The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[KF0002]

Mine where red but you could see some stripes.
Years ago I crossed buff with browns. The hens matured looking like browns but about 1/3 of the bird starting from the front was buff.
Sorta like how black sex links hens get color on the front. They were some of the prettiest birds I've had.

Hmm well I'm beginning to think maybe my Red Leghorn rooster is wheaten split duckwing? What would explain the 4 chicks I have hatched out right now to look like dark brown leghorns? They are red but with very defined, very strong duckwing pattern.

What do these look like to you?

 

[Chookwagn]

Hmm well I'm beginning to think maybe my Red Leghorn rooster is wheaten split duckwing? What would explain the 4 chicks I have hatched out right now to look like dark brown leghorns? They are red but with very defined, very strong duckwing pattern.

What do these look like to you?


View attachment 4083890

They look very much like my Browns. I have 3 brown chicks just hatched Ill get some pics over the weekend

 

[Amer]

It's worth noting that the chick down color isn't necessarily indicative of adult color.
Your chicks are split for wheaten and duckwing so they are going to have duckwing-looking down as chicks but I would expect to also see dark brown/Ginger which tends to darken the backs a lot

On a duckwing base these genes tend to cause this Ginger red pattern more than a full on Columbian (quail color is Duckwing, Columbian, and Melanotic so I think Columbian works on Duckwing in similar was as Ginger.)

 

[KF0002]

What do you mean by brown exactly? Even my Buckeye chicks don't start with red wing feathers. But they aren't duckwing eitherView attachment 4083887View attachment 4083888

I will try to get some pics tomorrow. They are feathering out looking very much like my brown leghorns did but there goes my ADHD making me not have the patience to just watch and see how they turn out. Its exhausting inside my head.

They are very duckwing looking but even if they are e+/e+ they may still be black tailed reds if they are hetero for the columbian gene, Db, and mahogany if the calculator is accurate. Even without being hetero for Db?

 

[Amer]

Hmm well I'm beginning to think maybe my Red Leghorn rooster is wheaten split duckwing? What would explain the 4 chicks I have hatched out right now to look like dark brown leghorns? They are red but with very defined, very strong duckwing pattern.

What do these look like to you?


View attachment 4083890

Ohhh I was writing my post, I agree those look very duckwing to me.
I wonder if it's possible to get a nearly solid red bird on a duckwing based male?
Certainly Ginger red looks black tailed red and they don't even have Columbian, just Ginger.

 

[KF0002]

They look very much like my Browns. I have 3 brown chicks just hatched Ill get some pics over the weekend

I think so too. I will be okay with them either way, I was just kinda hoping for some black tailed reds from the Red x Browns.

 

[KF0002]

Ohhh I was writing my post, I agree those look very duckwing to me.
I wonder if it's possible to get a nearly solid red bird on a duckwing based male?
Certainly Ginger red looks black tailed red and they don't even have Columbian, just Ginger.

I sure hope so. But I guess I will have to wait until they grow out more to find out. I hate waiting.

 

[Amer]

Tbh a lot of chicken genotypes are only theorized, not fully understood.
Only a few "solid buff" birds were ever genotyped, and they never even genotyped the "token buff" breeds, Orpingtons and Cochins.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/buff-genetics.73980/post-795855
Certainly, it's possible there is more than one means to an end and not all buff birds have all the genes we think are in buff. And maybe some have more.
And it could be the same with red, another complex color.
And solid black can be created in so many ways it's also difficult to grasp.
For example, this bird (and photo) by Blake Bell
His parents are a buff Leghorn and Black Minorca. This shouldn't happen. Perhaps black Minorca are Birchen and not extended black based?
Honestly, considering Nicalandia said people think they might be Birchen based (or at least some might me I believe that is the answer to our mystery here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/genetics-question-pure-breed-x-hybrid.745611/post-10492936

 

[KF0002]

You're preaching to the choir. Only difference is I have no voice of reason around.

Sometimes I wish my voice of reason would do more things I want to do. Like buy a trio of Buff Leghorns off the internet. I need them! But here I am, impatiently waiting on my shipped Buff eggs to hatch, grow out and mature and they have only been in the incubator for 1 whole day. The anticipation may kill me.

 

[Amer]

Sometimes I wish my voice of reason would do more things I want to do. Like buy a trio of Buff Leghorns off the internet. I need them! But here I am, impatiently waiting on my shipped Buff eggs to hatch, grow out and mature and they have only been in the incubator for 1 whole day. The anticipation may kill me.

I waited for (2) years for my family members to finally get pigeons so we could have another breed on the farm (I can't exactly make demands when I'm at school, not home to take care of them, though I do take care of the birds as often as I can.
That said, I am the voice of reason trying to keep my mom and brother from overcrowding everything with more chicken and duck breeds.
If only they wanted to overcrowd everything with more pigeon breeds, and turkeys (except BBwhites which is of course what they got.)
We've already tried all the chicken breeds and I know what they're all like. I've already decided on what I like best and they need to do the same XD

But I've only tried one pigeon breed (and my mother has another. Pigeon breeds have so much potential that I haven't tapped!