I was changing the water this AM, and played with the littles (who are truly little hooligans - I can't believe they're only just under 3 weeks old). Got some photos f feathering in one of the boys, and guess what - I think I might have a second pullet - a big one! (There might be a third, but I'm thinking rather that it's a boy developing his comb a little slower than the other boys - we shall see.) That's a HUGE relief, and makes a big difference in management - not that I don't still need to get those girls out of there early. It's a mad house!
Here's the boy (randomly selected, they all look very similar. He's notate biggest, he was just the closest.)
And here's what I think is a pullet (not little pee wee, she's decently sized).
I was changing the water this AM, and played with the littles (who are truly little hooligans - I can't believe they're only just under 3 weeks old). Got some photos f feathering in one of the boys, and guess what - I think I might have a second pullet - a big one! (There might be a third, but I'm thinking rather that it's a boy developing his comb a little slower than the other boys - we shall see.) That's a HUGE relief, and makes a big difference in management - not that I don't still need to get those girls out of there early. It's a mad house!
Here's the boy (randomly selected, they all look very similar. He's notate biggest, he was just the closest.)
And here's what I think is a pullet (not little pee wee, she's decently sized).
I agree! Looks like a pullet to me! Good shots, by the way. I can see both the comb and the wattles clearly. The yellow tint on the comb plus the smaller waddles....looks like a girl!
@Kev - I confess that sometimes when I read through all of the color genetic info posted here by you and others I feel like I'm reading the comedy routine, "Who's on First" from Abbott and Costello.
I agree! Looks like a pullet to me! Good shots, by the way. I can see both the comb and the wattles clearly. The yellow tint on the comb plus the smaller waddles....looks like a girl!
Whew! That's a relief that I'm not hallucinating due to wishful thinking! I'll get some shots of the other "pullet vs. slow boy" soon - just didn't have time this morning.
@Kev - I confess that sometimes when I read through all of the color genetic info posted here by you and others I feel like I'm reading the comedy routine, "Who's on First" from Abbott and Costello.
I just went into lock down with 76 fertile eggs... we should be expecting between 20-30 Nn chicks here in the next few days! I just wanted to share our excitement and sprinkle some love on the thread! It's wonderful to see everyone's pictures and its been a real inspiration... looking forward to contributing more soon!
I just went into lock down with 76 fertile eggs... we should be expecting between 20-30 Nn chicks here in the next few days! I just wanted to share our excitement and sprinkle some love on the thread! It's wonderful to see everyone's pictures and its been a real inspiration... looking forward to contributing more soon!
Not sure if I'm reading you right- the roo is barred plus mottle- white tips on bunch of his feathers is a clue for mottle being present. That combination is highly variable with a lot of eye catching examples. The hen is a normal silver lace(polish). Lacing is pretty complicated genetically and it quickly falls apart if not pure for any of the needed genes.. and this is complicated, the rooster may have a gene for a certain kind of black that does not allow much 'patterning(as in lacing, pencilling etc)' to show through, resulting in babies that are all or mainly black. If it has the other kind of black, it can allow for a lot more color to show through... trust me, this took me a while to understand lol Yes white NN to white CX should be either all or nearly all white. white cx always have dominant white. However, not all white cx are pure for dominant white.. probably has to do with how some lines are crossed before the final product- the cx broiler. btw almost all cx are solid black chickens.. with the dominant white turning the black to white. a huge majority of white cx are also barred. It helps with making the skin and legs a cleaner yellow for the US market. White giants I believe are recessive- if you hear of them popping out of blacks, that is how recessive works. Basically, for the cleanest whites, good solid deep blacks are the best, especially so for dominant whites, because dominant white has strong effect on black pigments but weakly so on red/gold pigments. Recessive white covers up both red and black pigments, but sometimes the red will slightly bleed through, making the bird look off-white or look like it just took a good deep dust bath rather than sparkly white. You avoid this potential problem by crossing with solid blacks... So if you are wanting to improve the white giants and have an excellent black giant that would add improvements you want, go right ahead. Pure black bred with rec. white= all blacks, carrying recessive white. You can either or do both: Breed the cross back to a white= half whites and half blacks(all rec. white carriers) or breed the siblings together and get 25% whites with the rest being blacks.. most will be white carriers but no real way to tell which is which. There is a tiny chance the black you picked out is a white carrier- it floats around in a lot of black stocks it seems. In that case, you would get half white chicks right away but best not to count on it.. by the way, once you get whites and breed them with whites, it will breed true even if the parents were black. by the way these are result of cx bred with a brown NN hen(she did not have recessive white for sure): These bred together gave: Remember the NN hen was brown. Your NN being white should keep the percentages of white even higher than mine. btw the grey chick in lower right is a recessive white with silver.. some cx lines have that, it is a good thing because it helps stop brassiness on whites.
Not sure if I'm reading you right- the roo is barred plus mottle- white tips on bunch of his feathers is a clue for mottle being present. That combination is highly variable with a lot of eye catching examples. The hen is a normal silver lace(polish). Lacing is pretty complicated genetically and it quickly falls apart if not pure for any of the needed genes.. and this is complicated, the rooster may have a gene for a certain kind of black that does not allow much 'patterning(as in lacing, pencilling etc)' to show through, resulting in babies that are all or mainly black. If it has the other kind of black, it can allow for a lot more color to show through... trust me, this took me a while to understand lol
Yes white NN to white CX should be either all or nearly all white. white cx always have dominant white. However, not all white cx are pure for dominant white.. probably has to do with how some lines are crossed before the final product- the cx broiler.
btw almost all cx are solid black chickens.. with the dominant white turning the black to white. a huge majority of white cx are also barred. It helps with making the skin and legs a cleaner yellow for the US market.
White giants I believe are recessive- if you hear of them popping out of blacks, that is how recessive works.
Basically, for the cleanest whites, good solid deep blacks are the best, especially so for dominant whites, because dominant white has strong effect on black pigments but weakly so on red/gold pigments.
Recessive white covers up both red and black pigments, but sometimes the red will slightly bleed through, making the bird look off-white or look like it just took a good deep dust bath rather than sparkly white. You avoid this potential problem by crossing with solid blacks...
So if you are wanting to improve the white giants and have an excellent black giant that would add improvements you want, go right ahead.
Pure black bred with rec. white= all blacks, carrying recessive white. You can either or do both:
Breed the cross back to a white= half whites and half blacks(all rec. white carriers)
or breed the siblings together and get 25% whites with the rest being blacks.. most will be white carriers but no real way to tell which is which.
There is a tiny chance the black you picked out is a white carrier- it floats around in a lot of black stocks it seems. In that case, you would get half white chicks right away but best not to count on it..
by the way, once you get whites and breed them with whites, it will breed true even if the parents were black.
by the way these are result of cx bred with a brown NN hen(she did not have recessive white for sure):
These bred together gave:
Remember the NN hen was brown. Your NN being white should keep the percentages of white even higher than mine. btw the grey chick in lower right is a recessive white with silver.. some cx lines have that, it is a good thing because it helps stop brassiness on whites.
This actually helps a lot. I saw, probably you, post on the colors that go into cx before that's why I was unsure of the possibility of hatching white.
The mottled nn and laced polish I would just figure the colors were the same most likely come out like the mottled rooster, shows how little I know Lol!
The giants, I have one hen that is what you described 'dirty' white, couldn't cull her cause I was severely limited after obvious culls, a hawk and a split hip on two of the nicer pullets, and she is huge, almost as big as the rooster still. Funny thing was she actually was as she got over a yr old she was a lot white and then they molted, when her back feathers came in like a patch of dirty white like a saddle Lol!
My first hatch (should have hatched more...) was mostly cockerels, ended up with only three pullets to add and the biggest one also 'dirty white'....
So... I think I'll go with crossing in a good quality black, will be easier anyway. There is a BYC member not far from me that has been showing his birds, blacks, and has good quality stock.
I was just a little leary of it after reading this; http://nationaljerseygiantclub.com/media/Document_10.pdf, but they didn't go any further with it.
Thanks!
