Malay Chick Growth Thread

[MysteryChicken]

I don’t know eye color genetics.

Okay, I had to ask, & was hoping you'd have the answer.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

@RoostersAreAwesome
@NatJ
@JacinLarkwell

Man, I barely know normal colors, let alone eye colors

 

[MysteryChicken]

Man, I barely know normal colors, let alone eye colors

I hope NatJ will know.

 

[NatJ]

@NatJ

Seems like only one of my Malay pullets is split for pearl eyes. My others just have yellow, or light orange eyes.

Will the split girl produce more pearl eye splits, or will it just be 50% of the offspring if not only 25%?

When I've tried to research eye color genetics, I don't find much information.

What makes you say she's split for pearl eyes? That might be helpful in trying to figure out what is going on genetically.

Does she herself have pearl eyes? Do you know if either or both of her parents have pearl eyes? If she has produced any chicks, what color are their eyes?

(I have not read the earlier parts of this thread, and I don't have the time to catch up on 49 pages right now, so I'm just going by what's in the most recent few posts.)

 

[MysteryChicken]

When I've tried to research eye color genetics, I don't find much information.

What makes you say she's split for pearl eyes? That might be helpful in trying to figure out what is going on genetically.

Does she herself have pearl eyes? Do you know if either or both of her parents have pearl eyes? If she has produced any chicks, what color are their eyes?

(I have not read the earlier parts of this thread, and I don't have the time to catch up on 49 pages right now, so I'm just going by what's in the most recent few posts.)

I'll get pictures later. Her eyes are like this as an example.

Unless that's a variation of pearl.

She's only 26 weeks, turning 6 months next Friday. She's not laying yet, so I can't breed her until next spring.


From what I've been reading is, not much is understood about pearl eye, or exactly what genes make them. From what I know it's recessive.

 

[NatJ]

I'll get pictures later. Her eyes are like this as an example.

From what I've been reading is, not much is understood about pearl eye, or exactly what genes make them. From what I know it's recessive.

If it's recessive, then her having light eyes shows that she has two copies of the gene.
So she must have gotten one copy from each parent, so each parent is at least a carrier or else shows the trait themselves.
And every chick she produces must have one copy of the gene as well.

Do you have her parents? Or know what color eyes they have?

Breeding her to either her father or her son would be an obvious way to get more light-eyed chicks.

Crossing her to a sibling should also have a good chance of producing light-eyed chicks.

If you don't have access to her parents or siblings, try crossing her to any rooster that has traits you want, then keeping a son to breed back to her-- which should give 50% light eyed chicks if you're dealing with just one recessive gene.

You could also try crossing her to an unrelated chicken, one who is not expected to have that gene, just to check the inheritance: if any chicks have light eyes like her, then you're more likely to be dealing with a dominant gene instead of a recessive one.

And of course if that eye color is actually caused by the influence of several different genes at once, it will be much more complicated to deal with. The obvious way to test that is to watch for unexpected results when trying to breed more such chickens.

 

[MysteryChicken]

If it's recessive, then her having light eyes shows that she has two copies of the gene.
So she must have gotten one copy from each parent, so each parent is at least a carrier or else shows the trait themselves.
And every chick she produces must have one copy of the gene as well.

Do you have her parents? Or know what color eyes they have?

Breeding her to either her father or her son would be an obvious way to get more light-eyed chicks.

Crossing her to a sibling should also have a good chance of producing light-eyed chicks.

If you don't have access to her parents or siblings, try crossing her to any rooster that has traits you want, then keeping a son to breed back to her-- which should give 50% light eyed chicks if you're dealing with just one recessive gene.

You could also try crossing her to an unrelated chicken, one who is not expected to have that gene, just to check the inheritance: if any chicks have light eyes like her, then you're more likely to be dealing with a dominant gene instead of a recessive one.

And of course if that eye color is actually caused by the influence of several different genes at once, it will be much more complicated to deal with. The obvious way to test that is to watch for unexpected results when trying to breed more such chickens.

The Breeder isn't selling right now, so I can't look at the parents pictures.


I can breed her next spring to a couple different roosters who I'm gonna be using for a breeding project.

I can also breed her to her hatch mates, to test if they carry it too.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I'm just not sure if I should breed her to birds with: Red, Yellow, Bay, Brown, Black, Orange, or light orange eyes.

 

[Sally PB]

Malay pullets is split for pearl eyes.

Thanks for the picture. I was going to ask what pearl eyes were.

Very striking and pretty!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thanks for the picture. I was going to ask what pearl eyes were.

Very striking and pretty!

You're welcome.

I'll be getting pictures of her's later.