Sdwd

[Yard full o' rocks]

Cyn/Kathy.....remember I had a couple hatches here that threw a few dwarf babies. It was Pepper over Lil Bit, Sugar, Sassy, DOT and Harley. I think we determined that one of those girls was a Kira daughter from my second hatch from Cyn.

Genetics are WEIRD WEIRD.......

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, Scott, you did get one of Kira's daughters. I don't have Kira or her daughter, Gracie, anymore, so hopefully, no more dwarfs will come up. If they do, then we would know that Isaac and/or Ellie and/or Georgie are throwing them and that dwarfism is indeed in more than one line of Delawares. That would be awful, though, because if that is in several different lines, we can never avoid them for sure. And, it's one of those things that is no one's fault since genes are invisible unless they express themselves. So frustrating! Janet told me that she had never hatched one single dwarf chick so it was a complete blindside to her as well.


Kathy, do you have any of Kira's daughters? If so, could be that one of them is a double carrier. I forgot about that--I did send you eggs twice and at least the first one was while Kira was still with me, before we knew about this dwarf thing.

 

[crazyhen]

Oh No!!! I got eggs from Scott that came from Cyn. My hens look normal, is there a chance they could carry the gene? I have three. I was planning to get some more eggs from Beth this Spring in hopes of a pretty little roo to go with them. I think she also got chicks or eggs from Cyn. Is that correct? I love my hens. They are so sweet. Also the little blue rock I have is great and so sweet too. I held them while I sat in a chair yesterday in the coop and destressed for about an hour. I got 14 eggs yesterday from my flock of 18 layers. Funny little puffy things. Gloria Jean

 

[speckledhen]

Gloria Jean, I don't have any birds with the dwarf gene anymore. That was Kira who was sold to someone for a layer. Scott's Pepper was not related to Kira and neither was L'il Bit. No way to know if a bird is carrying a gene like that unless two of them come together and express in a chick. And LH's vet determined that Kira was the carrier. Since her daughter has a double dwarf gene and Isaac is not related to Kira, we deduced that Kira must have been the carrier of a two dwarf genes. Even birds who may have the gene won't look weird or different. Kira was a big girl, as was her daughter, Gracie. I have no idea if Gracie inherited the gene, but both she and her mom are not being reproduced.

 

[kathyinmo]

Well, I currently have Oliver penned with the girls. I plan to hatch a few of their eggs in another month. Will see how that turns out.

Otherwise, I am more focused on my project pen .... step 1 of 3, to create my own strain of Delawares. I sure hope it works. If not .... oh well!

I am getting fertile eggs from them now, and have some incubating. Really, I don't need many of the first cross. They will be (should be!) all barred. Those then need to be crossed to each other ..... THAT is when I am gonna send out eggs and chicks, as it will be a 1:32 hatch to get the ONE pullet needed to proceed.

Man oh man .... my layers coop is plumb full of newbies, and they found the nests! So far it is going well. (*knock wood*) It was nice doing chores today, with fewer coops and pens to tend to.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
No, I do not have any Kira kids. I know the dwarfs I have hatched did not come from Claudia's, because my neighbor got 3 of them. This happened before Oliver was even old enough to mate, and was still a chick. However, I did have a couple roosters that could have sired them from group one. Maybe one was a Kira kid and the egg just wasn't marked, ya know?

Who knows ... poultry genetics are more than I understand. I know very little.

Jacob came from my second hatch from you, Cyn. Oliver came from my 3rd hatch, eggs from Claudia and eggs from you.

I will just see what comes from Oliver and these girls.

 

[speckledhen]

Just keep us posted on them, Kathy. I hate these genetic puzzles! Guess this is a good reason to ID where each bird came from and keep track throughout their lifetime. I'm hoping you get that new line of Delawares going! That would be a great thing since the bloodlines are so very limited. You may have to hatch quite a few from Oliver's pen, though. If we see that Jacob, who we know for sure is Isaac's son, is definitely throwing dwarfs, seems that it's possible that there are several lines with dwarf genes running through them. I'd like to know that for sure. I feel like we've all been had by genetic leprechauns!

ETA: We thought we had this all figured out, but if we don't, I sure want to know it! The problem is that unless one parent passes on two dwarf genes or each parent passes on one gene, we won't be any the wiser. I have seen a different type of dwarfism, one that isn't debilitating like this one is, and it popped up spontaneously in a chick years ago when I had other hens; pn the outside chance that Isaac indeed does carry the gene, then anyone who has a hen mated to him that also carries one, will see those poor little weird chicks. So, we all need to know. Ike is currently not being used as a breeder, though I have one two of his babies here now, one pure Del and one with Riley, my BR/Amer cross hen. I am also no longer sending out eggs to anyone, but I'd still like to know, ya know? Kathy, please keep me posted, okay?

 

[kathyinmo]

I've been in touch with David (blackdotte) about this. He has never seen anything like this before. Initially, he even thought it was an incubator problem, until I explained. Then, he thought it was inbreeding. I explained this was unlikely, since Janet had several different lines. I am waiting to hear more from him. It is really interesting, for sure. I know there are 3 known dwarfing genes (all different kinds). This one is quite rare, to say the least. Maybe it is something new and undiscovered??? There is soooo much unknown in poultry genes, I have read. Research continues on the subject.

I will see what Oliver makes .... with hens from Claudia as well as hens from Isaac. I know which hens are which. Oliver is the only one I never was sure of.... if he is from Claudia's or from Isaac.

 

[speckledhen]

Guess the only way to know is to keep hatching from known quantities and see what does or doesn't show up, Kathy. Janet's consist of Meier, McDaniel and a couple of others that I can't recall, but you never know what will happen when you begin crossing lines that heretofore have not been crossed. This may be one of those things, two lines that just don't "mesh" well.

 

[PepsNick]

My cousins from Costa Rica just got in town. We're thinking of when I can go back there for a while.

Today we went to the GA aquarium and stayed for five hours.

Oh well... Being with family's worth it. I thought they were so exotic, and of course now they're listening to Fergie

I'm not quite fluent in Spanish so I can't even talk to my aunt without a translator. She was going through the words she knew in English from American sitcoms and that was... Interesting!

I'm back in school, so I won't be on here as much during the days. Will miss you all!

Tomorrow we're going up to the North Ga mountains in an area pretty close to Fannin County, Cyn. Ya know, the orchard?