Starbirds Chickens

[NatJ]

Zeeb (Old English Game Bantam) x Wheaten or Cheetah (Easter Egger)


"Beez"
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Pullet. Beez is still so friendly and loves roosting on my arm.
She's super sweet and a pretty little thing. We love her.
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☆


Mostaccioli (Mystic Maran) x Wheaten or Cheetah (Easter Egger)

"Gnocchi"
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Gnocchi became extremely aggressive and started attacking both cockerels and hens and trying to kill them.
So I dispatched my first chicken ever (normally my partner does it, though I have culled a quail before, we both process) and he cooked him up. The meat was absolutely delicious and had none of that rooster toughness. But he was a bit small. So this is his almost 8 week picture.
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"Rigatoni"
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Cockerel. He's also become a little aggressive, but nowhere near as bad as Gnocchi.. but bad enough to have to be separated. He will be culled soon. My partner said he'd do it if I process.. it's a deal!
Notice his yucky beard.. I gave him wet food so he made a mess haha.
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"Ditalini"
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Pullet. I'm a bit disappointed that her head does not seem to have any color. Looking at the babies, and the eggs the chickens lay, I actually think Long Ziti is the mother of the 3 MM x EEs. Which is unfortunate, considering I think Long Ziti is a bit ugly. She is solid black with bright yellow eyes, which Rigatoni has. But Ditalini here seems to have been spared both the yellow eyes and ugliness. Not sure if she will move forward in the project, but she is very cute and I'm happy to have her around. Let's see how she grows!
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All of these chicks from Zeeb and Mostaccioli have Wheaten as their father, because they show blue in their feathers.

Zeeb, Mostaccioli, and Long Ziti do not have the blue gene (because they all show black in their feathers but no blue). Because they do not have the blue gene, they cannot give it to their chicks. Cheetah does not have the blue gene either. So that leaves Wheaten as the only possible source of the blue gene for these chicks, making him the only possible father.

If Wheaten is genetically splash (two copies of the blue gene), then he must give blue to every chick he sires. That would mean that chicks who show black (the ones with Klim as their mother) were sired by Cheetah.

For chicks from Blue the EE, Mini Wheat appears to have splash (inherited the blue gene from both parents), so Wheaten would be the father of that chick. The ones that show blue could have either father, because they need one blue gene and one not-blue gene to show the blue color (inherit blue from the mother and not-blue from Cheetah, or inherit not-blue from the mother and blue from Wheaten.)

"Concrete"
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Cockerel. Why had no one ever told me that sebrights shine purple? Or at least this boy does, he is so beautiful. He is also a really nice boy, so we may try to keep him. I need to check the genetics on the comb, since I don't really like it. He also crows every morning with Groucho.
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The Sebright has a rose comb.

For the birds you have, there are two major comb genes involved, rose and pea.
Pea comb is pea and not-rose (Easter Eggers).
Rose comb is rose and not-pea (Sebright).
Walnut come is both rose and pea (Silkie).
Single comb is not-rose and not-pea.

If you like the Silkie-type combs, then the rose comb from the Sebright will not be a problem. Just breed him to hens with pea combs or walnut combs. He may be pure for the rose comb gene, or he may carry the not-rose gene as well (that is pretty common in rose comb breeds.)

 

[ozu]

Is anyone laying?

Not yet!

 

[ozu]

All of these chicks from Zeeb and Mostaccioli have Wheaten as their father, because they show blue in their feathers.

Zeeb, Mostaccioli, and Long Ziti do not have the blue gene (because they all show black in their feathers but no blue). Because they do not have the blue gene, they cannot give it to their chicks. Cheetah does not have the blue gene either. So that leaves Wheaten as the only possible source of the blue gene for these chicks, making him the only possible father.

If Wheaten is genetically splash (two copies of the blue gene), then he must give blue to every chick he sires. That would mean that chicks who show black (the ones with Klim as their mother) were sired by Cheetah.

For chicks from Blue the EE, Mini Wheat appears to have splash (inherited the blue gene from both parents), so Wheaten would be the father of that chick. The ones that show blue could have either father, because they need one blue gene and one not-blue gene to show the blue color (inherit blue from the mother and not-blue from Cheetah, or inherit not-blue from the mother and blue from Wheaten.)


The Sebright has a rose comb.

For the birds you have, there are two major comb genes involved, rose and pea.
Pea comb is pea and not-rose (Easter Eggers).
Rose comb is rose and not-pea (Sebright).
Walnut come is both rose and pea (Silkie).
Single comb is not-rose and not-pea.

If you like the Silkie-type combs, then the rose comb from the Sebright will not be a problem. Just breed him to hens with pea combs or walnut combs. He may be pure for the rose comb gene, or he may carry the not-rose gene as well (that is pretty common in rose comb breeds.)

Thank you so much! This is wonderful information, and seriously so appreciated

Looking at the Easter Egger babies, out of the 4, only one really has a significant amount of black on her (Twix), Glassk and Stringy seem to be blue with maybe a bit of black on the head.. but the three Glassk, Twix, and Stringy all look very similar vs Mini Wheat who looks pretty different. Do you think it would be more likely the 3 could be sired by Cheetah, or all the same? I can't wait to see if the blue egg gene got passed down.

I'm glad our assumption that Cheetah was the father of the silkie/easter eggers was correct! And Wheaten being Mini Wheat's dad (hence the name haha.) The coloring is what made me think so, mostly because the silkie/ees are similar to Brown Red Ameraucana coloring in hens, and Surbhi looks much like dad.

I'm excited to have both of the Easter Egger's genetics to keep going. We did say goodbye to Deeby and Wheaten (and Cheetah well before that), so I am so happy to have his splash coloring passed down. My favorite silkie rooster in the past was a splash named Willow.

Even Beez has some splash in her feathers I believe. Not everyone likes the inconsistent coloring but I've always loved it, because I love surprises and I love variation and having ways to tell them apart. As for the silkie/easter eggers - would some of what they have, coloring wise, be considered lacing? I'm assuming not, but I find their feather patterns so beautiful.

We still don't think we'll keep Concrete, the Sebright rooster. He's pretty rude with the hens and we find his color extremely lacking.. :-( (It's very muddled.) Groucho is still on the chopping block as well due to his barring. I do prefer the pea comb so all of that is awesome, thank you!!

My plan is, is to get a nice silkie pair (Mille Fleur is the goal), and add that to the project. We do plan to give Eeby another chance as well- we're loving how her color is turning out, and her personality has really bloomed since we dispatched Wheaten and added more chickens to the flock. Now she's not on the very bottom of the pecking order and isn't awful, nor is she eating eggs anymore (fingers crossed.)

Here's pictures of some of the babies (and Eeby) living life!

 

[NatJ]

Looking at the Easter Egger babies, out of the 4, only one really has a significant amount of black on her (Twix), Glassk and Stringy seem to be blue with maybe a bit of black on the head.. but the three Glassk, Twix, and Stringy all look very similar vs Mini Wheat who looks pretty different. Do you think it would be more likely the 3 could be sired by Cheetah, or all the same? I can't wait to see if the blue egg gene got passed down.

I don't know which is more likely there.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Thank you so much! This is wonderful information, and seriously so appreciated

Looking at the Easter Egger babies, out of the 4, only one really has a significant amount of black on her (Twix), Glassk and Stringy seem to be blue with maybe a bit of black on the head.. but the three Glassk, Twix, and Stringy all look very similar vs Mini Wheat who looks pretty different. Do you think it would be more likely the 3 could be sired by Cheetah, or all the same? I can't wait to see if the blue egg gene got passed down.

I'm glad our assumption that Cheetah was the father of the silkie/easter eggers was correct! And Wheaten being Mini Wheat's dad (hence the name haha.) The coloring is what made me think so, mostly because the silkie/ees are similar to Brown Red Ameraucana coloring in hens, and Surbhi looks much like dad.

I'm excited to have both of the Easter Egger's genetics to keep going. We did say goodbye to Deeby and Wheaten (and Cheetah well before that), so I am so happy to have his splash coloring passed down. My favorite silkie rooster in the past was a splash named Willow.

Even Beez has some splash in her feathers I believe. Not everyone likes the inconsistent coloring but I've always loved it, because I love surprises and I love variation and having ways to tell them apart. As for the silkie/easter eggers - would some of what they have, coloring wise, be considered lacing? I'm assuming not, but I find their feather patterns so beautiful.

We still don't think we'll keep Concrete, the Sebright rooster. He's pretty rude with the hens and we find his color extremely lacking.. :-( (It's very muddled.) Groucho is still on the chopping block as well due to his barring. I do prefer the pea comb so all of that is awesome, thank you!!

My plan is, is to get a nice silkie pair (Mille Fleur is the goal), and add that to the project. We do plan to give Eeby another chance as well- we're loving how her color is turning out, and her personality has really bloomed since we dispatched Wheaten and added more chickens to the flock. Now she's not on the very bottom of the pecking order and isn't awful, nor is she eating eggs anymore (fingers crossed.)

Here's pictures of some of the babies (and Eeby) living life!

The sebrights have lacing, the silkie mixes have pencilling

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Instead of butchering your cuckoo Silkie, have you considered rehoming him?

 

[ozu]

The sebrights have lacing, the silkie mixes have pencilling

Thank you so much!

 

[ozu]

Instead of butchering your cuckoo Silkie, have you considered rehoming him?

I have been trying, but unfortunately any interested parties (literally one person) so far are about 2 hours away I am hesitant and have only posted in select groups on Facebook, because people lie, and I would be so upset to not know if he just went to be butchered and eaten elsewhere, when we could save him the stress before death.

Essentially: he gets a home where he will be loved and valued, or he dies with us. I don't mind if he becomes agressive and they make that choice, just if they were to get him to immediately eat him. He is my responsibility, and I love him, so I want to do right by him however possible, even if that means a peaceful and quiet death where we use every bit of him.

I hope I am understood in this

 

[ozu]

We're getting eggs now!!

One light brown, one tan, one green (maybe 2), and one blue! The 2 egg pic is a comparison to our Mille Fleur D'uccle, Eeby's egg. They're all very small right now and my mom is complaining, wanting bigger ones I think some will increase in size as they lay more eggs.

Zapp (Silkie x Easter Egger) is one of the green egg layers! My guess is that at least one of the Easter Egger² is laying the blue one (our guess was Mini Wheat but the only one I've caught in the box so far is Zapp).

 

[Egg Snatcher]

We're getting eggs now!!

One light brown, one tan, one green (maybe 2), and one blue! The 2 egg pic is a comparison to our Mille Fleur D'uccle, Eeby's egg. They're all very small right now and my mom is complaining, wanting bigger ones I think some will increase in size as they lay more eggs.

Zapp (Silkie x Easter Egger) is one of the green egg layers! My guess is that at least one of the Easter Egger² is laying the blue one (our guess was Mini Wheat but the only one I've caught in the box so far is Zapp).

Yay!