Lavender-Based Leghorn Breeding & Improvement Discussion

These genetics are very rare/very common

  • very rare - seldom or have never seen before

    Votes: 30 96.8%

  • very common - I see them everywhere

    Votes: 1 3.2%
  • Total voters
    31
Pics
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The chick in the pics I lost but these two boys looked the same at hatch.
They're lavender silver/gold duckwing. I lost about all my breeder pens so was hoping for some split boys so come spring I can produce both lavender SD and lavender GD from the same pen and save space.
Haven't hatched any lavender SD pullets yet but should get through winter with at least a few GD and SD pullets that are split for lavender.
 
Not sure if you know much about a silver/gold DW rooster but silver is dominate over gold so they get the silver pattern. It never seems to completely hide the gold though so they get a yellowish tint. You can see it in the pics and I'd expect it to darken with age. A pure lavender DW will lose the yellow they have and it will be white in those areas.
A lavender SD hen will be interesting because they will retain the salmon in the breast area.
Speaking of salmon breasts that a difference in the duckwing hens and the eb dark brown hens.
DW has salmon. eb has a stippled breast.
 
Kiki said:
It's nice to be able to talk to someone who understands, right?
Click to expand...
Oh come on you know you understand all this.
But really it doesn't matter I love this stuff so I'll talk to anyone about it.
If they understand cool. If not I'll try to help if they want me to. Or heck I'll try to help if they want it or not.
@ChicKat makes it fun because she's so detailed about everything and she'll dig for answers so I can set back and learn without straining my brain.
 
Nice photos Moonshiner...and nice birds. When I first saw them I thought maybe silver duck wing as you were interested in was the genes showing. VERY COOL!!

Found another book on chicken genetics by Sigrid Van Dort. It's a treasure trove of info also....over the next weeks I'll post some of the points that she makes. Of you ever have an extra $70 that you don't know what to do with -- buy this book. Missing that window of opportunity, get your local library to buy it so you can check it out. Missing that get your local AG college to buy it so you can read it there. JMO.
P1090198.JPG

The Genetics of Chicken Colours - the basics by Sigrid Van Dort - David Hancox & Friends
Book Review: (I should do a formal Review of this for all of BYC world shouldn't I.)
Sigrid claims to be a beginner, and then writes this very comprehensive book. Reminds me of that old saying 'knock me over with a feather'.

She also names Henk Meijer and Grant Brereton as consultants. Sigrid, Henk and Grant are world-class experts. Europeans take their poultry more seriously than folk in the USA. Henk wrote the chicken calculator, and Grant has written numerous books. All three of them have been amazingly generous with their expertise and views when I have contacted them for questions and Grant even came to the USA to do a seminar that I was able to attend. That said, I think it is a real sign of expertise to be able to help a rank amateur.

The book contains photos of almost all imaginable chicken plumage colors (colours) with the analysis of the expected genetics behind the plumage. She also explains one-by-one the influencing factors of the genetics.

To make it all easily to relate, she uses the analogy of making soup. Each gene is one of the ingredients of the soup. The basis is the broth -- and that basis is the e-Locus genes.

Now relating directly to what the Moonshiner says -- Here is a page that she presents on Silver/Gold and the Autosomal RED and how it affects chickens. It also will show what the Moonshiner is saying about Silver AND.... how colors can vary. Seems not a whole lot is known about Autosomal Red from what I recall.
P1090199.JPG

by Sigrid Van Dort
one page from Sigrid's book. Top six are hens bottom 9 are cockerels. Faded shiny part is kitchen light reflected on the glossy page...dark part is shadow of camera lens.
P1090200.JPG

by Sigrid Van Dort
P1090201.JPG
by Sigrid Van Dort

Apology for the low quality photos.

In the upper right* of the cockerels -- s/s Ar/Ar you see a Mahogany wing patch -- attributed here to autosomal red in two copies. Middle photo in that row has only one Ar expressing and the wing patch is lighter. Middle row -- right most illustration is a pure Silver example (sorry for the shine fading it out a bit) -- with Strong red influence and looks a LOT like the bottom left bird -- sorry the letters are cut off - The bottom row is all split for silver S/s --- and then the autosomal red matches the row above.
So therefore Mr. S/S Ar+/Ar+ looks a lot like Mr. S/s ar/ar --- Just another thing that makes it tricky and another reason why knowing the parentage/lineage can make your results more accurate.
Jumping back to the hens.... lack of autosomal red makes the breast feathers lack red pigment...as the Moonshiner said -- red breasted is usually the signal of a duck wing in the female (since she doesn't have the wing bar) - Since hens only have one place holder for the Silver/Gold gene, they must be "either, or" -- they can't be a split. The gold hen without autosomal red expressing (top row left) has the appearance of gray body and wing plumage, and the silver hen with strong autosomal red expressing (bottom row right) has brown instead of gray body plumage. Nice way to decode isn't it?
Also BTW Sigrid is a very talented artist and rendered these illustrations.

The hen on the far right bottom in the real life book page has the darkest red breast - but the reflection of the overhead light in my camera made it look lighter and oranger...it isn't.
:th
ETA changed upper left to upper right in the cockerel discussion...I'm dyslexic and sometimes I get L and R switched.
:oops:
 
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