Hello. Geneteics question here.

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Taylor12777 said:
All 6 eggs hatched with no issues!
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That is great news!

Taylor12777 said:
I am 100% positive that these came from my silkie hen and wyandotte roo. I only have 1 roo and the only hen laying in the pen was my silkie. So there was no chance of a mix up. The others in that pen are SLW pullets and they lay completely different color eggs but they weren't even laying yet.
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It's good to be sure of that!

And I see an extra check right here:
Taylor12777 said:
All 6 have very feathered feet and all 6 have 5 toes. This shocked me because my Wyandotte roo doesnt have feathered feet or 5 toes. So I assume that came from their silkie mom ?
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Yes, the feathered feet and the extra toes would be inherited from the Silkie mother. That is a nice extra check about parentage: the chicks must have at least one parent with those traits, and the Silkie hen is the only possible mother.

Taylor12777 said:
I know they'll look completely different as they get older, but does this teach you anything about their parents genes ?
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Yes, it does.

One major thing, the hen does not have two genes to make a chick black all over. She has one of those, and one gene that allows some other patterns & colors to show. Chick #2 is the most obvious example of this, with those nice stripes down the back. I think chick #6 is also going to show some kind of patterning instead of being based on solid black. So they will probably be silver & blue. They might have actual lacing like the Wyandotte, but I think they are more likely to show something that isn't really lacing but sort-of resembles it.

Looking at the chick photos, I would think that about half will show blue and half will show black. But that makes NO sense, because a splash parent (Silkie) should produce only blue chicks, none that show black. So I'm going to assume they really include darker blues and lighter blues.

I think chick #3 and #4 will probably grow up to have blue all over, except that they may have some leakage of other colors as they reach maturity. The leakage could be silver or maybe red. I might have thought them black, except that with a splash mother they must be blue instead.

For chick #1 and chick #5, I'm not sure if they will be blue all over (genetically solid black and then turned to blue), or if they will show some kind of patterning (similar to what I predicted for chick #2 and chick #6). If they are blue all over, it will probably be a lighter blue than what #3 and #4 will have.
 
@NatJ Here is a photo from farther away with the flash on. I feel like that makes them look a little different too.
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NatJ said:
Hmm. I'm not sure what to think right now. I'll come back later and see if I have any more useful thoughts.

Oh, I do have one thought: those chicks are cute!
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I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking at. So, I truly appreciate all your input! It is so interesting to me.
I think they're pretty cute too but I thought maybe I was biased 🤣 Thank you ❤️ I'm just so glad everyone seems healthy and happy. I attempted to get one of my broodies to adopt them and that was an immediate no. So she's in broody jail because she is not with a rooster and shes hogging the only nesting box my hens will use and she seriously sounds like a velociraptor and will eat you up when you try to collect the eggs that the other hens laid literally on top of her (because she wouldnt get out of the nest)
I did introduce their biological mom to see if she'd accept them because she's a silkie and they're usually amazing moms, and she was great with them and showed them how to eat and drink and scratch around, but wouldn't allow them to get under her for warmth. I gave them about 20 minutes with her (supervised in a warm shop) to see how it'd go, but ultimately she seemed stressed when they kept trying to get under her so I removed her and put them back under their heat plate. I watched her when I put her back with the rest of the flock and she didn't seem to care. She didn't act like she was looking for them or anything. But I'm glad that she didn't try to off them and that she did teach them a few things in those few minutes because they weren't eating the best before she showed them. Even though I had tried to show them. They'd eat off the floor, but not the feeder. But since she showed them the feeder, they've been great!
 
Absolutely beautiful chickens!

I don't have anything to add beyond what @NatJ said, and in fact I wouldn't have been able to be so descriptive. Massive props!

Regarding the mother, she didn't go through a broody period. It's nice that she's generally being helpful, but getting her to be a mother to those chicks is asking a lot. The mental circuitry hasn't been powered on, and she's just not able to make that leap. Really she's done better than we humans should expect.
 
Zenmonkey said:
Absolutely beautiful chickens!

I don't have anything to add beyond what @NatJ said, and in fact I wouldn't have been able to be so descriptive. Massive props!

Regarding the mother, she didn't go through a broody period. It's nice that she's generally being helpful, but getting her to be a mother to those chicks is asking a lot. The mental circuitry hasn't been powered on, and she's just not able to make that leap. Really she's done better than we humans should expect.
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Oh absolutely! I didn't *really* expect her to accept them. I just wanted to introduce them and see how it went. Weird things happen so I wanted to at least give it a try. Last year it worked for me randomly 🤣 However, my broody hen that I tried to introduce at first, has been sitting for about 23 days. So I was kinda shocked it didn't work. But shes only about a year old, so I think she doesn't fully understand what's going on because she was petrified by the chicks. I slipped one under her this morning while she was in her nesting box and when she realized something was under her moving, she flipped out and went crazy and sounded like she was screaming at it. I intercepted when she started trying to attack it and peck it. It wasn't just little pecks like you see some hens do to correct their chick. It was a mean peck. So I grabbed the chick and gave that up quick. I just don't understand why she's the way she is. If I play chicks chirping she clucks back and looks under her and if I bring my older chicks (4 weeks) into the coop she talks to them and acts like she's trying to get to them to be motherly and even gets upset when I put them back up in their brooder. This hen must be very confused. I just started bringing my 4 week old chicks near the coop for field trips. She acts motherly till they get in her reach and then it's war. I thought maybe it was because they were older, but even with 1 day old chicks she hates them. So she won't be allowed to mother any chicks for quite awhile 😅
 
Taylor12777 said:
@NatJ @Zenmonkey This is the variety I got from this pairing 😅 All 6 eggs hatched with no issues! The 6th egg to hatch was the one that ended up being solid black. Maybe a little grey in it. I know they'll look completely different as they get older, but does this teach you anything about their parents genes ? All 6 have very feathered feet and all 6 have 5 toes. This shocked me because my Wyandotte roo doesnt have feathered feet or 5 toes. So I assume that came from their silkie mom ? I do see the pattering on a few of them that closely resembles the wyandotte patterns, but instead of being black with white striped pattern, its like a golden / reddish one. (#2) Its super pretty. And also on (#6) I see the same pattern, but its not as obvious. Then (#1) and (#5) look very similar but (#1) has the black dot on its head and (#5) doesnt. Then comes (#3) and I have no idea what it looks like. Never had one to look like this 😅 and to clarify, I am 100% positive that these came from my silkie hen and wyandotte roo. I only have 1 roo and the only hen laying in the pen was my silkie. So there was no chance of a mix up. The others in that pen are SLW pullets and they lay completely different color eggs but they weren't even laying yet. View attachment 4095975View attachment 4095976View attachment 4095977View attachment 4095978View attachment 4095980View attachment 4095981
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Congratulations! They are so beautiful!
 

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