Pink Chickens

[Project Blue]

I was trying to breed pink ameraucana type chickens until a pitbull wiped out all my stock except a couple of half frozen eggs. I got one to hatch, that one turned out to be a yellow tinged low blue marked splash hen with great conformation and feathers. The pictured roo was hatched with a bunch of much better conformation/feathered wheaton colored chicks but had a very pink breast, (hard to see in pics) and a very pale grey tail. His father was an isabel roo. Currently I'm trying to recreate where I left off and got some eggs from someone I gave chickens to before my disaster. She has one wheaton roo from the same hatch as this roo and three hens from my stock 1 from the same hatch and a 4 other breeds. So now I have a bunch of solid black, 4 red EE looking, 4 silver and 1 lavender hen chick, that I'm only sure of the roo being from my line. So...If you're still following, what would be the best cross for the splash hen to get a pink colored chicken? She is the only chicken purely from my line.

Also, on a side note. One of the black chicks started out as a red chick. At first it was easily distinguished from all the other chicks as it was beautiful red chick, but the feathers came in black. I wanted to keep it, as I thought it might have some cool recessive genes but it only took a day or so for the head feathers to turn black and he just disappeared into the black chick group. Is this a normal thing? I know black angus cows can have changelings but was surprised to see a chick do this.

 

[user712746]

this is actually so interesting

 

[The Moonshiner]

You have a picture of any chicken you're calling "pink" cause I've never seen any even close to a pink color.

 

[user712746]

You have a picture of any chicken you're calling "pink" cause I've never seen any even close to a pink color.

i think youd need to get lavender in there somewhere to get the purpley tones and then get to pink from there somehow i could be wrong what do i know

 

[Project Blue]

You have a picture of any chicken you're calling "pink" cause I've never seen any even close to a pink color.

If you look close the "pink" is what looks like white in the picture. He's the only one I have a picture of, not anticipating a determined pit bull I didn't take good pictures. It looked pink in person. I think what I'm looking for genetically is a double dilute of the saddle color red you see on the roo. A more orangey red I think you wind up with buff color. I think that roo might be called a red pyle colored chicken but I think only a few breeds like game chickens have that color and I don't think the breast is pink but white in those.

I did succeed breeding pink guppies from unimproved guppies I inherited from my 99.9 year old grandmother who let them breed willy nilly for over 50 years. At the time, there was only pink pingus guppies, which are just albinos with red eyes. Mine were bred from casually picking the pinkest with the highest sheen over 20 years. Mine have dark eyes...Anyhow, since I was breeding my own replacement chickens over the years I decided to breed a heavier, bigger better egg laying, sex linked ameraucana with pastel colors. I'm doing this on a very small scale so any fatality is a catastrophe. Earlier when I had an impressive flock I lost my rooster and my hens were aging out, so this is a second try at doing something interesting from a line of chickens that has almost died out twice. I'm way behind on all fronts after my flock was slaughtered. The chicks I got from my desperate reconstruction were unexpected and common except the one splash hen. I was really surprised by the number of dark chicks and marked up reds. Previously bars and checks were bred out.

 

[NagemTX]

The Isabella color is the closest to pink you can get in chickens. Its achieved by diluting the Golds and reds with the lavender gene.

Also the salmon color.

 

[NagemTX]

I was trying to breed pink ameraucana type chickens until a pitbull wiped out all my stock except a couple of half frozen eggs. I got one to hatch, that one turned out to be a yellow tinged low blue marked splash hen with great conformation and feathers. The pictured roo was hatched with a bunch of much better conformation/feathered wheaton colored chicks but had a very pink breast, (hard to see in pics) and a very pale grey tail. His father was an isabel roo. Currently I'm trying to recreate where I left off and got some eggs from someone I gave chickens to before my disaster. She has one wheaton roo from the same hatch as this roo and three hens from my stock 1 from the same hatch and a 4 other breeds. So now I have a bunch of solid black, 4 red EE looking, 4 silver and 1 lavender hen chick, that I'm only sure of the roo being from my line. So...If you're still following, what would be the best cross for the splash hen to get a pink colored chicken? She is the only chicken purely from my line.

Also, on a side note. One of the black chicks started out as a red chick. At first it was easily distinguished from all the other chicks as it was beautiful red chick, but the feathers came in black. I wanted to keep it, as I thought it might have some cool recessive genes but it only took a day or so for the head feathers to turn black and he just disappeared into the black chick group. Is this a normal thing? I know black angus cows can have changelings but was surprised to see a chick do this.
View attachment 4257299

He is a pretty boy.

 

[Project Blue]

The Isabella color is the closest to pink you can get in chickens. Its achieved by diluting the Golds and reds with the lavender gene.

Also the salmon color.

I'm not trying just to buy a currently "pink" chicken as there isn't any real pink chickens but I want to start breeding for pink. Flamingos become pink eating crustaceans and things rich in beta-carotene but there are real pink birds in the avian world so I believe it's possible to breed a pink chicken. There are pink parrots and cockatoos. I wish I had a better picture of the roo, but his breast looked pale pink.

 

[Project Blue]

 

[Project Blue]

I'm really starting over. The roo in the first picture got killed by a pitbull who pulled corrugated metal panels open to kill my flock. The dark headed pullet is from the original project chickens line I think. The blue wheaton roo is unrelated but will be used in the next generation. Her color in daylight is different than regular light red hens but hard to photograph. The first hen is the usual red-based dilute hen. I'm going to cross the pullet with the blue wheaton roo, and later with a growing out isabel roo. The hen I'm working with is no where near where I left off. There are a couple more red pullets I will also use. They all are far off from the original group but I think a generation or two I might get somewhere nearer to pink. I think you have to start with a deep red and dilute it down. All mismarks need to be bred out. The first of the next generation is starting to lay but the eggs I got are mixed with an original rooster and original hens but also whatever hens the friend had. I'm getting dark green eggs and blue from the next generation so some are obviously something other than what I want. Hopefully the friends roo passed some recessive genes. I tried to keep records but I really had a hard time figuring who hatched out of which egg and after they started growing things really got messy. Anyhow, by next year I think I'll have a good group to work with. Right now I have 30 chicks with a high proportion of hens to work with and four filled incubators of 3rd generation eggs getting near hatching. I'm waiting for a photo op where a bunch of red pullets cluster together so I can post the difference.