How to breed Cuckoo chickens

[anasshad]

I'm very new to chickens but this question is just out of curiosity. Recently I came across cuckoo chickens, the ones with cuckoo feathers. I saw some cuckoo bantams and I've to say that I just fell in love with them. So, I was thinking, is there any way to get the cuckoo gene into my brahmas, so that I could also get Cuckoo brahmas. Is there any way to do this in reality or I just have to get a magic wand???

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

You'd have to bring barring in from another breed.

 

[anasshad]

If I breed a plymouth barred rock with a light brahma, will I get a cuckoo one?

 

[dheltzel]

I love genetics, so it's easy for me to say this -- but read posts on this site about barring and cross breeding. It will take several generations to get something that looks and acts like a cuckoo brahma, but it certainly is possible. I'm not an expert on Brahmas, so I can't say exactly how the breeding plan should go, but I can tell you it will be faster to start with a male barred bird, so that both sexes have barring. Barring is sexed linked and a barred rock hen to non-barred roo will produce only barred males. Those can then be bred back to brahma hens, but a BR roo will produce all barred chicks.

Do read up on this first if you can, it can save you a lot of time to understand what you are trying to do.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
Breeding for Cuckoo Brahmas is a very straightforward mater, introducing the barring gene from a large breed and since Extended black and Barring are dominant, all you need keep crossing to brahmas to bring back size/type and temperament, after you are happy with that you can take your E/eb B/b+ males and cross them with their E/eb B/- female counterpart... here is a pic of how a Show Type Barred/cuckoo Brahma look like(from

and here Light Brahma x Barred Rock cross(people have been doing them since ages ago, so you may find project birds like this listed or start your own if you have exceptionaly good birds, it will save you abou 8 months time if you find them at this stage) source of such cross> https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/346302/light-brahma-x-barred-rocks-are-we-roos

the good news for you as I said before is that all of the genes that you need and want are dominant so it will be a Straightforward project, genes like Extended Black, Barring, Pea comb, shank feathering, all these genes are dominant which is good for you the only thing is that time is whats gong to hold you, good two years of breeding at least I would start with Light Brahma x Barred Rock if you want a Barred Brahma and with Dark Brahma x Cuckoo Maran if you would like a "Cuckoo" Brahma

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
I love genetics with a passion and like to actually teach people about genetics,

 

[3riverschick]

Hi !

What about using large fowl Cuckoo Marans? They have white legs and
come with or without feathered legs and feet. The old Fugate, Ripley, and
Cratty strains still exist in scattered flocks around the country. Will darken
the eggs some.
Best Regards,
Karen

 

[nicalandia]

Hi !

What about using large fowl Cuckoo Marans? They have white legs and
come with or without feathered legs and feet. The old Fugate, Ripley, and
Cratty strains still exist in scattered flocks around the country. Will darken
the eggs some.
Best Regards,
Karen

if he wants cuckoo pattern then this would be the best choice, but if he wants Barred Pattern then Barred rock is the way to go

 

[donrae]

Brahmas and Cochins are similar, and Cochins already come in barred (basically the same as cuckoo), so if you just want large, fluffy feather footed black and white bird you could skip the breeding and buy some already done

 

[nicalandia]

Brahmas and Cochins are similar, and Cochins already come in barred (basically the same as cuckoo), so if you just want large, fluffy feather footed black and white bird you could skip the breeding and buy some already done

true