Ok, once again I have more confusion than explanations... so I need some genetics help.
Here is the situation. I have a pair of Partridges. They came from a very good Breeder selected as a BQ pair through somebody in California who bought them and later decided to breed different colors instead. I bought the rooster and the hen from her. They were in quarantine for 35 days because I didn't have their coop finished. None of my roosters ever had access to the hen or rooster, both were kept in a dog crate and let out in a small cage to enjoy the grass - away from my other birds. The original owner also gave me a dozen eggs from the trio (she kept the other female) for me to set. I set those eggs under a broody - only one hatched and it was white. All the others never started (infertile?). We thought the white one was a mis-marked egg from her white pen. Now I am not so sure.
After I finished their run and put them in it (added a hen but her eggs are brown - very different and easily separable). I collected 10 eggs from the Partridge hen once she started laying almost at the end of quarantine and afterwards and set them. They were all infertile and none hatched. I then ate her eggs until I noticed they were showing signs of being fertile (a week?). I then started collecting for a second incubation. I kept the light eggs (partridge hen) and ate the dark eggs (black silkie cross hen, black skin, 5 toes, regular feathers, single comb). Near the end of my collection the other hen went broody. She was sitting on the eggs I collected - so I put the 9 I had in the incubator to start them. I then added a 10th and an 11th in the two following days. I let the broody collect the eggs the Partridge was laying, and shortly thereafter the brown eggs stopped and I only had the light eggs being laid. About a week after she went broody another hen went broody so I stopped letting her collect them and removed the new unmarked eggs and gave them to the second broody (musical eggs - I know). I marked those eggs with the date and the name of the Partridge hen as the other girl was not laying any longer - only the Partridge Girl by now. A few days later I added another girl into the Partridge pen - a Blue Silkie. She laid maybe two or three eggs - and then went broody with her daughter. Her eggs are also identifiable - longer, pointed and white. Those three and 5 from the Partridge hen went to the other broody. Two days after the Blue hen joined the Partridge hen decided it looked like fun to - so all eggs stopped and I had three broodies..in one 12x12 milk crate!
Fast forward to incubator hatching date. The ones in the incubator hatched - I got two Partridge chicks and three BLACK chicks from those eggs. The others died in the shell - but there were more black and more Partridge chicks when I egg-topsied them. One Black was vaulted skull, one had something wrong with its legs (put down), the two Partridge chicks had light/white/green skin. I posted on here because I was confused and was told that you could have Black chicks based on Partridge coloring. Ok....
The eggs under the broody hatched. 3 Chipmunk, one Black two WHITE and a really odd grey/whiteish one! Not only are those white but they all have 4 toes! At first I considered that the other girl may have contributed some eggs - changed her egg color or something - but she went broody while I was collecting and stopped - so two, three - maybe. Except she is black - the rooster is Partridge..
Fast forward another two weeks - and I had to take the 8 eggs away from the third broody as she got off and abandoned the nest (Frizzle - not a good mommy). Two of them hatched this morning. I know these are from the Partridge rooster and the Partridge Hen as they are eggs marked with the date and the Partridge hen's name - I have one Partridge and one silvery looking black. Now for the kicker - both of them have 4 toes!
The Silvery black does have 5 toes on one foot - and 4 on the other. These were not put in an incubator - I can't blame temperature fluctuations for suppressing the 5 toed gene. Once again - the partridge is lighter skinned (green). These eggs are marked with dates from before I put the Blue hen in with the rooster, so they are not her eggs. I have already hatched eggs from the Blue hen and my other Silkie rooster - all those chicks have 5 toes and dark skin.
As far as the other chicks: The original incubator Partridge chicks' skin has darkened up to normal. However - BOTH of the Partridge chick's feathers are coming in normal feathers - not silkied! There were no other roosters in the pen - no other donations from before I got them (remember 10 infertile eggs?)... these chicks are from that pair. The valuted chick is doing fine but the other black is developing a cross beak.
This is driving me crazy - it doesn't make sense!
Thinking about it - I thought of something. If these birds - male and female - are full blooded brother and sister from a line of line breeding - would this cause these type of problems? I know inbreeding among animals will cause defects - so I was wondering if it could cause 4 toes - crooked beaks - black or white or ?? from a Partridge pair.... The previous owner only hatched about 7 chicks from the pair - and she had another female she hatched from also. I wonder if the two I have should not be bred together - because something sure isn't right!
Any insight into what may be gong on here would really help. They are both very nice looking birds, nothing showing on their phenotype to suggest these hidden problems. They are both silkied, black skinned, 5 toed, and the rooster is vaulted and the hen is not. Both traditional Partridge coloring.
Help?
