Selecting Mutts To Create the Perfect Flock

[Ruthster55]

Guess who's been Broody these last few days??
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Miss Velociraptor!

 

[Ruthster55]

Miss Velociraptor has been busy! Here are her babies! I don't know where the two white chicks came from, because their father is this rooster (Frat Boy), and their mother is Miss Velociraptor, who is brown. I'm not thrilled with Frat Boy's white legs, but we don't have any better at the moment.

Miss Velociraptor is a fierce broody, and I included the picture of her beak to show the other reason she got that name. Frat Boy...well, he was acting like a frat boy recently!

 

[Ruthster55]

This little fellow has wry tail, so he will be culled soon...before he can have conjugal relations with any of the hens.
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[Ruthster55]

Remember Tiffanii going broody a while ago? Well, she didn't quite make it. She abandoned her nest and went to foster Ashley and Alexandra's beautiful green eggs that were in a nest two doors down!

We treated Tiffanii with permethrin shampoo (the type for human children) because she had developed mites or perhaps tiny chicken lice while she was on her own eggs. After moving, Tiffanii stayed on Ashley and Alexandras' eggs and started her hatch today!!

So far, 4 beautiful chicks have hatched. A gray chick is not in this picture because it had fallen out of the nest and was wandering around until after I took the picture. I was able to give the perambulating chick back to Tiffanii a few minutes later, but then she growled and didn't want another picture!
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[NatJ]

I don't know where the two white chicks came from, because their father is this rooster (Frat Boy), and their mother is Miss Velociraptor, who is brown.

I'm guessing it's the recessive white gene causing this. Each parent can have one copy of the gene and you'd never know, but if a chick gets a copy from each parent (making two total copies of the gene), then the chick will be white.

 

[Ruthster55]

I'm guessing it's the recessive white gene causing this. Each parent can have one copy of the gene and you'd never know, but if a chick gets a copy from each parent (making two total copies of the gene), then the chick will be white.

Thanks! Very interesting info.

I'm hoping one of them will develop into a splash or something interesting. The hen did hatch one of Ashley or Tiffany's eggs (Black hens that likely carry the blue gene). One chick has a faint trace of a spot.

However, if they grow up and just come out almost all white, they will "meat" the same fate that the orange rascal did... At least, I know that the orange rascal got his orange from his father, Silly Rooster.

I know who their grandfather is (Silly Rooster) and who their father is.

My suspicion is that Miss Velociraptor is carrying recessive white. Am surprised that Frat Boy may have it.

I have an all-blue cockerel with slate-colored legs that could take Frat Boy's place, but he needs to grow a little bit more.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Thanks! Very interesting info.

I'm hoping one of them will develop into a splash or something interesting. The hen did hatch one of Ashley or Tiffany's eggs (Black hens that likely carry the blue gene). One chick has a faint trace of a spot.

However, if they grow up and just come out almost all white, they will "meat" the same fate that the orange rascal did... At least, I know that the orange rascal got his orange from his father, Silly Rooster.

I know who their grandfather is (Silly Rooster) and who their father is.

My suspicion is that Miss Velociraptor is carrying recessive white. Am surprised that Frat Boy may have it.

I have an all-blue cockerel with slate-colored legs that could take Frat Boy's place, but he needs to grow a little bit more.

Black chickens aren’t carrying the blue gene unless they’re actually blue or splash. If they’re black, they don’t have a blue gene, so can’t pass it to their offspring.

 

[NatJ]

Black chickens aren’t carrying the blue gene unless they’re blue or splash. If they’re black, they don’t have a blue gene, so can’t pass it to their offspring.

Some black chickens may carry the lavender gene, which is sometimes called "self blue," but RoostersAreAwesome makes a very good point about how the blue gene behaves.

 

[Ruthster55]

Thanks to both @RoostersAreAwesome and @NatJ for the clarifications!

 

[Ruthster55]

These aren't great pics because the light was rather low, but this is the blue cockerel I am thinking about using as flock rooster. Right now, he looks a little long-legged and gangly, but I want to see how he fills out. The other smaller, darker gray peeps seem to be pullets.

And, someone else just went broody...I believe that the sound of baby chicks really has an effect on the other hens. Unfortunately, we're entering the rainy season. We have rigged up some galvanized metal in a few places to try to keep chicks and mama hens dry.
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