Maybe YOU can tell me?!?!

[Foghorn Cogburn]

They are suppossdly siblings...obviously EE, but where are the colors, combs, and beards coming from? I present you with "Lacey" and "Pencil". What say ye?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Not sure what you mean by "but where are the colors, combs, and beards coming from?"

The combs and beards are standard EE combs and beards. The combs are different because Lacey is a cockerel and Pencil is a pullet. The beards there because beards are a dominant trait that's very near the pea comb and the blue egg gene on the chromosome, so they all tend to follow each other.

The colors make me think that they aren't really full siblings. Perhaps they only share one parent.

 

[Foghorn Cogburn]

I thought Lacey had too much curl going on and have suspected his behavior to be a tad more masculine than most of the flock. I had no idea that the comb itself would id him as a male, though. Laceys has rows but Pencil has a smooth one with a bump behind it.

My questions arise from not understanding EE very much at all. Why does Lacey have Wyandotte-ish laced feathers? I have misidentified him as a SLW until a recent thread brought me to realize my mistake. Then I pondered why the penciling and smoother comb on Pencil especially if they were siblings. They are the only bearded birds in my diverse flock, and only recently, did their beards start to become "fluffy-puffy". So much yet to learn...I love it.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I thought Lacey had too much curl going on and have suspected his behavior to be a tad more masculine than most of the flock. I had no idea that the comb itself would id him as a male, though. Laceys has rows but Pencil has a smooth one with a bump behind it.

My questions arise from not understanding EE very much at all. Why does Lacey have Wyandotte-ish laced feathers? I have misidentified him as a SLW until a recent thread brought me to realize my mistake. Then I pondered why the penciling and smoother comb on Pencil especially if they were siblings. They are the only bearded birds in my diverse flock, and only recently, did their beards start to become "fluffy-puffy". So much yet to learn...I love it.

For pea combs, an early way to tell cockerel vs. pullet is to count the rows of peas. Three rows = cockerel, one row = pullet. Not infallible, but right 90% of the time. Lacey also has cockerel coloring. Certain feather patterns are sex linked and you have two good examples of that. The "patchy" coloring that Lacey has is definitely male, while the smooth, overall pattern (changes in the hackle color don't count) is a female pattern.

Easter Eggers are simply birds that carry the blue egg gene but do not meet any breed standard. They're a fancy named mutt, like a Labradoodle, but still basically mutts. That means that they can look like almost anything, although the black and white pattern and partridgey patterns you have are pretty common. They may look Wyandotte-y because they have Wyandottes in their heritage.

The pea comb is linked to the blue egg gene. Having a pea comb means that there is a 90%+ chance that your birds carry the blue egg gene. When the two genes are that close on the chromosome, they tend to move together when the cell divides most of the time, so we say that they are linked. The beards come from Ameraucanas which are also the source of the pea comb and blue egg genes in your birds. The beards are a dominant gene and also near the pea comb and blue egg genes.

I am still skeptical that they are full siblings. Is it possible that they are hatch mates from the same clutch but have different mothers or fathers, or maybe came from the same hatchery but are not blood relatives?

 

[Foghorn Cogburn]

I buy that! The genetics behind these features is fascinating. When it comes to Atwoods I'll just stick to buying my supplies...I'll get my chickens elswhere. I love the diversity and ability to hand select. I don't mind having mutts either...I just wanna know what I have to work with. I value honesty. Thank you for the highly educational information!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I buy that! The genetics behind these features is fascinating. When it comes to Atwoods I'll just stick to buying my supplies...I'll get my chickens elswhere. I love the diversity and ability to hand select. I don't mind having mutts either...I just wanna know what I have to work with. I value honesty. Thank you for the highly educational information!

If you bought your chicks out of a bin, then I'd say they are unrelated to each other.

EEs are wonderful birds. My EEs always laid more, larger, and often prettier eggs than my Ameraucanas, and each had an awesome individual look, too. My last batch of EEs was hatched from 12 blue and green eggs that I'd pulled out of the nests all in one day (so I know that they all had different mothers) and the resulting chicks were blue, black, splash, all dark brown, bright yellow with stripes like a bumblebee, standard EE "chipmunk" coloration and all yellow. I sold that whole clutch, but I bet they would have grown up to all look gorgeously unique.

That's the beauty of mutt chickens. They are all unique. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing a clutch of purebred black Ameraucanas and I love seeing how each chick looks identical to all the other chicks--that's the point of a purebred chick. But I don't have the anticipation I get when I'm waiting to see what colors and patterns I get from a clutch of EEs and when I'm waiting to see what color eggs the EEs lay.

 

[Foghorn Cogburn]

They WERE out of the bin! At the time, they were the only unique looking ones outta the whole lot that day. I realize that although from the same bin, the likelyhood of anyone @ the store knowing anything about any particular chicks parents is probably zero.

I suppose I sounded like a jerk speaking about the farm supply store. I DO want to know what I'm working with when it comes to genetics...but, I got into chickens for bug reduction, egg production and primarily for my family to enjoy. I'm just being a little petty, 'cuz I wanted to cross and mutt my chickens on my own, lol...and I still will...from my mutts.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

They WERE out of the bin! At the time, they were the only unique looking ones outta the whole lot that day. I realize that although from the same bin, the likelyhood of anyone @ the store knowing anything about any particular chicks parents is probably zero.

I suppose I sounded like a jerk speaking about the farm supply store. I DO want to know what I'm working with when it comes to genetics...but, I got into chickens for bug reduction, egg production and primarily for my family to enjoy. I'm just being a little petty, 'cuz I wanted to cross and mutt my chickens on my own, lol...and I still will...from my mutts.

Oh, don't apologize for that. Complaining about the farm supply store is a common pasttime around here. After all, the farm stores get it wrong SO OFTEN that they kind of deserve it. Even if you give them a pass about calling EEs Ameraucana/Araucanas (after all, that's just what the hatchery told them), they have sold lots of "White Broilers" that turned out to be White Leghorns and vice versa, "Buff Orpingtons" that turned out to be male Red Sex Link, "Rhode Island Red" that were really Red Sex Link or Production Red, etc etc etc.

 

[Foghorn Cogburn]

Oh, don't apologize for that. Complaining about the farm supply store is a common pasttime around here. After all, the farm stores get it wrong SO OFTEN that they kind of deserve it. Even if you give them a pass about calling EEs Ameraucana/Araucanas (after all, that's just what the hatchery told them), they have sold lots of "White Broilers" that turned out to be White Leghorns and vice versa, "Buff Orpingtons" that turned out to be male Red Sex Link, "Rhode Island Red" that were really Red Sex Link or Production Red, etc etc etc.

Pretty funny...

I said "I want a white rooster."
He said "get that yella one, he's a boy...
I was like "cool man, any chance it's a Leghorn?"
Guy says "all our white ones are Leghorns."
.......so I have a HUGE FEMALE named after my alias here on the site..."Foghorn" is now "Foggy Foggette".

...then I go to a different location about 3 days later and end up with a female Leghorn pullet that was an "EE" just like "Mr. Lacey" and "Ms.Pencil" and outta the same bin, right? I of course called her "Easter".

In conclusion...LMBO...I have a Broiler named Foghorn and a Leghorn named Easter.

...and still a whole lot more to learn. I realize now, that the first time I had chickens...I knew nothing. But this time it's better because NOW, I know...almost nothing. Lol!