What's in your flock?

[TheSeedObsesser]

The blonde hen being a RIR x BCM mix is an assumption. I originally obtained both blondes with a free group of chickens that includes Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and a pair of BCM's (hen and roo). The mix has feathered legs, golden-ish hackle feathers, and part of the combs are flopped over - something that I think came from the Maran. The mix also has nearly identical tail feathers as the RIR, with black speckling and all (just a few shades lighter.) I could also see how the blonde color could possibly come from the RIR. Our Maran roo was the French type with feathered legs, could the French type have some different genes in there that could change things?

I would like to keep most of the characteristics from the RIR x BCM cross and maybe incorporate some golden barring somewhere in there. My roo has non-feathered legs, so the BPR gene for bare legs must be dominant to BCM feathers. I'm thinking that about 1/4 of the offspring should have feathered legs, right? I'm hoping to possibly get a new, dual-purpose breed out of this.

I was also thinking about crossing the rooster back with a BPR or other barred breed to try to get the gold more uniformly spread, and hopefully get rid of those plain BCM hackle feathers that appear here and there.

Preferably, I'd like to see what the roo looks like for the supposed RIR x BCM cross and what the hen looks like for the BCM x BPR cross, before I start crossing other things.

Oh yeah! The BCM had heavier coppering down his chest, could that influence things?

 

[hosspak]

Last time I checked a Tetra is an aquarium fish.

I've never heard of a Tetra Tint chicken. It's probably the top left picture?

I never heard of them till I bought her. I wish I had 11 more. Daily laying huge creamy white eggs, mostly ever 24 hours. Same with the Golden Comet (Red sex link).

 

[seedcorn]

Can you do pix of tetra tint?

For me partridge Wyandotte bantams. Take cold well, eat very little and pretty to me. They lay whenever the mood hits them. First 2 years, they did well. Now the mood is more infrequent.

 

[so lucky]

No means of getting pics up right now, but I have one Black Copper Marans roo and 3 female BCMs. One white Plymouth Rock hen, two EE hens, one Production Red hen, and two Speckled Sussex hens. Most of the girls are starting to lay now, either after winter break or for the first time. I have gotten two double yolkers this season, always a nice surprise.

 

[baymule]

I love double yolkers! My Wyandottes lay little pullet eggs. I call them chicken farts.

 

[thistlebloom]

I have a Golden Cuckoo Maran that just started laying this week.
She skipped the pullet egg stage and just jumped into producing full sized ones. In fact her very first egg was huge! I wish I had taken a picture of it, it was a double yolker. She's my only chocolate egg layer so I can tell how often she lays.

I also have a Black Australorp, a Brown Leghorn, a Dutch bantam, a Golden Sebright, a blue laced red Wyandotte, and 6 black laced red Wyandottes.

 

[baymule]

What a pretty backyard!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Especially in North Idaho this time of year! Wow! Talk about a microclimate!!!

Cheer up Thistle, you only have another4 to 5 months to go to get there. And it really does look nice. You're doing a good job.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The blonde hen being a RIR x BCM mix is an assumption. I originally obtained both blondes with a free group of chickens that includes Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and a pair of BCM's (hen and roo). The mix has feathered legs, golden-ish hackle feathers, and part of the combs are flopped over - something that I think came from the Maran. The mix also has nearly identical tail feathers as the RIR, with black speckling and all (just a few shades lighter.) I could also see how the blonde color could possibly come from the RIR. Our Maran roo was the French type with feathered legs, could the French type have some different genes in there that could change things?

I would like to keep most of the characteristics from the RIR x BCM cross and maybe incorporate some golden barring somewhere in there. My roo has non-feathered legs, so the BPR gene for bare legs must be dominant to BCM feathers. I'm thinking that about 1/4 of the offspring should have feathered legs, right? I'm hoping to possibly get a new, dual-purpose breed out of this.

I was also thinking about crossing the rooster back with a BPR or other barred breed to try to get the gold more uniformly spread, and hopefully get rid of those plain BCM hackle feathers that appear here and there.

Preferably, I'd like to see what the roo looks like for the supposed RIR x BCM cross and what the hen looks like for the BCM x BPR cross, before I start crossing other things.

Oh yeah! The BCM had heavier coppering down his chest, could that influence things?

Seedo, I’ve been trying to figure out how to respond to you. That gold hen is not from a Black Copper Marans rooster over a Rhode Island Red hen. That cross will give you a hen with a black head, black back, solid black tail, red chest and maybe golden lower body. It’s possible the RIR hen is the mother but no way a pure Black Copper is the father. So either he is a cross or some other rooster is the father. Is it possible a Salmon Favorelle is the father? That would probably give you colors like that and explain the feathered legs.


I’m assuming you were awake in biology class and know how basic genetics work. Well, chicken genetics can still get confusing. There are different genes that can cause feathered legs. A couple of them are what is called incomplete dominant. What that means is that if both genes at that gene pair are the feathered leg gene, the legs are heavily feathered. If only one of that gene pair is the feathered leg gene, the legs are still feathered, but not as heavily. Then there is another gene that is recessive for feathered legs. So if both at that gene pair match up, the legs will be feathered, but if only one is not, then that gene will not cause leg feathering. Let me confuse it just a bit more. There are some different genes that inhibit feathered legs so even if some feathered genes are there the legs can be clean.


I can’t tell you what is going on with your chickens’ legs. Since your golden hen has them, I’d guess they are one of those dominant versions especially if she is out of a RIR hen. It sounds like your mixed rooster could be carrying the recessive version, or his daddy was not pure for one of the dominant versions.


The genetics of the barred rock are going to contribute black. The genetics of the Black Copper are going to contribute a lot of black. Neither of those are going to contribute to the gold. That’s what you have with that mixed rooster. Both those types of black are pretty dominant. Not knowing if your BCM rooster is pure makes it hard to say anything definite but if your mixed rooster has the genetics he should, your first generation for that cross with the gold hen will not be gold. Some will be black and some partly black. You will still get chicks with a lot of other colors on them, some that will surprise you and about half will be barred. Some of that other color will be gold along with the black. You could even wind up with a rooster that is mostly white or an off-white ivory color but he should have a black tail.


You are not going to get any gold chicks crossing that rooster back to a Barred Rock hen. That is just not going to happen. That black will dominate. Those gold feathers leaking through are called leakage. It’s pretty common on a mixed breed rooster and can be hard to get rid of.


If you really want a gold barred, you could cross your gold hen with your mixed rooster or any other barred rooster, then keep a barred rooster from that match and breed back to your gold hens. But the genetics are so mixed up, you might have to hatch 40 or more chickens to get one gold barred. Or you may get lucky and get one pretty easily.


A few years back I hatched four chicks. By the odds only half should have been barred, but all four were. Two of those were red barred, very pretty. A while later I hatched 17 chicks from the same flock, same rooster but the eggs came from those same hens plus some more. Nine of those 17 were barred, which is right, but zero were red barred. All nine were black barred. By the odds that should not have happened, but it did.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I was awake in biology class and did learn about some interesting things including incomplete dominance, but it's still a little confusing to be. I do have a basic understanding of it though and would like to learn more, I have a few breeding projects in mind and knowing about this stuff will be essential.

I may not know exactly what my mixed hens are, but I am 100% sure that my mixed rooster is from a BCM roo and a BPR hen. My BCM roo was the only roo that I had at the time, and I was only raising one barred breed at the time - Barred Rocks. I highly doubt that the barring could come from a Golden Comet or RIR, and the gold couldn't come from any where else but the BCM as no other breeds that I was raising at the time had gold. I think that I have read enough books and poultry catalogs to know that my mixed rooster's pa was a BCM. Here is a picture of him so that you can have a look for yourself, it's blurry but enough to tell that he's a BCM. He's to the right with his mixed flock of hens.

If you think that my mixed roo is a rare oddball, please let me know. The parents are planning to cull him eventually as they want a pure-bred flock. It may take some begging and bribing, but I would like to save him for my breeding project if one like him would be that hard to come by. The mixed rooster was accidentally hatched in a batch of Muscovy ducks and the Barred Rocks have been culled, don't think I have a chance of running across a similar mix as we don't plan to raise either BPR's or BCM's in the future.