paloozaparty
Songster
AHH I can't wait any longer--to get crossbreeding feedback from you about our 11 week old chicks! Who knew how COMPLICATED chicken breeding is??? I've learned SO much about chickens, eggs, egg production and laying, breeding/incubating, and being a chicken pet is my new favorite lifestyle choice 
BUT, I can NOT understand the genetics / crossbreeding of chickens--I just can't mentally process one word or one scientific acronym (or whatever they're symbols are called, like W vs. w and how to determine results of crossbreeding). So, I'm dying for feedback.
Anyway, we bred our rooster--which we were told was a girl, AND an Americuana by the farm store--who said that's what the hatchery said--but, I've been told since that he's an EE, instead. The mother options are (again, this is what the farm store said the hatchery said) that the black hen is a Black Sex Link, the red hen is a Golden Sex Link, and the white/black hen is a Light-Colored Brahma.
We successfully (eventually) hatched 9 eggs from our EE. Of that batch (clutch?) of 9, I also tried to pick 3 eggs from each of our 3 hens--I had put money on my "very accurate" guesses as to which egg came from which hen. Turns out... just look at the pics -- I was way off on my guesses... So, my question is, (we gave away 2, so pictured are our 7) with what we ended up with: 4 that look identical to the Light-Colored Brahma, 2 that are dark brown and one that's solid white / albino looking. Does anyone have feedback as to which mom the brown ones are from? At first I thought for sure that they came from the Golden Sex Link hen, but I read that the Black Sex link can cross from a brown leghorn, so then wondered if actually the Black Sex link is the mother? And, I don't know if there's any way to tell which hen the albino / pigment-lacking feathered chick is from?
On a sidebar note, most of our chicks (I think all but one) have feathered feet. When they were chicks--I also assumed they HAD to all come from the Brahma--because she's the ONLY feathered leg/foot hen--BUT, since I've been told that the rooster is an EE and not a purebred Americauana--I suppose that if he's of undetermined crossbreeding, that he may have passed down feathered legs/feet from one of his parents? Because the brown chicks, albino and the 2 we gave to our friends have feathered legs/feet, but don't look like the Brahma. Can feathered legs/feet skip a generation? Because, then, I'm also assuming that the 4 black and white chicks, who look exactly like the Brahma (to me, at least) are DEFINITELY from the Brahma?
Ohhhh, I love all this, but I can't decipher the breed jargon...
BUT, I can NOT understand the genetics / crossbreeding of chickens--I just can't mentally process one word or one scientific acronym (or whatever they're symbols are called, like W vs. w and how to determine results of crossbreeding). So, I'm dying for feedback.Anyway, we bred our rooster--which we were told was a girl, AND an Americuana by the farm store--who said that's what the hatchery said--but, I've been told since that he's an EE, instead. The mother options are (again, this is what the farm store said the hatchery said) that the black hen is a Black Sex Link, the red hen is a Golden Sex Link, and the white/black hen is a Light-Colored Brahma.
We successfully (eventually) hatched 9 eggs from our EE. Of that batch (clutch?) of 9, I also tried to pick 3 eggs from each of our 3 hens--I had put money on my "very accurate" guesses as to which egg came from which hen. Turns out... just look at the pics -- I was way off on my guesses... So, my question is, (we gave away 2, so pictured are our 7) with what we ended up with: 4 that look identical to the Light-Colored Brahma, 2 that are dark brown and one that's solid white / albino looking. Does anyone have feedback as to which mom the brown ones are from? At first I thought for sure that they came from the Golden Sex Link hen, but I read that the Black Sex link can cross from a brown leghorn, so then wondered if actually the Black Sex link is the mother? And, I don't know if there's any way to tell which hen the albino / pigment-lacking feathered chick is from?
On a sidebar note, most of our chicks (I think all but one) have feathered feet. When they were chicks--I also assumed they HAD to all come from the Brahma--because she's the ONLY feathered leg/foot hen--BUT, since I've been told that the rooster is an EE and not a purebred Americauana--I suppose that if he's of undetermined crossbreeding, that he may have passed down feathered legs/feet from one of his parents? Because the brown chicks, albino and the 2 we gave to our friends have feathered legs/feet, but don't look like the Brahma. Can feathered legs/feet skip a generation? Because, then, I'm also assuming that the 4 black and white chicks, who look exactly like the Brahma (to me, at least) are DEFINITELY from the Brahma?
Ohhhh, I love all this, but I can't decipher the breed jargon...
