Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[pinkchick]

Quote:
They will all be cuckoo/barred.

Female cuckoo/barred birds carry one copy of the barring gene = heterozygous
Male cuckoo/barred birds should carry 2 copies of the barring gene = homozygous (homozygous males will look different as they mature...will be lighter in color than the females)

Some males only carry one copy of the gene (a female cuckoo crossed over a BCM male would produce heterozygous males) Het. males will be colored just like a female and will be darker than a homo. male. If these het. males are crossed back to a barred hen you should get homozygous males again.


I will see if I can find a photo of a heterozygous male and a homozygous male for you.

 

[Debbi]

Yesterday, I made a haphazard nest for my dear porch laying hen. It was a Priority Mail box, stuffed with newpaper, and a deep bed of pine shavings. I set it behind the bag of cans (which I still haven't taken to the garage!), and went inside. It's like those nosy chickens can smell something new, and they all appeared to "inspect" the new nest. Much chattering was going on with the roos. Then some more chattering came and got a tad louder, the hens had arrived. Then it got silent. ???? Looked out the window, and there was the hen already approving the new nest, and laying an egg! All other birds stood around her just quietly starring. It struck me as funny, that it almost looked like a chicken nativity scene!

Gosh, I'm so simple!

 

[Debbi]

Quote:
They will all be cuckoo/barred.

Female cuckoo/barred birds carry one copy of the barring gene = heterozygous
Male cuckoo/barred birds should carry 2 copies of the barring gene = homozygous (homozygous males will look different as they mature...will be lighter in color than the females)

Some males only carry one copy of the gene (a female cuckoo crossed over a BCM male would produce heterozygous males) Het. males will be colored just like a female and will be darker than a homo. male. If these het. males are crossed back to a barred hen you should get homozygous males again.


I will see if I can find a photo of a heterozygous male and a homozygous male for you.

Very good explanation Kim!!

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I think that is right, but may only apply to the roos. Roos have TWO copies and Hens only the one. So the hens could be used for breeding, but the roos are incomplete dominate. Were is VC... cuz some of this I just don't understand. I made the mistake of trying to get the answers to this on the genetics page and that was way over my head.

This mating will be
50% roos barred with one copy incomplete
50% pullets barred

Ok so it goes something like this with a roos from above barred incomplete over solid hen

25% of roos will have barring but incomplete
25% of roos no barring
25% of pullets will be barred
25% of pullets will be solid

Since the roo only has one copy he can only pass it to 1/2 the offspring.

 

[pinkchick]

I should say that I forgot to mention that we have 2 varieties of Cuckoo's, Silver and Golden, sorry I forgot that earlier. I do not work with Cuckoo's so I could be off in some of my explanations and would hope that someone with more experience or someone who works with them comes by and corrects or adds too.


Here is a link to a Heterozygous male that is a golden cuckoo, note that he is colored like the Het. female below him.....think of it as white barring on a black feather for the females and the heter. males.
Think of homozygous males as having black barring on a white feather....thus the lighter appearance in the homo. male.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6295190#p6295190



This is a Homozygous male. (Note this male also has some gold leakage near the head)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6314402#p6314402

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
They will all be cuckoo/barred.

Female cuckoo/barred birds carry one copy of the barring gene = heterozygous
Male cuckoo/barred birds should carry 2 copies of the barring gene = homozygous (homozygous males will look different as they mature...will be lighter in color than the females)

Some males only carry one copy of the gene (a female cuckoo crossed over a BCM male would produce heterozygous males) Het. males will be colored just like a female and will be darker than a homo. male. If these het. males are crossed back to a barred hen you should get homozygous males again. you will get more homozygous with each breeding to the barred hen but you will still have that unbarred gene there to haunt you. So the first breeding to a barred hen you will get 25% of the MALES that are het. and each breeding with those 25% will result in 25% more het males. I can't do the math now but it will diminish the amount of het. males every mating but it will not go away, just not be as noticeable. I just would not use the males I am living this now but I didn't know I had a sexlink till I started breeding him

I will see if I can find a photo of a heterozygous male and a homozygous male for you.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
They will all be cuckoo/barred.

Female cuckoo/barred birds carry one copy of the barring gene = heterozygous
Male cuckoo/barred birds should carry 2 copies of the barring gene = homozygous (homozygous males will look different as they mature...will be lighter in color than the females)

Some males only carry one copy of the gene (a female cuckoo crossed over a BCM male would produce heterozygous males) Het. males will be colored just like a female and will be darker than a homo. male. If these het. males are crossed back to a barred hen you should get homozygous males again. you will get more homozygous with each breeding to the barred hen but you will still have that unbarred gene there to haunt you. So the first breeding to a barred hen you will get 25% of the MALES that are het. and each breeding with those 25% will result in 25% more het males. I can't do the math now but it will diminish the amount of het. males every mating but it will not go away, just not be as noticeable. I just would not use the males I am living this now but I didn't know I had a sexlink till I started breeding him

I will see if I can find a photo of a heterozygous male and a homozygous male for you.


THANK YOU DONNA! I'm glad you are here on this one....you have a way better grasp on the Cuckoo than I do as I do not work them. Thank you for posting the correction. You Rock!

 

[DMRippy]

Probably not better grasp, just that is what I am working with now. Has given me babies I was not expecting, both good and bad. I can't figure that calculator thing out

I am a work it out on paper kinda girl

It gives me a start sometimes, but I just don't know genetics very well yet. Illia is my hero! When I can figure things out like she does I will feel like I know what I am doing. She can look at a bird and tell you the parents.... how cool is that!

 

[Zanna]

Quote:
x2 !! What a looker!

Thank you all for the compliments, I just love her!!! She goes in the breeding pen next week with my bcm roo, can't wait for the babies! She came from Marquisella (Sue) in a batch of chicks I ordered from her last Spring.

 

[gilavina]

Kim...I'm getting myself in trouble looking at more birdy websites....