Same parent two very different chicks.

[Old McDonald77]

I just hatched out these two chicks from a commercial hatchery "amaracauna" hen and RIR/Cochin mix rooster.

The blue chick has blue clean legs. And the other has yellow with a tinge of blue feet. With feathered shanks.

Any genetic gurus out there have any input on how this occurs or why?? I thought all chicks from the same parents would be generally the same.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

It sounds like you have two mutt birds. (Do not take that wrong I have a couple "Amaracuna" Easter Eggers too they make great hens.) But you have a lot of variety of genetics going on. So your resulting chick's are going to show that variety.
It is similar to humans. My husband and I both have very dark hair, yet we had one child with brown hair hazel eyes and another with blond hair and blue eyes. This is the result of grandparents, great gradparents, genes comming through.

 

[Old McDonald77]

That's kind of what I figured. I just thought the chicks would be the same or atleadt similar

 

[Sydney Acres]

There are two terms in genetics that will explain this. Phenotype is what the parent looks like on the outside. Genotype is the genes that the parent is carrying, whether visible on the outside or hidden on the inside. Without considering any modifying factors, the dominant genes in the genotype determine what the parent looks like, the recessive genes are hidden, but can contribute equally to the looks of the offspring. Also, some appearances require a mix of genes, some from one parent and some from another.

When you breed standard bred birds, you can get a predictable outcome. All the chicks may not look alike, but if you breed enough of them you can predict what percentage will be one color and what will be another color, etc. When you breed birds that are not standard bred, so you only know what's in the phenotype but not what's hidden in their genotype, the resulting chicks are completely unpredictable. There is usually a huge variation in colors and sizes and other features, often times looking nothing like the parents at all.

 

[Wappoke]

I just hatched out these two chicks from a commercial hatchery "amaracauna" hen and RIR/Cochin mix rooster.

The blue chick has blue clean legs. And the other has yellow with a tinge of blue feet. With feathered shanks.

Any genetic gurus out there have any input on how this occurs or why?? I thought all chicks from the same parents would be generally the same.

What color is the hen and what color is the rooster- pics would be great?

Females can store sperm from multiple roosters- a clutch of eggs can be due to copulation with multiple roosters.

 

[Old McDonald77]

 

[Wappoke]

Yes the two different chicks could come from the parents. It would be difficult to explain why. The blue chick will look similar to the hen ( she is blue) and the chipmunk chick ( if a male) will look similar to the rooster minus the columbian restriction and red color.- like a black breasted silver. If the chipmunk is a female it will look similar to a dark brown leghorn.

The blue chick if a male will be a blue breasted silver color pattern but melanized ( a dark color) if the blue chick is a female it will look similar to the hen but with red in the hackles and around the face, also red edging on the feathers (if it has edging) with a mealy red instead of the mealy silver.

 

[Old McDonald77]

Thank you for the detailed explainayion