Mystery d'Anver chick color (weird genetics?)

[KristenG]

Ok, I've been breeding d'Anvers for a while and this one is leaving me puzzled. This little guy came out of my solid (black/blue/splash) d'Anver breeding pen. It is noteworthy to mention that my solids have been outcrossed to my Quail d'Anvers in the past for fresh blood. This usually results in an occasional Quail chick out of the solid pen from the residual genes from the Quail ancestors. This year, however, I got something completely different. It is a black chick with dark red tipping on all of its down feathers. The front and underside looks exactly like the top. Some of the feathers coming in on the flights appear to have a slight amount of stippling on them, but are mostly black. I'm really baffled, because I've been breeding d'Anvers for 18 years now and never had one pop up like this. Any ideas?

 

[KristenG]

Thought I'd add that I did outcross my whites to my solids (recessive white) two years ago, which resulted in some gorgeous solid Blues type-wise that I then used to put back on my Blacks to improve type and back on my whites to improve hatchability in my Whites. It is possible that this chick has a genetic origin from this outcross. Based on progeny tests, it appears that my Whites are essentially Mottled Blue Quails, as when bred to Quail I get 100% Blue Quail chicks - and when these are bred back to the whites I get several Mottled Blue Quails. If the brown chick originated from these Whites, what genes might be at play here? Dark brown?

 

[Pele]

Recessive white genetics produce black or dark eyes. Unless the photo is untrue to color, this chick would appear to follow that model. At first glance, the chick appears to possibly be a chocolate. I have seen Sonoran Silkies post that sometimes his/her breeding of a recessive white with a splash will result in chocolates.

There's just so many unknowns about the recessives here. You'll know more when the chick feathers out, and potential leakage shows up, colors change, etc.

 

[KristenG]

This chicks eyes are very dark. Thanks for the input. I think what I'm finding is this exact manifestation of down color is not exceptionally common in chicks. It may very well be chocolate colored.

 

[Pele]

I'd love to see a picture of this little guy when it's more feathered out. I have a feeling it'll be a beauty!