is still fluffing up. Looks like it'll be like this one but doesn't have the dark feet I don't think. Both are from the same hen.

Oh and of course, here's the parents.

 

[NatJ]

@NatJ @pipdzipdnreadytogo @BlueTheBrahma
I didn't think I'd be back to this so soon, but here I am.
3 weeks ago I was given some eggs to try an hatch from friend. They're from her white cochins.
She's never hatched from them before and only gave me 3 eggs just so I could test them for her. 2 are from the same hen, the other a different hen. (she's only got 2 hens with her roo.)
They've started hatching, but they aren't very white, and I'm even getting dark skin on the first one.
First to hatch, 1 just did and is still fluffing up. Looks like it'll be like this one but doesn't have the dark feet I don't think. Both are from the same hen.
View attachment 3809290View attachment 3809291
Oh and of course, here's the parents.
View attachment 3809292View attachment 3809293View attachment 3809294

Possible explanations:

--Recessive White chickens can show various colors in their down when they hatch.
Example, White Jersey Giants
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/white_giants.html
If it grows completely white feathers, this is probably the correct explanation.

--Hens could have mated with another rooster before they were separated with this one, and the father of the chick is not the white rooster currently in the pen (depending on how long they have been separated from other roosters, the chance of this ranges from "very likely" to "almost impossible.")

--Dominant White rooster with recessive white hens, or vice versa, can produce some chicks that are not white (I think we've discussed that a few times already in this thread )

 

[lilwanderer]

Okay that makes sense. (For the most part.) But what about that dark skin? I talked with her about chances of other hens being in the pen, she told me that's highly unlikely, as they're locked up separately. Not sure about how long she's had them with that roo though, I'll ask.
Literally every cochin breeder I've spoke to outside of this isn't believing the dominant white thing, they all highly doubt you'll find a white cochin that isn't recessive. .

Possible explanations:

--Recessive White chickens can show various colors in their down when they hatch.
Example, White Jersey Giants
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/twhite_giants.html
If it grows completely white feathers, this is probably the correct explanation.

--Hens could have mated with another rooster before they were separated with this one, and the father of the chick is not the white rooster currently in the pen (depending on how long they have been separated from other roosters, the chance of this ranges from "very likely" to "almost impossible.")

--Dominant White rooster with recessive white hens, or vice versa, can produce some chicks that are not white (I think we've discussed that a few times already in this thread )

 

[NatJ]

Okay that makes sense. (For the most part.) But what about that dark skin?

There is a sex-linked gene that allows dark skin, and is recessive. So the rooster could be carrying that gene, and it would be visible in about half of his daughters. Why he would be carrying that gene is a good question-- maybe a cross with Silkie in the distant past? The dominant traits from Silkies can be bred out in two generations or so, but recessive ones are harder to get rid of.

Alternately, the chicks could have a different father and/or mother than expected. I think different father is more likely, given the sex-linked inheritance of that gene. But chicks from another hen could easily have another father as well.

I talked with her about chances of other hens being in the pen, she told me that's highly unlikely, as they're locked up separately. Not sure about how long she's had them with that roo though, I'll ask.

Literally every cochin breeder I've spoke to outside of this isn't believing the dominant white thing, they all highly doubt you'll find a white cochin that isn't recessive. .

If anyone is breeding Paint Cochins, there are going to be some Dominant White Cochins that exist as well.

But it's easy enough to prove as regards a specific chicken: breed the white chicken to a solid black chicken that does not carry recessive white. If you get a bunch of white or paint chicks, you have a Dominant White.

Alternately, there is now a blood test to see if a chicken has recessive white.
https://iqbirdtesting.com/whitegene
I have no personal experience with this test, but assuming it is accurate, it would be faster to test one bird that way rather than test-mating the bird and hatching eggs to see the chicks. But the test might be more expensive than doing a test mating.
It looks like they don't have the price on that page, but it is listed on the main page:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/
It's showing $50 or $55 for each bird tested, with different kinds of samples costing different amounts (blood sample is cheaper, feather or eggshell sample is more expensive. The eggshell is supposed to be the one the bird hatched from, not one laid by an adult hen.)

 

[lilwanderer]

There is a sex-linked gene that allows dark skin, and is recessive. So the rooster could be carrying that gene, and it would be visible in about half of his daughters. Why he would be carrying that gene is a good question-- maybe a cross with Silkie in the distant past? The dominant traits from Silkies can be bred out in two generations or so, but recessive ones are harder to get rid of.

Alternately, the chicks could have a different father and/or mother than expected. I think different father is more likely, given the sex-linked inheritance of that gene. But chicks from another hen could easily have another father as well.





If anyone is breeding Paint Cochins, there are going to be some Dominant White Cochins that exist as well.

But it's easy enough to prove as regards a specific chicken: breed the white chicken to a solid black chicken that does not carry recessive white. If you get a bunch of white or paint chicks, you have a Dominant White.

Alternately, there is now a blood test to see if a chicken has recessive white.
https://iqbirdtesting.com/whitegene
I have no personal experience with this test, but assuming it is accurate, it would be faster to test one bird that way rather than test-mating the bird and hatching eggs to see the chicks. But the test might be more expensive than doing a test mating.
It looks like they don't have the price on that page, but it is listed on the main page:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/
It's showing $50 or $55 for each bird tested, with different kinds of samples costing different amounts (blood sample is cheaper, feather or eggshell sample is more expensive. The eggshell is supposed to be the one the bird hatched from, not one laid by an adult hen.)

I'll find out later about the different roo thing.
I don't think anyone is working on paint cochin from what I've seen, it's been asked about but it always goes back to being a very hard task since white cochins are recessive white. So I'd think if tried by anyone, it'd be a failed task.

Since they aren't my birds I won't dive into testing.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Agree with NatJ on all that's been posted so far. I've seen the occasional chick with dark shanks in my Cochin bantams because of ER and eb popping up in my birds, but their skin on other parts of their body definitely wasn't dark as well like it appears to be with that little one...

Regarding dominant white, it really is just unheard of in Cochins bred to the standard, so it's not surprising that a lot of breeders would reject it as a possibility. Toward the beginning of the thread, I think I indicated much the same. However, a lot of people have what are called 'party color' pens of Cochin bantams which, from seeing pictures of them, seem to have many genes that don't exist in SOP Cochins. So I don't think it can fully be ruled out as a possibility.

 

[Ponypoor]

There is a sex-linked gene that allows dark skin, and is recessive. So the rooster could be carrying that gene, and it would be visible in about half of his daughters. Why he would be carrying that gene is a good question-- maybe a cross with Silkie in the distant past? The dominant traits from Silkies can be bred out in two generations or so, but recessive ones are harder to get rid of.

Alternately, the chicks could have a different father and/or mother than expected. I think different father is more likely, given the sex-linked inheritance of that gene. But chicks from another hen could easily have another father as well.





If anyone is breeding Paint Cochins, there are going to be some Dominant White Cochins that exist as well.

But it's easy enough to prove as regards a specific chicken: breed the white chicken to a solid black chicken that does not carry recessive white. If you get a bunch of white or paint chicks, you have a Dominant White.

Alternately, there is now a blood test to see if a chicken has recessive white.
https://iqbirdtesting.com/whitegene
I have no personal experience with this test, but assuming it is accurate, it would be faster to test one bird that way rather than test-mating the bird and hatching eggs to see the chicks. But the test might be more expensive than doing a test mating.
It looks like they don't have the price on that page, but it is listed on the main page:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/
It's showing $50 or $55 for each bird tested, with different kinds of samples costing different amounts (blood sample is cheaper, feather or eggshell sample is more expensive. The eggshell is supposed to be the one the bird hatched from, not one laid by an adult hen.)

I have done gender DNA testing (you know silkies….), I have used both blood samples and eggshell - it’s actually not the egg shell but the membrane in the egg shell which contains blood that is used for the sample - the shell and membrane need to dry a couple days from hatching then I put them in individual ziplock baggies and send them to the lab.

For blood tests it’s usually a few drops of blood from a toenail that is snipped a bit short. The lab will usually send special cards for the blood to be deposited on. Again the blood sample needs to dry, they put into individual envelopes and mailed.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Hi sorry I missed you last post, do you have any recent photos of your new chicks?