Are You My Mother?

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

This handsome fella is Charcoal. He was hatched around Christmas from a mystery egg. I only had a few hens laying at the time, and could tell their eggs apart. But Charcoal’s egg magically appeared under my broody and somehow I missed it. It didn’t look like any of my hens’ eggs- larger, thinner, rounder than their normal eggs.

Dad was a Red Orpington. I assumed his mom was my blue hen, who lays the largest and roundest eggs. She’s either a Rhode Island Blue or a Blue Rock. But recently I’ve been told he looks like a GLW. I do have a GLW hen, but she was molting around the time I was collecting eggs and not laying. But I suppose it’s possible the “weird” egg Charcoal hatched out of could have been her 1st post-molt egg or her last pre-molt egg. Perhaps that’s why it was weird. My GLW hen has a rose comb, Charcoal has a straight comb. He dropped this feather the other day, and it’s defiantly laced. Could a red rooster x blue hen produce a bird this color with lacing? Or would it be more likely that his mama is my GLW?

 

[JedJackson]

The mother most likely had black and silver genetics. I can't see the gold laced Wyandotte being the mother, but who knows? Stranger things have happened.

 

[house1917]

@NatJ understands genetics exponentially better than I, but based on your options plugged into the chicken genetics calculator- a red Orpington rooster, and a GLW hen could produce Charcoal's color pattern! (

http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.htm...b/Db&fgt=E:e^b/e^b,Pg:Pg/Pg,Co:Co/Co,Ml:Ml/Ml

That said, is your GLW purebred, purebred hatchery? My understanding of comb heredity would point to him having rose comb or modified rose comb with a GLW mother, and he's got a pretty typical straight comb.

I have lots to learn on chicken genetics, so this is kind of a head scratcher from the comb POV.

 

[NatJ]

@NatJ understands genetics exponentially better than I

I don't really know about this one.

If he had a red father and gold mother, I would expect a richer red/gold color in his feathers. So a mother with silver seems more likely (a blue or black hen might have the silver gene without it being obvious.) But I cannot be positive, because I don't fully understand the genes that control the shade of red/gold/yellow.

As regards combs, a rose comb would definitely point to a Wyandotte mother, but single comb could come from any mother.

My understanding of comb heredity would point to him having rose comb or modified rose comb with a GLW mother, and he's got a pretty typical straight comb.

Not quite. Rose comb seems to be completely dominant, so it looks the same whether the chicken has one or two copies of the gene. That's why single combs pop up regularly in rose comb breeds, because you can't tell which parents are carrying that recessive gene and which are not. If the Wyandotte hen has just one gene for rose comb, she could produce some chicks with rose combs and some with single combs.

I think you were mixing it up with pea comb, where two pea comb genes make the usual tidy pea comb, and one pea comb gene makes a modified pea comb that tends to have an oddly shaped in-between appearance.

 

[house1917]

I don't really know about this one.

If he had a red father and gold mother, I would expect a richer red/gold color in his feathers. So a mother with silver seems more likely (a blue or black hen might have the silver gene without it being obvious.) But I cannot be positive, because I don't fully understand the genes that control the shade of red/gold/yellow.

As regards combs, a rose comb would definitely point to a Wyandotte mother, but single comb could come from any mother.



Not quite. Rose comb seems to be completely dominant, so it looks the same whether the chicken has one or two copies of the gene. That's why single combs pop up regularly in rose comb breeds, because you can't tell which parents are carrying that recessive gene and which are not. If the Wyandotte hen has just one gene for rose comb, she could produce some chicks with rose combs and some with single combs.

I think you were mixing it up with pea comb, where two pea comb genes make the usual tidy pea comb, and one pea comb gene makes a modified pea comb that tends to have an oddly shaped in-between appearance.

Rose vs pea- learned something new today!!

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

If he had a red father and gold mother, I would expect a richer red/gold color in his feathers. So a mother with silver seems more likely (a blue or black hen might have the silver gene without it being obvious.) But I cannot be positive, because I don't fully understand the genes that control the shade of red/gold/yellow.

Ew ew! I think I know this one! The hen I originally thought was his mama was this one pictured here, and I learned from someone on this forum (quite possibly yourself) that the silver streaks on her neck are silver leakage. So it seems that my original assessment was most likely correct, and this blue hen is most likely the mother.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

The mother most likely had black and silver genetics. I can't see the gold laced Wyandotte being the mother, but who knows? Stranger things have happened.

I believe that the color blue comes from black, so most likely the mother would be the blue hen (who has silver leakage).

 

[JedJackson]

Ew ew! I think I know this one! The hen I originally thought was his mama was this one pictured here, and I learned from someone on this forum (quite possibly yourself) that the silver streaks on her neck are silver leakage. So it seems that my original assessment was most likely correct, and this blue hen is most likely the mother.

That hen looks right for the mother.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

That said, is your GLW purebred, purebred hatchery? My understanding of comb heredity would point to him having rose comb or modified rose comb with a GLW mother, and he's got a pretty typical straight comb.

My GLW is hatchery bred. I thought the rose comb was dominant, too, but I’ve been told not always. Which explains why my BLR Wyandotte has a straight comb.

 

[NatJ]

Ew ew! I think I know this one! The hen I originally thought was his mama was this one pictured here, and I learned from someone on this forum (quite possibly yourself) that the silver streaks on her neck are silver leakage. So it seems that my original assessment was most likely correct, and this blue hen is most likely the mother.

I think you are probably correct about that hen being the mother

I believe that the color blue comes from black, so most likely the mother would be the blue hen (who has silver leakage).

Yes, a blue chicken is genetically a black chicken, diluted by the blue gene. Some of her chicks will inherit the blue gene, and some will not, so her chicks could show either black or blue in their feathers.

My GLW is hatchery bred. I thought the rose comb was dominant, too, but I’ve been told not always. Which explains why my BLR Wyandotte has a straight comb.

I think rose comb is always dominant-- which means that a chicken with one rose gene and one not-rose gene will show the rose comb, but can still give the not-rose gene to some of their chicks.