How did this happen?? English Orpington!!

[AlexisWheeler]

Okay so I have some English chocolate orpingtons (3 hens & 1 roo). I've been hatching out some of their eggs in the incubator and I have one that hatched a different color!!

I am so confused because there is absolutely no access for any other rooster to get to these hens!! And when I gather, I am careful to label eggs & keep them separated from my other orpington eggs.

I sell these hatching eggs so now I'm worried people will think I'm ripping them off if one of these come out in their hatch!

Any idea what happened?!

 

[K0k0shka]

Chocolate is a recessive gene, where the males need to have two copies to look chocolate, while females can look chocolate with just one copy (and carry a copy of something else, like blue). It seems like this chick's mom is a carrier for another color, and passed that down to the chick. This happens a lot with recessive genes. To predict the color of your chicks, you need more than just mating two adults that look a certain way. You need to understand and keep track of the genetics as well, especially when selling hatching eggs for certain colors.

 

[AlexisWheeler]

Chocolate is a recessive gene, where the males need to have two copies to look chocolate, while females can look chocolate with just one copy (and carry a copy of something else, like blue). It seems like this chick's mom is a carrier for another color, and passed that down to the chick. This happens a lot with recessive genes. To predict the color of your chicks, you need more than just mating two adults that look a certain way. You need to understand and keep track of the genetics as well, especially when selling hatching eggs for certain colors.

Thank you for this!

These are the only chocolates I have & I purchased them already grown a few months ago. Is there any way to check in to their genetics?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Chocolate is sex linked that's why females will show chocolate with only one copy. There's not another spot for a recessive gene with it and blue isn't recessive to chocolate. Whole different set of genes.
Chocolate should be on extended black which is dominant to partridge, duckwing etc. Both your male and the female that produced that chick carries on of the other patterns and when both pass it on to the same chick you'll get chicks like that.
So yes if you're selling eggs others could hatch some. But also they can hatch chicks with one copy of it and one copy of extended black and those could look as pure as your adults. With your rooster known as carrying one wrong gene on average half of his offspring will be too.
More of those off colored chicks could pop up forever in your line if it's not breed out.

Just a second note your other chicks appear blue not chocolate so that's really confusing things for me.

 

[Slothinc]

Chocolate is sex linked that's why females will show chocolate with only one copy. There's not another spot for a recessive gene with it and blue isn't recessive to chocolate. Whole different set of genes.
Chocolate should be on extended black which is dominant to partridge, duckwing etc. Both your male and the female that produced that chick carries on of the other patterns and when both pass it on to the same chick you'll get chicks like that.
So yes if you're selling eggs others could hatch some. But also they can hatch chicks with one copy of it and one copy of extended black and those could look as pure as your adults. With your rooster known as carrying one wrong gene on average half of his offspring will be too.
More of those off colored chicks could pop up forever in your line if it's not breed out.

Just a second note your other chicks appear blue not chocolate so that's really confusing things for me.

I was really confused by the chicks as well as none of them look chocolate. Do you have pictures of the parents?

 

[AlexisWheeler]

Its probably my lighting. My phone isn't the greatest. I attached a pic of an older chocolate chick as well.

 

[Slothinc]

Its probably my lighting. My phone isn't the greatest. I attached a pic of an older chocolate chick as well.

They are very pretty! I think it was just the lighting on the photo that made them look more blue than brown.

 

[AlexisWheeler]

They are very pretty! I think it was just the lighting on the photo that made them look more blue than brown.

Thank you! The rooster is such a gentleman as well!! Never tries to flog me and real good at watching over his ladies.

Any clue how I could breed out the bad genes then? I really wouldn't want to sell the rooster since he's so great.

 

[AlexisWheeler]

Chocolate is sex linked that's why females will show chocolate with only one copy. There's not another spot for a recessive gene with it and blue isn't recessive to chocolate. Whole different set of genes.
Chocolate should be on extended black which is dominant to partridge, duckwing etc. Both your male and the female that produced that chick carries on of the other patterns and when both pass it on to the same chick you'll get chicks like that.
So yes if you're selling eggs others could hatch some. But also they can hatch chicks with one copy of it and one copy of extended black and those could look as pure as your adults. With your rooster known as carrying one wrong gene on average half of his offspring will be too.
More of those off colored chicks could pop up forever in your line if it's not breed out.

Just a second note your other chicks appear blue not chocolate so that's really confusing things for me.

Ive had more of this color of chick hatch out in the incubator. How am I able to get this out of my line? Or would I just need a whole different rooster & hens?

 

[AlexisWheeler]

Also, will these different colored chicks eventually look chocolate? Or will they have different coloring?