Spitzhaubens

[SueT]

I have 4 bantam EE's almost a year old, and one has been such a stubborn broody that I gave her one egg to hatch. It is one of the Sprite eggs (Spitzhauben-Sebright cross) and thus the chick will be 3/4 Spitzhauben. I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like. All the Sprites look just alike and are silver laced. I am expecting this one to also be laced instead of spangled, but who knows. I may call it a Spritz.....

 

[homeschoolin momma]

My current roo -aka "brainless"

 

[SueT]

Well we have a new baby chick, 3/4 Spitzhauben and 1/4 Sebright. It was hatched by our bantam EE pullet who could not be deterred from broodiness. I gave her ONE egg. This is Day 20 and I was surprised to see it already! (Mama has wet mash on her beak, and baby has already sampled it.)

The bantam EE's are separate from the main flock, there are only 3 of them. I am letting her raise this baby in the flock, not sure how that will go.....She will be a year old next month. She is sticking to the nest, maybe thinking there are other eggs, but there aren't. I'd like to see them stay in all night, thus put food in there.
The baby looks big compared to little mama. She was half that size as a chick.

 

[Alaskan]

Well we have a new baby chick, 3/4 Spitzhauben and 1/4 Sebright. It was hatched by our bantam EE pullet who could not be deterred from broodiness. I gave her ONE egg. This is Day 20 and I was surprised to see it already! (Mama has wet mash on her beak, and baby has already sampled it.)

The bantam EE's are separate from the main flock, there are only 3 of them. I am letting her raise this baby in the flock, not sure how that will go.....She will be a year old next month. She is sticking to the nest, maybe thinking there are other eggs, but there aren't. I'd like to see them stay in all night, thus put food in there.
The baby looks big compared to little mama. She was half that size as a chick.
View attachment 3864544

How are they doing now?

 

[SueT]

How are they doing now?

The chick is 4 days old, and mama is taking it outdoors for the whole day. It is so warm here that baby never needs to go under her and they dig and move around all day, eating bugs and who knows what. But they eat feed too.
The 2 other members of the flock, mama's siblings, seem totally fine with the baby. The bantam rooster seems very proud of 'his' child and offers it tidbits. Little does he know the real father is the Spitzhauben on the other side of the fence.
Tonight was a milestone, in that baby learned to get back into the coop using the ramp and steps. Mama went up and down over and over until it understood. There are a lot of dangers growing up this way but also a lot of benefits if it works out....

 

[Alaskan]

That is great that mom worked so hard to teach the chick the ramp!

 

[SueT]

Well the 3/4 Spitzhauben chick is one week old today. The little flock has embraced it. It's a big kid now...

 

[Alaskan]

Great photos!!!!

 

[SueT]

Update on the 3/4 Spitz chick. It is now 2 weeks old, and getting a little crest lump. It can fly up to perches 2' off the ground. I named it Tuffy. I really hope it's a pullet....Mom looks all rumpled because she's in the middle of preening....


Anyway, if a pullet, she can be crossed w the bantam EE rooster. Crests are a dominant trait, and I read that beards are also dominant. And they say that blue eggs are dominant. So if all that is correct, I hope to have bearded crested chickens that lay blue eggs...

 

[NatJ]

Crests are a dominant trait, and I read that beards are also dominant. And they say that blue eggs are dominant. So if all that is correct, I hope to have bearded crested chickens that lay blue eggs...

Yes, yes, and yes.

But depending on which parent has how many genes for each trait, you could get anywhere from 100% of chicks with those traits to just 1 in 8 chicks with those traits, or various numbers in between.

Best case, you get 100% of chicks with all three genes: one parent has 2 crest genes, one has 2 muff/beard genes and 2 blue egg genes.

Or the worst case scenario: one parent has 1 crest gene and the other has none, one parent has 1 muff/beard and 1 blue egg gene and the other parent has neither one. That will give some chicks with none of those genes, and some with one or two but not all three, in addition to the ones with all three. Basically, all possible combinations, each being about 1/8 of the total chicks.

For any gene where one parent does have 2 of it, all chicks will get 1 of that gene, so they are certain to display the trait.