Hatching Mystery!

[gwells1980]

Good Morning! I woke up to a mystery in my incubator this morning. I hope someone can help or at least tell me if they have seen this before.


Gen 1 Rooster - Earl Grey - Pure Speckled Sussex
Gen 1 Hen 1 - Lady Grey - Pure Speckled Sussex
Gen 1 Hen 2 - Saphron - Sapphire Gem
Gen 1 Hen 3 - Buffy - Pure English Buff Orpington

Gen 2 Hen 1 - Bluey - Sapphire Gem / Speckled Sussex Cross (Parents are Earl Grey and Saphron)
Gen 2 Hen 2 - Pip - English Buff Orpington / Speckled Sussex Cross (Parents are Earl Grey and Buffy)


(The story so far) - My entire laying hen population was killed off over 2 nights, a group of raccoons found a way to them Thankfully I had about 2 dozen of their eggs that I was going to use for cooking but most were fertilized so I decided to break out the incubators and hatch them out.

These chickens were not randomly selected, I was wanting to try my hand at a couple breeding projects.

Speckled Sussex's - I wanted to breed the Speckled Sussex's to the SOP and have the perfect expression of the breed. Both of my Sussex's are close but Lady Grey only had 4 points on her comb and Earl Grey has 8 points (neither are SOP - SOP is 5 well defined and evenly spaced points, other than that, they are both really good versions of the Speckled Sussex.)

Speckled Sussex / Sapphire Gem Cross - I wanted a line of chickens that looked like a Speckled Sussex except instead of a mahogany background color, I wanted blue and I wanted the new chicken to have the egg laying power of the Sapphire Gem. (approx 300 eggs per year)

Speckled Sussex / English Buff Orpington Cross - I wanted a "Millie Fleur" colored Speckled Sussex that also had the very round body shape of a true English Orpington.


Back to the mystery. I have hatched out dozens of eggs from each of my 3 original Gen 1 hens ( Lady Grey, Saphron, and Buffy) with the father being the only rooster I have (Earl Grey). From all their chicks I decided to keep Bluey and Pip and raise them up. Over the last 6 months I have been hatching out eggs from Bluey and Pip with the father being Earl Grey obviously. As you can see, their parentage is easy to track. This morning I go and check my hatch-out incubator and I see mostly what I expected, a couple Speckled Sussex's and a few Speckled Sussex / English Orpington crosses (a couple belonging to Buffy and a couple belonging to Pip) Unfortunately so far, only 1 egg hatched from Bluey but the chick was weak and died shortly after hatching. (If no more hatch out then that line is completely gone now, I hate raccoons.)
What I wasn't expecting was to see one of Pip's chicks having FEATHERED LEGS! They aren't huge feathers and none are on the feet but WHAT THE CRAP!

I know random genetic mutations can happen, that is how we got feathered legs, 5 toes, different comb types and basically everything else but what are the odds that from my parent stock a known good trait would randomly appear? Even taking Line Breeding (which is what I am doing) into account that is extremely uncommon. Usually when a genetic mutation is seen it is something bad like Cross Beak or some other trait that is not wanted and culled out of a breeding flock.
If my understanding of genetics is correct then feathering on the legs and toes is a Dominate Trait, so if a parent carries one copy of that gene then they will have feathered legs and then approx 25% of the offspring would show that trait as well... except all my chickens are smooth legged. Also, understand that I have hatched out easily over 100 eggs in the last couple years from my Generation 1 stock and I have hatched out dozens of eggs from my Generation 2 hens. This is the 1st time I have had anything unexpected happen.

I live in a location where having farm animals is technically against the city ordinances but my neighbors are awesome and don't mind them and the lady at the city building said as long as no one complains then I'm fine. I am the only person with chickens for miles. That also means I have to keep my flock small. I try and keep it below 10 hens and 1 rooster at a time. That means there is a 0% chance that another rooster got to my hens. He is literally the only one around.

If I am missing something here please chime in. Maybe it has a simple answer and I am just too tired to see it! Has anyone else had a good known trait randomly show up in their flock? If this is a new strain of feathering then I am going to keep the chick and test it. Maybe it will end up being a recessive version of leg feathering or feathering that is only on the legs and can't show up on the feet. WHO KNOWS!? Pictures of the chickens are being uploaded so you can see what I am talking about.

Again if any geneticist are on here or anyone who has more experience with chicken breeding is present please share your thoughts.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Good Morning! I woke up to a mystery in my incubator this morning. I hope someone can help or at least tell me if they have seen this before.


Gen 1 Rooster - Earl Grey - Pure Speckled Sussex
Gen 1 Hen 1 - Lady Grey - Pure Speckled Sussex
Gen 1 Hen 2 - Saphron - Sapphire Gem
Gen 1 Hen 3 - Buffy - Pure English Buff Orpington

Gen 2 Hen 1 - Bluey - Sapphire Gem / Speckled Sussex Cross (Parents are Earl Grey and Saphron)
Gen 2 Hen 2 - Pip - English Buff Orpington / Speckled Sussex Cross (Parents are Earl Grey and Buffy)


(The story so far) - My entire laying hen population was killed off over 2 nights, a group of raccoons found a way to them Thankfully I had about 2 dozen of their eggs that I was going to use for cooking but most were fertilized so I decided to break out the incubators and hatch them out.

These chickens were not randomly selected, I was wanting to try my hand at a couple breeding projects.

Speckled Sussex's - I wanted to breed the Speckled Sussex's to the SOP and have the perfect expression of the breed. Both of my Sussex's are close but Lady Grey only had 4 points on her comb and Earl Grey has 8 points (neither are SOP - SOP is 5 well defined and evenly spaced points, other than that, they are both really good versions of the Speckled Sussex.)

Speckled Sussex / Sapphire Gem Cross - I wanted a line of chickens that looked like a Speckled Sussex except instead of a mahogany background color, I wanted blue and I wanted the new chicken to have the egg laying power of the Sapphire Gem. (approx 300 eggs per year)

Speckled Sussex / English Buff Orpington Cross - I wanted a "Millie Fleur" colored Speckled Sussex that also had the very round body shape of a true English Orpington.


Back to the mystery. I have hatched out dozens of eggs from each of my 3 original Gen 1 hens ( Lady Grey, Saphron, and Buffy) with the father being the only rooster I have (Earl Grey). From all their chicks I decided to keep Bluey and Pip and raise them up. Over the last 6 months I have been hatching out eggs from Bluey and Pip with the father being Earl Grey obviously. As you can see, their parentage is easy to track. This morning I go and check my hatch-out incubator and I see mostly what I expected, a couple Speckled Sussex's and a few Speckled Sussex / English Orpington crosses (a couple belonging to Buffy and a couple belonging to Pip) Unfortunately so far, only 1 egg hatched from Bluey but the chick was weak and died shortly after hatching. (If no more hatch out then that line is completely gone now, I hate raccoons.)
What I wasn't expecting was to see one of Pip's chicks having FEATHERED LEGS! They aren't huge feathers and none are on the feet but WHAT THE CRAP!

I know random genetic mutations can happen, that is how we got feathered legs, 5 toes, different comb types and basically everything else but what are the odds that from my parent stock a known good trait would randomly appear? Even taking Line Breeding (which is what I am doing) into account that is extremely uncommon. Usually when a genetic mutation is seen it is something bad like Cross Beak or some other trait that is not wanted and culled out of a breeding flock.
If my understanding of genetics is correct then feathering on the legs and toes is a Dominate Trait, so if a parent carries one copy of that gene then they will have feathered legs and then approx 25% of the offspring would show that trait as well... except all my chickens are smooth legged. Also, understand that I have hatched out easily over 100 eggs in the last couple years from my Generation 1 stock and I have hatched out dozens of eggs from my Generation 2 hens. This is the 1st time I have had anything unexpected happen.

I live in a location where having farm animals is technically against the city ordinances but my neighbors are awesome and don't mind them and the lady at the city building said as long as no one complains then I'm fine. I am the only person with chickens for miles. That also means I have to keep my flock small. I try and keep it below 10 hens and 1 rooster at a time. That means there is a 0% chance that another rooster got to my hens. He is literally the only one around.

If I am missing something here please chime in. Maybe it has a simple answer and I am just too tired to see it! Has anyone else had a good known trait randomly show up in their flock? If this is a new strain of feathering then I am going to keep the chick and test it. Maybe it will end up being a recessive version of leg feathering or feathering that is only on the legs and can't show up on the feet. WHO KNOWS!? Pictures of the chickens are being uploaded so you can see what I am talking about.

Again if any geneticist are on here or anyone who has more experience with chicken breeding is present please share your thoughts.

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I've had this pop up in none leg feathered breeds as well. They often molt out, & usually aren't a problem. Occasionally they'll stay into adulthood but that's rare. Purebred Old Blood Indian Malays, Buff Orpingtons, & Orpington crosses are some I've seen this crop up in.

 

[NatJ]

What I wasn't expecting was to see one of Pip's chicks having FEATHERED LEGS! They aren't huge feathers and none are on the feet but WHAT THE CRAP!

If my understanding of genetics is correct then feathering on the legs and toes is a Dominate Trait, so if a parent carries one copy of that gene then they will have feathered legs and then approx 25% of the offspring would show that trait as well... except all my chickens are smooth legged. Also, understand that I have hatched out easily over 100 eggs in the last couple years from my Generation 1 stock and I have hatched out dozens of eggs from my Generation 2 hens. This is the 1st time I have had anything unexpected happen.

I have read that at least one recessive gene for feathered feet exists.

But even among chickens that do not have any of the known genes for feathered feet, small amounts of feathering do sometimes show up. They seem to behave as a recessive trait (because chicks with small amounts of foot feathers can come from clean-legged parents), but the genetics may be more complicated than just one gene that is either dominant or recessive (if it was caused by just one recessive gene, you would expect 1/4 of chicks from that cross to show feathered feet, yet you only have one.) "Feather stubs" are listed in the descriptions of some chicken breeds, as a thing to be avoided. If someone bothered to mention it, that probably means it was a problem at some point.

I have had small numbers of foot feathers show up from clean-footed parents of breeds that were all supposed to have clean feet. When I kept one such female and test-mated her to several different roosters (different clean-legged breeds), she produced clean-footed chicks with some and a mix of clean- and feather-footed chicks with some others. The same roosters were producing just clean-foot chicks with some other hens. So it does look like something that could be increased by selecting for the trait (or, one hopes, decreased by selecting against it.) I never test-mated her with one of her own sons, because that would have required keeping her longer and raising a male that I would otherwise have no use for.

I live in a location where having farm animals is technically against the city ordinances but my neighbors are awesome and don't mind them and the lady at the city building said as long as no one complains then I'm fine. I am the only person with chickens for miles. That also means I have to keep my flock small. I try and keep it below 10 hens and 1 rooster at a time. That means there is a 0% chance that another rooster got to my hens. He is literally the only one around.

Good way to be sure of which rooster sired the chicks