My project chicks

[NagemTX]

The oldest is at the age they will start losing them so well see if they keep them or molt them out like the last 4 gens did

 

[troyer]

The oldest is at the age they will start losing them so well see if they keep them or molt them out like the last 4 gens did

Do you have any adults with mottling?

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Do you have any adults with mottling?

Just speckled sussex as for the adults they barely have mottling it always molts out for the last 4 years heres the rooster taken today

 

[troyer]

Just speckled sussex as for the adults they barely have mottling it always molts out for the last 4 years heres the rooster taken today View attachment 3781813

I guess just poor quality mottling to start with. Usually with mottled birds it shows up as juveniles, almost disappears and in the first or second adult molt it comes back. I have a hen that was solid black for three years, but produced mottled chicks. Last fall when she molted some white feather tips started appearing, I also have a 2023 pullet that was solid black until this spring, she also started getting some white tipped feathers. I suppose there are multiple reasons on why it behaves the way it does.

 

[NagemTX]

The mottled lavender I got from Cackle had no white tips till she got her adult feathers. It was only a few places and now after her last molt she has white tips on every feather and will be 3yrs in Aug.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Very pretty chicks

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I guess just poor quality mottling to start with. Usually with mottled birds it shows up as juveniles, almost disappears and in the first or second adult molt it comes back. I have a hen that was solid black for three years, but produced mottled chicks. Last fall when she molted some white feather tips started appearing, I also have a 2023 pullet that was solid black until this spring, she also started getting some white tipped feathers. I suppose there are multiple reasons on why it behaves the way it does.

The speckled sussex with the most white is the hen I used originally in 2020

 

[NatJ]

Just speckled sussex as for the adults they barely have mottling it always molts out for the last 4 years heres the rooster taken today

When you hatch chicks, do they all have mottling when young? Or are you getting some with mottling and some without?

I'm wondering whether you are dealing with birds that are pure for the mottling gene but are not expressing it very much, or whether you have some birds with one mottling gene or no mottling genes.

 

[troyer]

The speckled sussex with the most white is the hen I used originally in 2020 View attachment 3781911

If her genes continue coming through there shouldn't be any problems, but anyone that has done color breeding projects knows how complex some of it can be.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

When you hatch chicks, do they all have mottling when young? Or are you getting some with mottling and some without?

I'm wondering whether you are dealing with birds that are pure for the mottling gene but are not expressing it very much, or whether you have some birds with one mottling gene or no mottling genes.

They all start off mottled then lose it and never get it back after molt