The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[KF0002]

I took some updated pictures of the Red x Brown Leghorn chicks. They are 22 days old today. They are still yellow-legged, so at this point, I am certain they are not Sussex crosses. Also, a friend of mine ordered some Red Leghorns from Murray McMurray this year and they appear to be e+/eWh split, as they have very faint duckwing markings. A chick with a homozygous wheaten base would not have the faint lines on their backs and heads and would be a solid red color. The lines and pattern indicate duckwing peaking through the split wheaten base. I am pretty certain my Reds had faint stripes on their back and heads also, indicating they were e+/eWh. So the Red rooster being split wheaten and split duckwing explains why I am getting duckwing looking chicks. Statistically, one would think I would at least get a few e+/eWh split chicks, but so far I haven't. I have read that you can get Reds and Buffs on bases other than Wheaten, but the Wheaten base makes for nicer Red and Buff birds so it is preferrable in Red and Buff Leghorn. Considering the Red Leghorns are from a hatchery, one couldn't expect them to be the same at this point as when Curtis Oakes sold his line to MM. I do not doubt MM has infused them (likely with Brown Leghorn) to try to increase the vigor, fertility, and hatchability of the line.

Here are a couple of my chicks at this point. The ones I think are pullets are developing a nice red breast, but the little cockerel I looked at has some black peaking through what I am assuming is the incomplete columbian pattern, since they are Co/co. @Amer is that correct? The one that looks like a cockerel is also getting nice little red hackle feathers coming in.

Pullet

Cockerel

 

[KF0002]

Here are my friends Red Leghorn chicks from MM. Most look e+/eWh.

 

[KF0002]

2024 year.

214 chicks hatched

That's a lot! Did you end up with a lot of Leghorn chicks?

 

[KF0002]

@Amer I read that heterozygous Columbian doesn't affect the female as much as the male on a Duckwing base, and the females would look more black breasted red being heterozygous for both Mh and Co. Would my pullets developing red breast indicate they are also heterozygous for Db?

 

[Amer]

I took some updated pictures of the Red x Brown Leghorn chicks. They are 22 days old today. They are still yellow-legged, so at this point, I am certain they are not Sussex crosses. Also, a friend of mine ordered some Red Leghorns from Murray McMurray this year and they appear to be e+/eWh split, as they have very faint duckwing markings. A chick with a homozygous wheaten base would not have the faint lines on their backs and heads and would be a solid red color. The lines and pattern indicate duckwing peaking through the split wheaten base, as I am reading wheaten is dominant over duckwing. I am pretty certain my Reds had faint stripes on their back and heads also, indicating they were e+/eWh. So the Red rooster being split wheaten and split duckwing explains why I am getting duckwing looking chicks. Statistically, one would think I would at least get a few e+/eWh split chicks, but so far I haven't. I have read that you can get Reds and Buffs on bases other than Wheaten, but the Wheaten base makes for nicer Red and Buff birds so it is preferrable in Red and Buff Leghorn. Considering the Red Leghorns are from a hatchery, one couldn't expect them to be the same at this point as when Curtis Oakes sold his line to MM. I do not doubt MM has infused them (likely with Brown Leghorn) to try to increase the vigor, fertility, and hatchability of the line.

Here are a couple of my chicks at this point. The ones I think are pullets are developing a nice red breast, but the little cockerel I looked at has some black peaking through what I am assuming is the incomplete columbian pattern, since they are Co/co. @Amer is that correct? The one that looks like a cockerel is also getting nice little red hackle feathers coming in.

Pullet

View attachment 4092658View attachment 4092659

Cockerel

View attachment 4092660View attachment 4092662View attachment 4092663

Yeesh! That's a lot of black on the breast even for an incomplete columbian. Only slightly less than our red duckwing Welsummers.

Here are my friends Red Leghorn chicks from MM. Most look e+/eWh.


View attachment 4092666
View attachment 4092667

Maybe. Though our bantam Buckeye chicks looked like this and I'm sure they were pure wheaten

Not my picture, I couldn't find the pictures of them

 

[Amer]

@Amer I read that heterozygous Columbian doesn't affect the female as much as the male on a Duckwing base, and the females would look more black breasted red being heterozygous for both Mh and Co. Would my pullets developing red breast indicate they are also heterozygous for Db?

The red breast looks pretty normal for duckwing to me...
Columbian and Ginger don't affect females as much as males on a Duckwing base... That's why we have Ginger Red colored birds. I'm not sure exactly what Columbian does on Duckwing but I think it might be similar to Ginger.

 

[KF0002]

Yeesh! That's a lot of black on the breast even for an incomplete columbian. Only slightly less than our red duckwing Welsummers.

Maybe. Though our bantam Buckeye chicks looked like this and I'm sure they were pure wheaten
View attachment 4092687
Not my picture, I couldn't find the pictures of them

I thought Buckeyes were supposed to look like RIRs as chicks? No striping and a light red down with no stripes or markings.

 

[Amer]

I thought Buckeyes were supposed to look like RIRs as chicks? No striping and a light red down with no stripes or markings.

Buckeyes and RIR have significant variation. Some look like that and some are light red.

 

[Amer]

Strangely, right after I said this I noticed an article on this subject
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/13/9/1511
Even though I had googled "wing patch lavender" not anything to do with red.

 

[KF0002]

Strangely, right after I said this I noticed an article on this subject
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/13/9/1511
Even though I had googled "wing patch lavender" not anything to do with red.

So basically, chick hatch down may not have as much to do with their base then? If I understand correctly? So if the Red Leghorns are fully eWh, how are all of my chicks looking homozygous for duckwing? I am trying to figure all this out. I have read a ton of nicalandia's old posts to try to understand it.