My new hatch- can you spot the wyandotte crosses?

[northernchic]

I'm hoping someone can tell me what to look for so maybe I can tell my wyandotte ee crosses from the straight ee chicks?

 

[Percheron chick]

Impossible to tell. Your EEs can be wyandotte Xs. EEs are just brown X blue egg layers. The brown could be anything.

 

[northernchic]

Ahh. Ok. Thank you.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are many different colors and patterns of Wyandottes. Just saying “Wyandotte” gives us no clue and no help with that. EE means absolutely nothing as far as color or pattern. It just means they might lay blue or green eggs. It can also make a difference if the Wyandotte is the mother or father if a sex linked gene is in play. Even if you tell us what sex, color, and pattern the Wyandotte is and post photos of the EE’s we still probably won’t be able to help you a lot, but it is at least possible.

There may be a clue though, but it will require some effort on your part. There are no comb requirements for an EE. They might have a single comb, pea comb, rose comb, or walnut comb and they may have modifiers that make even those standard combs look weird. There is a requirement for a Wyandotte though, they have to have a rose comb. If your Wyandotte are pure Wyandotte, they have to be pure for the rose comb. That means they have two copies of the rose comb gene and will give one copy to all their offspring. So that is a basic assumption, your Wyandotte have to be pure for the rose comb.

The basics of comb genetics are really simple. There are two genes in play, the Rose and the Pea. The rose gene is completely dominant, the pea gene is incompletely dominant. That means if the rose gene is there, it is going to show in its rose form, whether there are two genes at that place on the chromosome or just one. But the pea gene just has to mess things up. If there are two pea genes at that spot on the chromosome it will show as a pure pea. If there is just one pea gene there it will still have an effect but it can be kind of wonky. You can still tell it is there but it just doesn’t always look right.

If a chicken has no pea and no rose, it has a single comb.

If a chicken has a pea and no rose, it has a pea comb, but it might or might not be a bit wonky.

If a chicken has no pea but does have a rose, it has a rose comb.

If a chicken has both a pea and a rose it has a walnut comb.

What makes it more complicates is that there are several other genes that can alter the appearance some. These modifiers might make the comb big or small, firm or floppy. Some can really alter the appearance like the Vee or Buttercup. If some of these modifiers are present it may have gotten a lot harder to use this method.

If your EE have any version of the rose or walnut comb, then this method won’t work. I’m guessing that your EE is a rooster and you have a mixture of EE and Wyandotte hens from the way you asked your question but I’d like to confirm my guess. But if the EE is the rooster and neither he and nor any of the EE hens have a walnut or rose comb, then any chicks with a walnut or rose comb are your Wyandotte crosses. Any pea combed, wonky or not, and any single combed chicks are from your EE hens.

 

[northernchic]

Thank you for all that you posted. I read through it, but to fully grasp it, i will probably have to read it 3-4 times. Lol!

Until then, you are correct that my rooster is an EE. I have 2 gold laced wyandotte hens. I believe that my EE roo has a rose comb.

 

[BantamLover21]

Impossible to tell. Your EEs can be wyandotte Xs. EEs are just brown X blue egg layers. The brown could be anything.

Agreed.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Impossible to tell. Your EEs can be wyandotte Xs. EEs are just brown X blue egg layers. The brown could be anything.

X3