Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[dheltzel]

How do I know what breed to make the boy and girls? I want to do Silver Laced Australorps (cause I love the silver lacing of my Wyandottes and the awesomeness of my Black Australorps). Does it matter what breed the boy is? Example, if the cockerel is a Silver Laced Wyandotte and the hens are Black Autralorps would that give me different results than if the breeds were the other way around (Ausralorp cockerel and Silver Laced hens)?

Unless you are dealing with sexlinked genes, it makes no difference. If you aren't sure you can inquire on the genetics forums. Silver is sex-linked, and dominant, so a SL cock will give you faster results than a hen in this cross because a silver hen will produce only silver males, though the silver may not be visible because the black will likely cover it up (so you won't get red sexlinks from a SLW hen to a BA roo).

I don't understand the genetics of silver laced enough to advise you, but there are people on the forums who would understand exactly how to create an SL Australorp.

 

[chiques chicks]

Am I the only one who's head spins when I try to read about chicken genetics?

I like to think of myself as relatively intelligent, a redneck nerd if you will, but I get all twisted around trying to follow genetics.

 

[Chaos18]

Unless you are dealing with sexlinked genes, it makes no difference. If you aren't sure you can inquire on the genetics forums. Silver is sex-linked, and dominant, so a SL cock will give you faster results than a hen in this cross because a silver hen will produce only silver males, though the silver may not be visible because the black will likely cover it up (so you won't get red sexlinks from a SLW hen to a BA roo).

I don't understand the genetics of silver laced enough to advise you, but there are people on the forums who would understand exactly how to create an SL Australorp.

Assuming the genetics forum would be the place to ask? My cockerel is a SLW so hopefully that should speed up my results for next year.

Am I the only one who's head spins when I try to read about chicken genetics?

I like to think of myself as relatively intelligent, a redneck nerd if you will, but I get all twisted around trying to follow genetics.

No you're not, but I'm just starting out in this adventure so I'm sure I'll get bigger headaches the more questions I ask.

 

[Chaos18]

And what does sex-linked mean?

 

[winc564]

If I understand sex-linked properly, it means that the females will be one color and the males another when they hatch. So, they can be sorted at hatch. This doesn't carry over to the next generation though.

 

[dheltzel]

Am I the only one who's head spins when I try to read about chicken genetics?

I like to think of myself as relatively intelligent, a redneck nerd if you will, but I get all twisted around trying to follow genetics.

I don't think much of "intelligence" as a factor in success, it's all what interests you enough to put in the required time to gain an understanding. I have always been fascinated by genetics, not just with chickens, so the details of how the genes work together was already in my head before I started studying chicken genetics, but genetics in chickens seems far more complicated to me than say angelfish (the kind you keep in aquariums). The "pure" dominant and recessives of most fish is kind of boring in comparison. I can look closely at an angelfish and know all the dominant traits it has, but not so with a chicken. We have a pair of "barnyard mix" chickens that are beautiful and I wish I could reproduce them for others to enjoy, but I honestly have no idea what genes are at work, I can see a few, but there are so many different "modifiers" that act differently in various combinations that I give up before even starting something like that.

I'm happy to explain what I can, hopefully in terms that are simple to follow, but I'm far from an expert - really I don't know anyone who would claim to be an expert in chicken genetics, too many ways you can fail to predict an outcome and look stupid once all those subtle traits are involved.

 

[winc564]

Well, so much to do, but I got bronchitis for Memorial Day. I did get the chickens outside and they got some watermelon rinds for treats. I didn't get to work in the garden, clear any trees, or any of the other projects I had hoped to accomplish. I napped.

 

[beckah1]

What's up with my RSL girls? One is broody and the other us trying to go broody. Thought they weren't a broody breed lol

This year I've had three Silkies, two Buff Orpingtons, one Rhodebar, one Delaware, one Barnevelder, one Rhode Island White, one Phoenix, and an EASTER EGGER go broody.
I'm with ya.

 

[dheltzel]

And what does sex-linked mean?

There are sex-linked traits in people too, like color blindness and hemophilia, both of which are found much more often in males than females. It's just not exploited in people because sex determination at birth is not an issue (fortunately!!).

In birds, the sex chromosomes are reverse from people, the males have 2 of the same and the females have 1 each. Because the females only have 1 sex chromosome that "matches" the 2 the males have, any traits on that chromosome will only be passed from the female to the male offspring. The other one, that determines the chick will be a female (like the Y chromosome make a male in people) does not have the genes for these traits, so the female offspring gets their only copy from the father.

Because the only copy is from the father, if the father is "pure" (homozygous) for the recessive version of the trait (let's use gold/silver as an example - so "gold" like a RIR) and the mother has the dominant version (silver, like a Delaware), then all the males get the mothers dominant gene and will be silver (yellow chicks) while the females will all get the gold only from their father and be reddish. The male chicks will carry gold (from their father), but not show it. They are useless as sex-linked breeders because you need a pure gold male to make the cross work.

Reading over this, it's not as clear as I had hoped, but maybe it will help someone.

 

[dheltzel]

What do you collect eggs with? I have been using egg cartons to keep them separated so they don't crack, anyone have any sort of padded collection device that would work better?