Polish Color Variation Question

[NatJ]

Hey, I’m back and I need help again! How does a blue and splash polish pair hatch out 2 blues, 3 splashes, and 1 brown? I get the blue and splash, but the brown?!? Does anyone know how this is possible? Also, the polish chicks have all gone bald in the past week, i am guessing that it is the mother, but what else could it be?

Posting a picture of the "brown" one might help. I can think of at least two ways for that to happen.

1) the rooster and the hen could each have the recessive genes to produce chicks that are not black (or blue or splash) all over. Because those genes are recessive, they are not visible in the parents, but when the chick inherits one from each parent, the chick shows the effects of those genes.

2) the rooster could carry the chocolate gene, which is on the Z sex chromosome. A male can carry it without showing it, but if he gives it to a daughter she will show it. That would cause some of his daughters to show chocolate (which combines with blue to make mauve or with splash to make something whose name I have forgotten).

 

[Frizz Chickooster]

Posting a picture of the "brown" one might help. I can think of at least two ways for that to happen.

1) the rooster and the hen could each have the recessive genes to produce chicks that are not black (or blue or splash) all over. Because those genes are recessive, they are not visible in the parents, but when the chick inherits one from each parent, the chick shows the effects of those genes.

2) the rooster could carry the chocolate gene, which is on the Z sex chromosome. A male can carry it without showing it, but if he gives it to a daughter she will show it. That would cause some of his daughters to show chocolate (which combines with blue to make mauve or with splash to make something whose name I have forgotten).

Thank you for the advice! So would the brown one have to be a female? Are there any other ways to tell male chicks from female chicks?

 

[NatJ]

Thank you for the advice! So would the brown one have to be a female? Are there any other ways to tell male chicks from female chicks?

If the brown chick has the chocolate gene, it would have to be female.
But if the brown chick is caused by the other mechanism (point 1 of my previous post), then it could be male or female.

For telling male from female chicks, the most common way is to wait until the males start showing red combs & wattles, then crowing, then growing male-specific saddle feathers (long, narrow feathers that grow on the back and hang down on each side.)

You can also have chicks DNA tested to see which ones are male and which ones are female (take a sample of blood or feathers from the chick, or the eggshell the chick hatched from, and send it off to a company that does the testing.) An example of a company that does DNA sexing of chickens:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/

There are some combinations of rooster + hen that produce color-sexable chicks (males are one color and females are a different color when they hatch.) A White Crested Splash Polish hen cannot produce any kind of color-sexable chicks. A White Crested Blue Polish rooster can produce color-sexable chicks if he is mated with a hen that has the barring gene (that would include any chicken with "barred" or "cuckoo" or "crele" in the name, along with Cream Legbars and Delawares and some other breeds.)

 

[Frizz Chickooster]

If the brown chick has the chocolate gene, it would have to be female.
But if the brown chick is caused by the other mechanism (point 1 of my previous post), then it could be male or female.

For telling male from female chicks, the most common way is to wait until the males start showing red combs & wattles, then crowing, then growing male-specific saddle feathers (long, narrow feathers that grow on the back and hang down on each side.)

You can also have chicks DNA tested to see which ones are male and which ones are female (take a sample of blood or feathers from the chick, or the eggshell the chick hatched from, and send it off to a company that does the testing.) An example of a company that does DNA sexing of chickens:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/

There are some combinations of rooster + hen that produce color-sexable chicks (males are one color and females are a different color when they hatch.) A White Crested Splash Polish hen cannot produce any kind of color-sexable chicks. A White Crested Blue Polish rooster can produce color-sexable chicks if he is mated with a hen that has the barring gene (that would include any chicken with "barred" or "cuckoo" or "crele" in the name, along with Cream Legbars and Delawares and some other breeds.)

Thank you!

 

[Frizz Chickooster]

If the brown chick has the chocolate gene, it would have to be female.
But if the brown chick is caused by the other mechanism (point 1 of my previous post), then it could be male or female.

For telling male from female chicks, the most common way is to wait until the males start showing red combs & wattles, then crowing, then growing male-specific saddle feathers (long, narrow feathers that grow on the back and hang down on each side.)

You can also have chicks DNA tested to see which ones are male and which ones are female (take a sample of blood or feathers from the chick, or the eggshell the chick hatched from, and send it off to a company that does the testing.) An example of a company that does DNA sexing of chickens:
https://iqbirdtesting.com/

There are some combinations of rooster + hen that produce color-sexable chicks (males are one color and females are a different color when they hatch.) A White Crested Splash Polish hen cannot produce any kind of color-sexable chicks. A White Crested Blue Polish rooster can produce color-sexable chicks if he is mated with a hen that has the barring gene (that would include any chicken with "barred" or "cuckoo" or "crele" in the name, along with Cream Legbars and Delawares and some other breeds.)

Do you have any idea why the mother hen might peck their crests off? What do you suggest I do about it, or will it resolve itself?

 

[NatJ]

Do you have any idea why the mother hen might peck their crests off? What do you suggest I do about it, or will it resolve itself?

Sorry, I don't know why she would do that.

If she is not injuring the chicks, I would probably just wait to see if the matter resolves itself.

If she is drawing blood, you might need to take the chicks away and raise them in a brooder to keep them safe.

 

[Frizz Chickooster]

Sorry, I don't know why she would do that.

If she is not injuring the chicks, I would probably just wait to see if the matter resolves itself.

If she is drawing blood, you might need to take the chicks away and raise them in a brooder to keep them safe.

I have checked them over, there is no blood, and they look healthy all except for their bald heads. Thanks for the help