The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

Now Cyn, you looked very nice in that hat you made.

I agree with everything you said about Atlas. Perfection is overrated - he is lovely in addition to his looks.

Thank you, you're a peach.


I was taking photos of the chicks who are 3 1/2 wks old now. In this group, I see one very definite cockerel (naked child with great barring on the few feathers he has, LOL). There are two barred chicks that still appear to be pullets, no pink in the combs. And then there is the petite little black pullet out of Deacon and Sammie Jo-their Dellie colored chick with Aimee is a cockerel, as I suspected all along. That little black girl just begs to be named Gidget by someone. Anyway, the barred chick with Aimee is still looking very pullet-y so if the sexes are correct and a single barred male didn't sneak in through Robin or Wendy, I have a little BR breeding group with a black pullet on the side for good measure.

I may let Maretta's chicks go as one breeding group and pair up the Dellie X chick with the BR pullet as a pair for folks who really don't care that much about all that and just want a couple of healthy birds.

Here are Atlas's son and daughters and Deacon's daughter today.















 
Oh, after reading this I love the idea of the dellyxchick plus the br as a breeding pair. I could use him over the dells that I have from Kathy. Yeah! I am not a breeder as such but want to keep at least one rooster with Delaware in him. Just let me know how much and when. Gloria Jean
 
Oh, after reading this I love the idea of the dellyxchick plus the br as a breeding pair. I could use him over the dells that I have from Kathy. Yeah! I am not a breeder as such but want to keep at least one rooster with Delaware in him. Just let me know how much and when. Gloria Jean

Gloria Jean, I have no idea how this Dellie X will turn out. He is getting his barred hackles now, is going to have nice yellow legs, too, but he is out of Deacon, who is Isaac's son with my Ameraucana hen who has Sumatra heritage. Deacon is a leaner bodied bird than his brother Rex was.
The Dellie X chick's mother looks like a pure Delaware, is probably better looking than some of my pure Dels were, but both her parents were barred birds (Isaac's son Rex and his daughter, Delia out of the Stukel Rock hens) You just decide which chicks you'd like to have and I'll reserve them for you. I'll also keep posting pictures of them while their respective broody mamas are still in full on mama mode. Won't rehome/sell any until you have the ones you want, my friend. By the way, your namesake is doing just fine. She really stands out in a sea of BRs, though, being a splash, LOL.


So, I'm not sure how much percentage of Delaware he'd be considered since his sire is 1/2 Del and his mother, who looks like a pure Del, comes from two parents who each were 1/2 Delaware. He's already getting pink in the comb, no question it's a cockerel. Will try to get a decent photo of the little tyke if it's not pouring rain tomorrow. Funny that he's Isaac's grandson on the sire's side and Isaac's great grandson on the mother's side, LOL.

Last photos I took of him.







 
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Reposting photos of the Delaware X chick's parents, Sammie Jo and Deacon for Gloria Jean-remember, Deacon is 1/2 Delaware. Sammie Jo's parents were each Delaware x BR and were both barred, but she look like this. Odd, huh?




The white hen on the left is Serena, a daughter of Isaac with the red hen in the bottom picture, Rita. Sammie is on the right.


 
Oh the little mixed Dell is so sweet looking. I'm going to love him to bits.
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Both parents are 50% Delaware, and so is the little fellow (25% from each).

Very crisp barring on the little BR guy.

Thanks for that clarification. I was thinking last night that he would probably have to be considered only half, but I've had birds even less than that who looked pure Delaware. It's amazing how tenacious that coloring is!

Oh, yeah, the little BR guy is looking good so far. He is super slow to feather, not a shocker there. Perfection takes time! Since GJ has decided she wants the Dellie boy, he will be available to someone else, probably with the black pullet. I know she wants to take maybe two of the three BR pullets so there may also be one of those left (providing one doesn't pop a comb and show itself to be a single barred male, but at going on 4 weeks old, the time is fading for that)
 
In a first generation cross, each of the offspring gets 50 percent of its genes from each parent - meaning one gene of each gene pair comes from the mother, and the other from the father (excepting the sex linked genes).

However, when you start crossing those offspring the genes get much more mixed up. So approximately 50% of his genes are Delaware, but its not exact like it is in a first generation cross, and they can end up with both genes in a gene pair coming from one or the other of the grandparents. So you see a much wider range of appearance, and theoretically at least you could have most of the genes coming from one grandparent.
 
He does have Isaac on both sides, one as grandsire and the other as great grandsire, so he has a good dose of awesome, IMO, LOL! That is one good rooster and I expect this little guy will be super sweet. Even his daddy, Deacon, is the quintessential pet rooster, loves to be petted more than any other rooster I've ever had. Gloria Jean doesn't need a meanie knocking her around, not with her health issues. A dose of Isaac (or mini-me Ike) is good for the soul.
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I keep meaning to tell you that the cat in your avatar looks so soft, I just want to stroke that smoky gray head. Beautiful cat.
 

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