The "Ask Anything" to Nicalandia Thread

[Egg Snatcher]

You’d have to keep breeding until you think you have enough of a population without the mottling gene. Then take each of your breeders and cross them with a mottled chicken to see if they’re carriers. Right now you know all your breeders are carriers, so doing that wouldn’t help, but in the future you should be able to do some test-breeding to make sure the mottling is gone.

Ok! Thanks!

 

[The Chick Addict]

@nicalandia, why does one of my Black Silkie Bantam X Rhode Island Red mix chicks have muffs even though her father and mother did not have muffs and are not muffed breeds?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

@nicalandia, why does one of my Black Silkie Bantam X Rhode Island Red mix chicks have muffs even though her father and mother did not have muffs and are not muffed breeds?

Silkies are a breed that can have muffs. Though maybe what you’re seeing is actually just chick down? Or the silkie bantam has a muff it’s just very small.

 

[The Chick Addict]

Silkies are a breed that can have muffs. Though maybe what you’re seeing is actually just chick down? Or the silkie bantam has a muff it’s just very small.

No he definitely does not have muffs. And Maevyn surely does have muffs, I've compared her with other chicks. So I believe it was a recessive gene in her father but it came out in her.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

No he definitely does not have muffs. And Maevyn surely does have muffs, I've compared her with other chicks. So I believe it was a recessive gene in her father but it came out in her.

Are you sure that a muffed chicken isn’t actually one of the parents? Do you have pictures of the parents and the chick?

 

[Egg Snatcher]

So according to the chicken calculator breeding recessive white to blue will produce blue and black. Will these chicks carry a white gene?

 

[NatJ]

So according to the chicken calculator breeding recessive white to blue will produce blue and black. Will these chicks carry a white gene?

Yes, they will carry the gene for recessive white.

 

[NatJ]

No he definitely does not have muffs. And Maevyn surely does have muffs, I've compared her with other chicks. So I believe it was a recessive gene in her father but it came out in her.

I have only heard of a dominant gene for muff/beards, not a recessive one

So I would be looking really hard for a possible muffed parent, such as a different hen that laid confusing eggs, or a different rooster that had access to the hen at some point. These things happen more often than most of us would like, and hens can store sperm from a previous mating (sometimes for much longer than anyone would reasonably expect!)

If your chick does have a recessive gene for muffs, it is new (not well known/studied), but is also present in BOTH parents (because that is the only way the chick would show the effects of a recessive gene.) Of course new mutations are possible, but they are not very common, so they are not the first explanation I would suggest.

@nicalandia, why does one of my Black Silkie Bantam X Rhode Island Red mix chicks have muffs even though her father and mother did not have muffs and are not muffed breeds?

If the mother is a Rhode Island Red mix, do you know what else is in the mix?

Does either parent have a beard? Some Silkies have beards, but muffs & beards are actually caused by the same gene.

Is there any chance that one parent did have a muff, and the feathers just got picked off by other chickens? I have read of that happening sometimes, and it would be one way for a chicken to seem to have no muffs but still have the gene and be able to give that to its own chicks.

 

[The Chick Addict]

I have only heard of a dominant gene for muff/beards, not a recessive one

So I would be looking really hard for a possible muffed parent, such as a different hen that laid confusing eggs, or a different rooster that had access to the hen at some point. These things happen more often than most of us would like, and hens can store sperm from a previous mating (sometimes for much longer than anyone would reasonably expect!)

If your chick does have a recessive gene for muffs, it is new (not well known/studied), but is also present in BOTH parents (because that is the only way the chick would show the effects of a recessive gene.) Of course new mutations are possible, but they are not very common, so they are not the first explanation I would suggest.


If the mother is a Rhode Island Red mix, do you know what else is in the mix?

Does either parent have a beard? Some Silkies have beards, but muffs & beards are actually caused by the same gene.

Is there any chance that one parent did have a muff, and the feathers just got picked off by other chickens? I have read of that happening sometimes, and it would be one way for a chicken to seem to have no muffs but still have the gene and be able to give that to its own chicks.

None of my chickens have muffs whatsoever, though one of my roos has a a beard. When I said mix I meant that the chick was a mix, not her mother. I believe that her father is a purebred Black Silkie Bantam and her mother is surely a purebred Rhode Island Red. Her father could be my Polish Crested who has a beard but she looks so much like my Silkie. But she doesn't have feathered feet like a Silkie, or Silkie feathers, she has grey feet like my Polish. So is it possible my Polish is the father?

 

[NatJ]

None of my chickens have muffs whatsoever, though one of my roos has a a beard.

A bearded rooster could produce a muffed chick.

When I said mix I meant that the chick was a mix, not her mother.

Ah, that makes sense.

I believe that her father is a purebred Black Silkie Bantam and her mother is surely a purebred Rhode Island Red. Her father could be my Polish Crested who has a beard but she looks so much like my Silkie. But she doesn't have feathered feet like a Silkie, or Silkie feathers, she has grey feet like my Polish. So is it possible my Polish is the father?

Yes, it is quite likely that your Polish is the father.

A Silkie-RIR cross would most likely have feathered feet, with an extra toe on each foot (assuming the Silkie rooster has feathered feet with the extra toe on each one.)

Silkie-cross chicks have normal feathers (not silkie feathers) if one parent gives a gene for normal feathers (which the Rhode Island Red hen would definitely do.)

The chick will probably have a crest, but that does not tell us much if both possible fathers have crests.

The chick's comb type may help figure out the father, because it is likely to match the father's comb (Polish and Silkie both have comb types that are dominant over the single comb of the Rhode Island Red mother.)