PS, my best breeder candidate Blue Australorp boy is very dark on the head and back (a little exaggerated in this photo because he's damp):
The paler boys are the less desirable ones:
The paler boys are the less desirable ones:
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Most breed clubs probably do not know what the expected DNA is.I wish all the breed clubs posted the expected DNA codes for their breeds.
and @Lauravonsmurf I don't even attempt to figure out the genetics anymore. But I knew going in it was more complex than i wanted to deal with, and that my management wasn't suited to controlled breeding - that's why I settled on culling out, instead of breeding in.
Yeah, and I learned years ago here in the old USA if you accidentally breed a bird that ends up looking like an awesome version of X breed, you can show it as X breed even though it is not from that breed pool… the Wild West it is… That is why I roll my eyes when people go in about Show Lines not being mutts, sometimes they are mutts… … sometimes they are carefully preserve carefully tracked lines… same with private not being shown flocks, sometimes Willy Nelly breeding, instead sometimes they are carefully documented pure lines.Most breed clubs probably do not know what the expected DNA is.
If you have chickens that look right, and you breed them together to get more chickens that look right, you do not really have to understand the genetics.
And for some breeds, there is more than one way (genetically speaking) to get chickens that look right. As an extreme but obvious example, a recessive white chicken could have any combination of other genes for feather colors, and no-one would ever know unless they crossed it to something else.
Awesome thread, thank you for this documentation and sharing your journey!