I have a mysterious baby chick.

[babychicks1203]

I have been hatching baby chicks, I am supposed to have standard barred rock,& buff brahma bantams. All has been fine but the past two hatches I have had one all yellow baby chick hatch. I don't know where this is coming from, it is the same size as the other barred rocks, and should not be the buff brahmas as it is a clean legged chicken. Help I need to know what you think is going on here. Thanks

 

[bargain]

You may have a hen in either of your flocks that is too closely related to your rooster. And you may be getting a genetic throwback of some sort.... I'm sorry I know that's not the "scientific" word to use but that's the best I can do.....

A few questions.

How long have you been hatching from this group of hens/rooster(s)?
Is there a hen that has recently started laying and you would know her to see if she's the one....

Is there a recent addition to the flock?

Hopefully you tag your flocks, otherwise, you will be in an long process to "move" the hen(s) or rooster(s) away from the flocks that is causing the throwback.

If it happened once, it can happen again, or so I've read somewhere on this board. Best of luck! Nancy

 

[babychicks1203]

Thank you, That does make sense. I have hatched to batches of them so far, and three more hatchings worth are in the incubator now. No recent additions, and there is one that might have started laying, I don't know for sure if she is. I havent ever seen her in the nesting box where the eggs are laid.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you are here!

Since it has happened twice, one of your hens and one of your roosters have recessive genes that are pairing up. I don't know how many hens you have or how many eggs you are hatching, and I don't know what the recessives are in your case. It does not mean that your rooster and hen are necessarily too closely related. It just means they have recessive genes that are showing up.

Without trying to speculate which genes it is (and it could require diffferent recessives to match up which makes it even harder to track down) If your rooster and hen both have one dominant and one recessive gene, lets call dominant G and not dominant g just for talking sakes, each adult will have a pairing Gg. When you cross them, 1/4 of the chicks will get GG and half the chicks will get Gg. The dominant trait will express itself in these cases. 1/4 of the chicks will get gg and the recessive will express itself. Of course thoss 1/4's and 1/2's are averages and you have to have enough chicks hatch for averages to mean anything.

I really don't know what is going on. Barring is a sex linked gene that the mother only passes to her sons and not her daughters, so I think those yellow ones are probably female. So that would mean it is your rooster that is not doubled up on the barring gene, say B for barred and b for not barred, so the rooster would be Bb. Half his chicks would getthe barred gene and half would get the not barred gene. But with Barred Rocks without the barring, the chicks should be black, not yellow. And half the offspring with true Barred Rock hens with that rooster should be solid black, not all barred. Maybe the rooster and one of the hens has a non-dominant white gene as well? So, yeah, I am totally confused.

 

[babychicks1203]

Yeah I am really comfused when it come to genes, but i understand what you are trying to say. So do you think I should find a different rooster? I only have 3 hens hens. These are show chickens so finding a different rooster might be tough but it will be worth it to get it right.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are several people on this forum that are much better at genetics than I am. I'll probably insult a few by mentioning specific ones and leaving some people off but Tadkerson, Henk69, Rareroo, and Sonoran Silkies immediately come to mind. All of them seem very glad to help people. I'm not personally going to suggest drastic changes because I just don't feel qualified to make that recommendation. Hopefully someone that feels more qualified will add their thoughts.

You seemed to think it was not from a buff brahma bantam. Even though the chick was the same size as the BR chicks and did not have feathers on its legs does not in my mind rule out that one of its parents is from each breed. The way I understand it, the chicks from a bantam-full sized cross could take their size from either parent or be somewhere in between. I'm not sure how leg feather genetics work, but again a recessive is all it takes. And the buff color can be made from several different gene combinations, most of which are not strongly dominant. I don't know what the specific gene combinations would be, but I could see a buff roo over a barred rock hen, the hen (and maybe the rooster) having a recessive gene, that might explain that chick's color. And a good barred rock rooster over that hen would always give you a barred rock looking chick.

If you got the chickens from a breeder, I'd suggest going back to them and discussing it with them. They'll probably be interested and may have a ready explanation. If they came from a hatchery, there is no telling what is in the genetic makeup of the chickens. Some recessive genes can be hidden for generations.

Did you get any solid black chicks from either hatch, solid black in the adult plumage, that is, and especially solid females. If you did, that will be a strong indication that the flaw is in the rooster's barred gene. Or at least one of the flaws.