Size from the hen?

[Chickenheadmate]

Not sure where, I read that chick's get the size from the hen. Is this breast size, height, or what?

 

[Ridgerunner]

It would be nice to read it in context to see what they are talking about.

The size of the egg the hen lays will determine the size of the chick when it hatches. The bigger the egg the more nutrients, the bigger the chick can grow. That's one reason to not hatch the really small pullet eggs, the chicks just don't hatch that big.

Ignoring the sex lined genes a hen does not give to her daughters, a chick gets an equal number of genes from both its parents. A rooster does not lay eggs so you don't know what genetics he is contributing to that process but he's contributing as much as the hen genetically. Males and females grow differently so if you are looking at the size of the cockerels for butchering you generally look to the father for that. But the hen is contributing just as much genetically, it's just harder to determine what she is actually contributing.

Since you are in the meat bird section I'll go through this. If you are thinking of breeding Cornish X, some strains of Cornish X use the dwarfing gene to reduce the size of the birds in some of the grandparent and parent flocks. If you happen to be using one of those strains the boys can have a dwarfing gene which they will give to about half their offspring. You won't notice it in the first generation of boys as it is recessive but you will in the girls. The second generation you would notice it. But the hens in that strain of Cornish X will not carry the dwarfing gene so they would be a better choice for breeding if you are mixing them with another breed of chicken.

There are probably other cases where the hen may have more control over size, but I'd only be guessing. What are you trying to accomplish, maybe we can help from that angle.

 

[Chickenheadmate]

Good informative reply, thanks.

 

[Chickenheadmate]

Not interested in this cross, for many reasons, but will use it.
If I get a Cornish hen from a reputable breeder thats breeding for breast size and a light Brahma breeder height for whatever reason.
Will breast size of offspring stay the same as in the hen and just stretch on on possibly long beat bone?

Hope it makes sense. If it does, I don't mean to sound ignorant I just want to understand better.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are talking Cornish, not Cornish X. Those get confused a lot, especially by me.

I haven't done that cross. In general, what I'd expect is for the offspring to be somewhere in the middle between the parents. I phrased it that way because not all Cornish are the same and not all Brahmas are the same. The better stock you start with the better the likely results.

If you try it don't be surprised to see a fair difference between two of the chicks. I'll try to explain it this way. There is not just one gene that is going to determine the breastbone length, shape, and size. There are several. Some are dominant, some recessive. These come in gene pairs. The Brahma will have some of those gene pairs where both genes are dominant, some where both are recessive. But it is extremely probable that some of those gene pares controlling the breastbone have one dominant and one recessive, we call that split. The same is true for the Cornish. Those split genes are passed down randomly. How all these different genes mix in the offspring will determine what you get with that chick. Generally it is somewhere in the middle between the two parents but occasionally you can get a pretty big surprise.