My Newest Blue and Splash Orpingtons

[Homegroanacres]

Quote:
I'm thinking I should get some kind of prize for stumpin Miss Prissy!!

John

Thanks it really did help,

 

[MissPrissy]

No stumping. Chicken genetics and all the mutations has never been my strong suit. Even books published 20 years ago are now considered out of date.

I was never interested in chicken genetics at all until I was shown the lovely chickens available when I was in Holland many years ago. I spent nearly a month drooling over chickens in every little place I visited.

Then I had some real life times that took me away from my chickens, had to get rid of my flock and was chickenless for nearly 5 years.

Now I am back and once again trying to learn.

 

[Lea71]

Cuties!!!

And once again...I am in awe at Miss Prissy's smarts...you rock!!

 

[cockadoodlemom]

Quote:
I second that!

 

[speckledhen]

They're adorable, MissP. I'm putting 13 of my own from Velvet and Skye, plus I think 20 from other lines and some heritage Delawares in tomorrow.

 

[EweSheep]

For those who dont have nail polish handy, I clip their wing feather tips and keep cutting them as they get older. Just one side is enough for a set of chicks from one breeder. That what I did with the BamaChicken and Gordie chicks together. As soon as I got Gordie's chicks, I cut their wing feather tips and until they were big enough to wear leg bands. Works well for me!

Beautiful chicks...makes me want to hatch out more!!!!!!!!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Oh, cool--this made it much easier for me to understand, because now I can equate it with poodle color genetics! We only breed black, blue, and silver (one color per dog, I mean--no "parti" colored dogs) poodles, and in your explanation above, I can simply substitute poodle equivalents!

Black = Black (no dilution gene)

Blue = Blue (one dilution gene)

Silver = Splash (two dilution genes)

I have a breeding right now that I would LOVE to do, conformation-wise, because I know it would be a phenomenal cross, but so far I've not done it because it's between a black dog and a silver grump, so I would get all blue puppies. Blue poodles, while lovely, are not popular with pet-buyers, so I worry about placing any non-show-quality puppies. Our first champion was blue, and they don't seem to have any problem in the show ring, but most pet buyers aren't even aware of "blue" as a color option. They just want silver or black.

Belinda

 

[MissPrissy]

Here I go off topic!

I have toy poodles! I LOVE them.

NP, I have a toy male chocolate poodle that I got for Christmas. He was 15 ounces when he was brought home.

My oldest DD has a toy apricot female. She was tiny when we brought her home but not nearly as tiny as my boy.

She was solid apricot until about 4 months of age andnow she has a white tip on her paw. We love her anyway. I want to breed her one time because i feel it settles their temperment to have one litter of puppies. You know those litters are small in the toy dogs.

I am pondering letting my male breed her and simply giving the puppies away unregistered and then having her fixed.

Would chocolate and apricot make a party color? I do not like those pups with the saddle look.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
What's not to love about poodles?

We have minis and standards, no toys, but they're just universally wonderful dogs. And no shedding! Bonus! Alex's bird dog is even a standard poodle--we wouldn't have anything else.

You don't get partis by breeding different colors--you get them by breeding two dogs who each contribute a mismark gene. Mismarks are something where "it takes two to tango." I've gotten one mismarked pup before, and she was out of solid-colored, champion parents! And since I'm breeding for the show-ring, I'm trying NOT to produce mismarks, because it's a disqualification!

It's one of those things where you just don't know until it shows up, because a solid poodle can carry a single recessive mismark gene...and since the grump in this case has a white paw, she definitely carries two and will pass on one of them to any puppies.

You wouldn't likely get any bold, splashy mismarks, though--most likely a white paw, or a chest-spot or belly spot, though you never can tell...or you could get solids.

The idea of mixing colors producing mismarks came about because people noticed it the most in the products of black-to-white breedings. BUT, the likely explanation for that is that the "solid" white dogs may have been mismarks themselves, but white-on-white marks would not have shown up unless the breeder really knew what they were looking for.

I'm not 100% positive, since I concentrate on the black/silver range, but I'm thinking that your possibilities for an apricot-brown (in poodles, it's "brown", though many people say "chocolate") breeding would range from black to cream. I'll double-check my facts there, but I'm thinking that brown is a dilute of black, and apricot is a dilute of red.

I don't think that breeding alters their personalities really at all, except that the boys become harder to live with.

Once they've been bred, be prepared for lots more testosterone-driven activity, like marking. Bleccchh.

Obviously, I could talk about this for days, so feel free to email me any time, my username at gmail. I can give you a couple of tips about some very simple health tests that you DO want to do before breeding toy poodles. We can exchange poodle/chicken information!

 

[pattee]

They are adorable!!!! But why do you think the first one is a cockerel? I'm curious.....