My Crocus-Fowl Landrace project moving forward

[Sir Sacabambaspis]

I'm hoping to bring these birds to life as a real landrace alongside my books!

 

[MysteryChicken]

That's a gorgeous egg!!!

Thanks. It's from an Easter Egger pullet.

 

[Sir Sacabambaspis]

So I have this one chick I thought was a wheaten hen... But now that I've made the discovery a few weeks ago that I have DB in my flock (specifically Butterscotch who I presume is the mother) and possibly Saffron as well since his mother might have it. Which means this presumed pullet may in fact be a cockerel. However that my friends isn't even the craziest part! Look closely at these photos of this mystery chick... I kept thinking "hey that looks like barring" followed by "there's no way, non of my current birds are barred" and yet none the less... I see what looks like the weirdest barring ever.

THAT LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE BARRING

 

[Sir Sacabambaspis]

I'm also really unsure of whether this mystery bird is a pullet or roo, I'll show some birds from the same hatch

Bingus is 100% a roo

This is the only one that's most likely a pullet

And this is the best photo I could get of this mystery chick

 

[MysteryChicken]

So I have this one chick I thought was a wheaten hen... But now that I've made the discovery a few weeks ago that I have DB in my flock (specifically Butterscotch who I presume is the mother) and possibly Saffron as well since his mother might have it. Which means this presumed pullet may in fact be a cockerel. However that my friends isn't even the craziest part! Look closely at these photos of this mystery chick... I kept thinking "hey that looks like barring" followed by "there's no way, non of my current birds are barred" and yet none the less... I see what looks like the weirdest barring ever. View attachment 4309475View attachment 4309476View attachment 4309477View attachment 4309478View attachment 4309479
THAT LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE BARRINGView attachment 4309481

If the chick was yellow as a chick, it's more then likely Wheaten based.

You can have both Wheaten, & Db in the same bird(s). But this combination(If Columbian involved) often leads to extension of the Buff, or Red, or Silver color into the tail.

 

[Sir Sacabambaspis]

If the chick was yellow as a chick, it's more then likely Wheaten based.

You can have both Wheaten, & Db in the same bird(s). But this combination often leads to extension of the Buff, or Red, or Silver color into the tail.

True, but it does look like the Piemonte (pure for DB) chicks who were where the gene arrived from like 5 generations ago, but my assumption was those had Wheaten bases. There is also the possibility of the Colombian gene, but it's far less likely. I'm guessing you're probably right and it's a wheaten base since the dad and the hen I think is the mom both have a copy of it.

The mom could also be another hen of mine who is from my current understanding Extended black/Wheaten Pg/pg Co/co and Ml/ml and possibly DB from her dad. Which means this chick could have any of those.

But idk what the barring-like feathers are from

 

[MysteryChicken]

True, but it does look like the Piemonte (pure for DB) chicks who were where the gene arrived from like 5 generations ago, but my assumption was those had Wheaten bases. There is also the possibility of the Colombian gene, but it's far less likely. I'm guessing you're probably right and it's a wheaten base since the dad and the hen I think is the mom both have a copy of it.

The mom could also be another hen of mine who is from my current understanding Extended black/Wheaten Pg/pg Co/co and Ml/ml and possibly DB from her dad. Which means this chick could have any of those.

But idk what the barring-like feathers are from

She looks more like the Wheaten X Columbian colored birds I'd get through my first breeding projects.
The parents are more then likely Barred, or the father. Can't get a Barred bird without the gene being present.
This is Pea, who is Wheaten, Columbia, & Barred.

 

[NatJ]

I kept thinking "hey that looks like barring" followed by "there's no way, non of my current birds are barred" and yet none the less... I see what looks like the weirdest barring ever....
THAT LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE BARRING

I agree. That does look like barring. I can't be sure whether it IS barring, but it definitely LOOKS like barring.

But idk what the barring-like feathers are from

I don't know where the barring came from, but I do know how to be sure of what it is: test-mate the bird to see what you get in the chicks. Mating with a black chicken will give some chicks that show barring quite clearly, if the barring gene is present. (Black chicks make it really easy to see a light headspot at hatch, and the white bars show up nicely on the black feathers as the chick grows.)

Since you said you have no barred birds, is there any chance that someone else's rooster came visiting? (Or one of your hens wandered away to visit another rooster?) Or did you get a hen recently, so she might still have sperm stored from a previous mating?

Or do you have any all-white chickens? Sometimes they can have barring without being noticed (white barring on a white chicken is not exactly obvious.)

 

[Sir Sacabambaspis]

I agree. That does look like barring. I can't be sure whether it IS barring, but it definitely LOOKS like barring.

Exactly! What also confuses me is that the tail isn't really barred either, it's just the wings and saddle feathers, the chest is more solid-ish. There's definitely a few feathers with 3 white lines, but then some only have 2 or 1, It's very peculiar.

I don't know where the barring came from, but I do know how to be sure of what it is: test-mate the bird to see what you get in the chicks. Mating with a black chicken will give some chicks that show barring quite clearly, if the barring gene is present. (Black chicks make it really easy to see a light headspot at hatch, and the white bars show up nicely on the black feathers as the chick grows.)

I'm definitely going to keep it for future breeding! I hope it's 6 month molt shows whether this barred feather look stays. If it's a rooster then I'll back cross it to the two hens to see what happens.

Since you said you have no barred birds, is there any chance that someone else's rooster came visiting? (Or one of your hens wandered away to visit another rooster?) Or did you get a hen recently, so she might still have sperm stored from a previous mating?

I've had them locked up the month prior to mating and I only have 1 barred rooster in a separate coop. However the grandpa to the mother of this mystery chick was a Legbar cross and carried a barring gene. This is the hen I think it the mom, she's too crazy to get up close and was also yellow at hatch, but perhaps she carries the barring gene?

This her half sister (same dad) who's mom was a blue Australorp which is where she got Co, Pg, and Ml, obviously she's not barred but I hope the photos for comparison clear up any confusion. These hens are the main mother's to the hatch of the mystery chick

Or do you have any all-white chickens? Sometimes they can have barring without being noticed (white barring on a white chicken is not exactly obvious.)

I haven't had any all-white birds in my breeding projects in years as far as dominant white or recessive white goes and those were white leghorn hens that passed before I hatched any of their eggs.

 

[NatJ]

Exactly! What also confuses me is that the tail isn't really barred either, it's just the wings and saddle feathers, the chest is more solid-ish. There's definitely a few feathers with 3 white lines, but then some only have 2 or 1, It's very peculiar.

Sometimes feathers just do get their pigment in weird ways. For example, some kinds of dietary deficiencies or excesses can cause weird coloring.

But this one still LOOKS like barring.

I'm definitely going to keep it for future breeding! I hope it's 6 month molt shows whether this barred feather look stays. If it's a rooster then I'll back cross it to the two hens to see what happens.

I'll look forward to seeing the results!

I've had them locked up the month prior to mating and I only have 1 barred rooster in a separate coop.

I've read of a few cases when hens stored sperm for longer than a month before laying eggs, but it is pretty rare. (I think one case was from a black crested rooster, when neither the hen nor the new rooster had black or crest. It was pretty obvious who had fathered them.)

However the grandpa to the mother of this mystery chick was a Legbar cross and carried a barring gene. This is the hen I think it the mom, she's too crazy to get up close and was also yellow at hatch, but perhaps she carries the barring gene?

I don't see any barring on her.

Regarding inheritance, the barring gene is sexlinked.

A hen inherits it from her father, never from her mother. She can only give it to her sons, never to her daughters.

A rooster can inherit barring from his mother or his father or both. He give barring to both his sons and his daughters.

You could probably work out the inheritance of the barring gene starting from a Legbar, and see if it could have been inherited by this current chick or whether there is some generation where it must have stopped (example: if barred hen mates with a non-barred rooster and produces a non-barred daughter, no descendants of that non-barred daughter will inherit the barring gene from her.)

I haven't had any all-white birds in my breeding projects in years as far as dominant white or recessive white goes and those were white leghorn hens that passed before I hatched any of their eggs.

That rules out one possible source of barring. White Leghorns are known for having barring, but if you only had hens and did not hatch any of their eggs, then of course they did not pass it on to any of the chickens you have now.