Hi from an Appenzeller lover!

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SilverBirds said:
I've never heard of them being difficult to breed or issues with different colors. I wonder if the issue is with the birds you are trying to breed? Where did you get them from? Are they related? What are you feeding them? How old are they?
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Not sure on age, I know they are young pullets. All laying. I feed a mixture of meat, eggs, grain, fruit, vegetables and commercial layer mix (seed). Whatever I have on hand, they get. I got them from a breeder who hatched them from chicks. You just raised an interesting point that I had not considered- they may be related as the breeder I got them from got them as eggs from a breeder in another state. I'll have to find out. Thank you for your input.
 
Appielover said:
Not sure on age, I know they are young pullets. All laying. I feed a mixture of meat, eggs, grain, fruit, vegetables and commercial layer mix (seed). Whatever I have on hand, they get. I got them from a breeder who hatched them from chicks. You just raised an interesting point that I had not considered- they may be related as the breeder I got them from got them as eggs from a breeder in another state. I'll have to find out. Thank you for your input
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It's never recommended to hatch eggs from young pullets, so that could be one of your problems. Most pullet eggs tend to be smaller and have more deformities in shape, size, shell quality, etc. Small eggs mean small weak chicks.

Since the birds are all different color varieties, I highly doubt they are closely related. It takes a few generations of inbreeding before you start to see any major defects. But maybe if the induvials are products of lots of inbreeding they could just have bad genetics. If you really like this breed, I would try sourcing other birds to try and breed and see if you run into the same problems.
 
SilverBirds said:
It's never recommended to hatch eggs from young pullets, so that could be one of your problems. Most pullet eggs tend to be smaller and have more deformities in shape, size, shell quality, etc. Small eggs mean small weak chicks.

Since the birds are all different color varieties, I highly doubt they are closely related. It takes a few generations of inbreeding before you start to see any major defects. But maybe if the induvials are products of lots of inbreeding they could just have bad genetics. If you really like this breed, I would try sourcing other birds to try and breed and see if you run into the same problems.
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I have heard that said before but until now I have not had any problems hatching eggs from pullets. Do you know if a gold speckle hen will only produce gold speckle chicks or if she could produce other colours?
 
Appielover said:
I have heard that said before but until now I have not had any problems hatching eggs from pullets. Do you know if a gold speckle hen will only produce gold speckle chicks or if she could produce other colours?
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It depends on what color the rooster you breed her to is. It appears your boy if buff or Chamois Spangled and you have another buff hen. You also have a gold spangled and a white. If you are wanting to get more gold spangled chicks you will need to get a gold spangled rooster. Breeding your golden gal with your buff boy will give you white patterned gold or black patterned gold according to the chicken calculator. Genetics are not my strongest area of expertise so I'm not even sure if I inserted the colors correctly or if that truly is the results you will get, but if you are interested in learning more about the different colors and genetics you will find many members here knowledgeable in that area. I can point you in the right direction to them if you are keen on learning.
 
SilverBirds said:
It depends on what color the rooster you breed her to is. It appears your boy if buff or Chamois Spangled and you have another buff hen. You also have a gold spangled and a white. If you are wanting to get more gold spangled chicks you will need to get a gold spangled rooster. Breeding your golden gal with your buff boy will give you white patterned gold or black patterned gold according to the chicken calculator. Genetics are not my strongest area of expertise so I'm not even sure if I inserted the colors correctly or if that truly is the results you will get, but if you are interested in learning more about the different colors and genetics you will find many members here knowledgeable in that area. I can point you in the right direction to them if you are keen on learning.
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Wow that's so cool! Genetics is such a interesting field. I'd love to chat with someone that knows more please!
 
Appielover said:
Wow that's so cool! Genetics is such a interesting field. I'd love to chat with someone that knows more please!
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Hello and welcome to BYC!

I have never raised Appenzellers nor do I know a thing about genetics, however I will tag @NatJ who knows quite a bit about genetics, hopefully they can shine some light on this for you.

Best wishes with your flock!
 

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