Polish Chicken Plumage Genetics

[CluckNDoodle]

I've been looking for Polish hatching eggs local to me and the closest person I've talked to has a mixed flock of Polish. She said the chicks can hatch any of the colors but I just wanted to make sure they would breed true to whatever colors and not be mixed up. Does anyone have experienced with this?
She said the flock is Buff, Silver Laced, Red, and White Crested Black. The roosters being Silver Laced and Red.
Thank you in advance!

 

[CountryFlock]

Well if she has all the varieties mixed up then I don’t think there’s a good chance for a true bred chick.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well if she has all the varieties mixed up then I don’t think there’s a good chance for a true bred chick.

That's kind of what I was thinking...I have seen where people have mixed Splash, Buff Laced, and Golden Laced and the chicks all hatched Buff Laced and Splash but I do know that some colors can be muddled so I'm assuming her blend doesn't work...she's asking full price for the hatching eggs though so I didn't know if maybe she knew something I didn't know. Lol

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

I'm definitely no expert in genetics and stuff but I have been trying my best to learn!

I have a mixed flock of Silkies which I show. Many people that show don't have a mixed flock, they have seperate colour pens.

Since I'm on a really small scale (only 7 breeding silkies) having a mixed flock works best for me. My cockerel is also white so when I breed his chicks back to him, the majority of their chicks will end up white anyways. So I'm my case it works.

Like you, I was worried I would get mixed colours on the first generation of chicks. In my pen I have a pure white Cockerel and pullets which are partridge, white, gold and blue (all which have been bred pure).

When I hatched their chicks I ended up with fully partridge chicks from the partridge x white and pure white chicks from the whites x whites and then one white chick from the white x gold (the gold must potentially have a white parent somewhere in its history).

From what I can see, the chicks are not mixed colours. I believe in the first generation the chicks will be either one colour or another, not mixed colours. They shouldn't come out for example being grey with red patches etc. They'd just be fully grey.

The first generation chicks will hold the colour gene from both parents regardless of what colour it's physically showing. If you breed the first generation to a non related bird that has the same colouration (for example a first generation partridge bred to a non related pure bred partridge) you should get the colour you want.

However, if you breed the first generation back with their parents or siblings, you might end up with a mixture and chicks that have leakage in colour.

I am still learning myself but this is what I've picked up so far

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I'm definitely no expert in genetics and stuff but I have been trying my best to learn!

I have a mixed flock of Silkies which I show. Many people that show don't have a mixed flock, they have seperate colour pens.

Since I'm on a really small scale (only 7 breeding silkies) having a mixed flock works best for me. My cockerel is also white so when I breed his chicks back to him, the majority of their chicks will end up white anyways. So I'm my case it works.

Like you, I was worried I would get mixed colours on the first generation of chicks. In my pen I have a pure white Cockerel and pullets which are partridge, white, gold and blue (all which have been bred pure).

When I hatched their chicks I ended up with fully partridge chicks from the partridge x white and pure white chicks from the whites x whites and then one white chick from the white x gold (the gold must potentially have a white parent somewhere in its history).

From what I can see, the chicks are not mixed colours. I believe in the first generation the chicks will be either one colour or another, not mixed colours. They shouldn't come out for example being grey with red patches etc. They'd just be fully grey.

The first generation chicks will hold the colour gene from both parents regardless of what colour it's physically showing. If you breed the first generation to a non related bird that has the same colouration (for example a first generation partridge bred to a non related pure bred partridge) you should get the colour you want.

However, if you breed the first generation back with their parents or siblings, you might end up with a mixture and chicks that have leakage in colour.

I am still learning myself but this is what I've picked up so far

Thank you soooo much! This helps a lot!

 

[sylviethecochin]

When I hatched their chicks I ended up with fully partridge chicks from the partridge x white and pure white chicks from the whites x whites and then one white chick from the white x gold (the gold must potentially have a white parent somewhere in its history).

Recessive white in silkies almost always covers partridge. So yes, white x partridge is going to get partridges.

Recessive white x recessive white is always going to get white.

And the gold probably did have a recessive white parent.

That's not colours coming out pure first generation; that's a happy accident of flock composition.

I believe in the first generation the chicks will be either one colour or another, not mixed colours. They shouldn't come out for example being grey with red patches etc. They'd just be fully grey.

Nope. Once you've got heterozygous genetics, leakage is going to pop up everywhere. You can mix compatible colours (like gold and silver duckwing) without too many issues, since those are both the same pattern, with only a few variable colour genes, but if you're crossing something like wheaten with duckwing, you're going to get weird offspring.

In your specific example, red wheaten x silver partridge (I assume that's what you mean by grey) the chicks would come out with partial lacing on their backs (that's the partridge). Their chest should be solid gold or silver. The males would appear mostly silver. The females would be gold if the wheaten was the father, silver if not. The pattern would be messy.

She said the flock is Buff, Silver Laced, Red, and White Crested Black. The roosters being Silver Laced and Red.

Red x black gets black with a lot of red leakage. (I'll ignore the white crest; I know nothing about crest colour genetics.
Red x buff (depending on the genetics thereof) might get you some decent looking reds.
Red (roo) x silver laced'll get you partial lacing, with silver (lemon; there'll be a little bit of gold) roos and gold females.
red x red'll get red.

Silver laced x black gets black with a lot of silver leakage.
silver laced (roo) x buff'll get you silver hens and lemon males, partially laced.
Silver Laced x buff will get you partial lacing, with lemon roos and silver females.
Silver laced x silver laced gets silver laced.

You're not going to get a lot of pure colours out of that flock, if any.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Recessive white in silkies almost always covers partridge. So yes, white x partridge is going to get partridges.

Recessive white x recessive white is always going to get white.

And the gold probably did have a recessive white parent.

That's not colours coming out pure first generation; that's a happy accident of flock composition.


Nope. Once you've got heterozygous genetics, leakage is going to pop up everywhere. You can mix compatible colours (like gold and silver duckwing) without too many issues, since those are both the same pattern, with only a few variable colour genes, but if you're crossing something like wheaten with duckwing, you're going to get weird offspring.

In your specific example, red wheaten x silver partridge (I assume that's what you mean by grey) the chicks would come out with partial lacing on their backs (that's the partridge). Their chest should be solid gold or silver. The males would appear mostly silver. The females would be gold if the wheaten was the father, silver if not. The pattern would be messy.


Red x black gets black with a lot of red leakage. (I'll ignore the white crest; I know nothing about crest colour genetics.
Red x buff (depending on the genetics thereof) might get you some decent looking reds.
Red (roo) x silver laced'll get you partial lacing, with silver (lemon; there'll be a little bit of gold) roos and gold females.
red x red'll get red.

Silver laced x black gets black with a lot of silver leakage.
silver laced (roo) x buff'll get you silver hens and lemon males, partially laced.
Silver Laced x buff will get you partial lacing, with lemon roos and silver females.
Silver laced x silver laced gets silver laced.

You're not going to get a lot of pure colours out of that flock, if any.

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise!! I really need to find a good book on the subject and start studying myself. I'm definitely going to pass on hatching eggs from her flock then. Thank you again!!!

 

[sylviethecochin]

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise!! I really need to find a good book on the subject and start studying myself. I'm definitely going to pass on hatching eggs from her flock then. Thank you again!!!

I recommend this site:
http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/default.html

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I recommend this site:
http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/default.html

Thank a bunch! I'll take a look!

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

Recessive white in silkies almost always covers partridge. So yes, white x partridge is going to get partridges.

Recessive white x recessive white is always going to get white.

And the gold probably did have a recessive white parent.

That's not colours coming out pure first generation; that's a happy accident of flock composition.


Nope. Once you've got heterozygous genetics, leakage is going to pop up everywhere. You can mix compatible colours (like gold and silver duckwing) without too many issues, since those are both the same pattern, with only a few variable colour genes, but if you're crossing something like wheaten with duckwing, you're going to get weird offspring.

In your specific example, red wheaten x silver partridge (I assume that's what you mean by grey) the chicks would come out with partial lacing on their backs (that's the partridge). Their chest should be solid gold or silver. The males would appear mostly silver. The females would be gold if the wheaten was the father, silver if not. The pattern would be messy.


Red x black gets black with a lot of red leakage. (I'll ignore the white crest; I know nothing about crest colour genetics.
Red x buff (depending on the genetics thereof) might get you some decent looking reds.
Red (roo) x silver laced'll get you partial lacing, with silver (lemon; there'll be a little bit of gold) roos and gold females.
red x red'll get red.

Silver laced x black gets black with a lot of silver leakage.
silver laced (roo) x buff'll get you silver hens and lemon males, partially laced.
Silver Laced x buff will get you partial lacing, with lemon roos and silver females.
Silver laced x silver laced gets silver laced.

You're not going to get a lot of pure colours out of that flock, if any.

Ah right Thankyou for correcting me!

As I say, I am definitely still learning with genetics...so many colours and such that can make other colours and so on.

All of my first generation chicks are one solid colour they don't have any leakage or strange colours. The whites are all white, the partridges are all partridge etc.

Of course they aren't genetically pure, but their physical colours are. I hope that makes sense?

Although, I believe my white male originated from partridge so maybe that's why he's produces nice partridges too? I'm not sure but the partridge chicks are beautiful!

I was meaning that if I was to breed those first generation chicks, there is no guarantee that you wouldn't get leakage on the second generation (their offspring). The chance of leakage in second (and further generations) is high. Except my whites which always have bred 100% white for me.

Although I thought if I was to breed one of my white x partridge chicks to a pure partridge that doesn't have a white gene, I would get partridge chicks that also just carry the recessive white gen with no leakage.

I can't have any say on the wheaten colours or duckwing as I've never bred them myself.

If I ever have any questions about genetics etc you seem really knowledgeable! If you don't mind I may ask again in the future.