Black crested White Polish

[I Like Turkeys]

These two are the interesting cross chicks. Either from the silver laced hen, or my white hen, seeing as those are my only two bearded birds and both chicks inherited that.

There’s a third, it’s mostly black marked, and I somewhat expect it to feather out like a silver laced.

This is the youngest of the bearded chicks, and nearly solid white. Its crest feathers are coming in black though. I set around 14 to hatch in conjunction with turkeys a few weeks back, and this was the only polish chick to hatch of those eggs.

The older interesting chick- the first one I realized to be a cross. Started out identical in color to the BCWs, but it’s been getting more pattern on its wings. Still seems to have a mostly white body, then a blue crest. I’m not totally sure what to make of it- still on the fence on what it may end up looking like as an adult. It’s still way lighter and closer to a black crested like phenotype than I guessed I’d get.

 

[NagemTX]

Defiantly intresting!

 

[ElPaso]

These two are the interesting cross chicks. Either from the silver laced hen, or my white hen, seeing as those are my only two bearded birds and both chicks inherited that.

There’s a third, it’s mostly black marked, and I somewhat expect it to feather out like a silver laced.

This is the youngest of the bearded chicks, and nearly solid white. Its crest feathers are coming in black though. I set around 14 to hatch in conjunction with turkeys a few weeks back, and this was the only polish chick to hatch of those eggs.
View attachment 3808114

The older interesting chick- the first one I realized to be a cross. Started out identical in color to the BCWs, but it’s been getting more pattern on its wings. Still seems to have a mostly white body, then a blue crest. I’m not totally sure what to make of it- still on the fence on what it may end up looking like as an adult. It’s still way lighter and closer to a black crested like phenotype than I guessed I’d get.
View attachment 3808115View attachment 3808118

I am interested to hear more about your cross breeding?

 

[I Like Turkeys]

I am interested to hear more about your cross breeding?

I’ll be sharing more photos of them as they grow up.

As for what I’ve been doing- it mostly sums down to breeding my black crested white rooster to a white and silver laced hen, and getting chicks that look like black crested whites. I don’t know why, though, as I thought this color wouldn’t reappear in the first generation.



I have two other polish hens besides the black crested whites. A bearded silver laced, and a bearded white. The white(who I sometimes call a paint because of how splotchy she is) one was sold to me as having just popped out of a silver laced pen, but I think she’s a buff laced cross of some sort, as she’s obviously got dominant white and not recessive.

They aren’t perfect hens, but they’re much nicer than the black crested whites. I wanted them to increase body and crest size, as well as tail length, as I dislike the bodies of my black crested whites. Originally I intended to have them separate, and track which chicks came from them, but that didn’t happen, so their eggs and the eggs from my black crested white hens have been intermingled for a while.

I hatched out the first of the crossed chicks in January- a non bearded paint cockerel and self black pullet from the white hen. Breeding her didn’t drastically improve the crests, but her chicks tend to have longer tails and her sons mature quicker, which I like.

The non-bearded part is important, seeing as when the chicks hatch out identical to black crested whites in color, the only way I’ve known them to be crosses was whether they had a beard. Now I’m thinking I got a third chick from her.

This cockerel, who I shared a photo of previously, is another bird I’ve recently begun to think came from the white hen. He’s been growing more tinted feathers recently, having actual golden ones popping up in his crest today, so I think he’s actually S/s+. My only bird who might carry the gold gene would be the white hen. His tail is longer than all the other black crested whites, and he’s got the same comb shape the white hen has.

He looks a lot like a black crested white. I don’t know why, if he actually came from her. I’ll be keeping him for test breeding unless he develops any issues. If he produces gold pullets, I can at least confirm to myself he’s S/s+, and likely a cross from the white hen.

More recently, I hatched out more chicks and got the first bearded ones, 2 of which looked like my black crested white chicks in down color. I don’t have any new photos of them, but one is slowly getting more patterned. I don’t know which hen they came from, but since none of my black crested whites are bearded, it has to be either the white hen or the silver.

 

[NagemTX]

I’ll be sharing more photos of them as they grow up.

As for what I’ve been doing- it mostly sums down to breeding my black crested white rooster to a white and silver laced hen, and getting chicks that look like black crested whites. I don’t know why, though, as I thought this color wouldn’t reappear in the first generation.



I have two other polish hens besides the black crested whites. A bearded silver laced, and a bearded white. The white(who I sometimes call a paint because of how splotchy she is) one was sold to me as having just popped out of a silver laced pen, but I think she’s a buff laced cross of some sort, as she’s obviously got dominant white and not recessive. View attachment 3815259
They aren’t perfect hens, but they’re much nicer than the black crested whites. I wanted them to increase body and crest size, as well as tail length, as I dislike the bodies of my black crested whites. Originally I intended to have them separate, and track which chicks came from them, but that didn’t happen, so their eggs and the eggs from my black crested white hens have been intermingled for a while.

I hatched out the first of the crossed chicks in January- a non bearded paint cockerel and self black pullet from the white hen. Breeding her didn’t drastically improve the crests, but her chicks tend to have longer tails and her sons mature quicker, which I like. View attachment 3815264
The non-bearded part is important, seeing as when the chicks hatch out identical to black crested whites in color, the only way I’ve known them to be crosses was whether they had a beard. Now I’m thinking I got a third chick from her.

This cockerel, who I shared a photo of previously, is another bird I’ve recently begun to think came from the white hen. He’s been growing more tinted feathers recently, having actual golden ones popping up in his crest today, so I think he’s actually S/s+. My only bird who might carry the gold gene would be the white hen. His tail is longer than all the other black crested whites, and he’s got the same comb shape the white hen has.View attachment 3815266
He looks a lot like a black crested white. I don’t know why, if he actually came from her. I’ll be keeping him for test breeding unless he develops any issues. If he produces gold pullets, I can at least confirm to myself he’s S/s+, and likely a cross from the white hen.

More recently, I hatched out more chicks and got the first bearded ones, 2 of which looked like my black crested white chicks in down color. I don’t have any new photos of them, but one is slowly getting more patterned. I don’t know which hen they came from, but since none of my black crested whites are bearded, it has to be either the white hen or the silver.

On the white hen. I have chamois Spitzhauben that have come out a kinda dirty off white. It looks as if she has been dust bathing in our redish river sand but she hasn't. I wonder if buff laced polish might do the same?

 

[I Like Turkeys]

On the white hen. I have chamois Spitzhauben that have come out a kinda dirty off white. It looks as if she has been dust bathing in our redish river sand but she hasn't. I wonder if buff laced polish might do the same?

I don’t really know what caused her off white color. Her color might be from the sun, honestly. After a few months of constant exposure, everyone’s feathers seem tinted in some way. Her and her offspring’s feathers are tinting much quicker than the normal way silver feathers seem to get dirty

 

[ElPaso]

I’ll be sharing more photos of them as they grow up.

As for what I’ve been doing- it mostly sums down to breeding my black crested white rooster to a white and silver laced hen, and getting chicks that look like black crested whites. I don’t know why, though, as I thought this color wouldn’t reappear in the first generation.



I have two other polish hens besides the black crested whites. A bearded silver laced, and a bearded white. The white(who I sometimes call a paint because of how splotchy she is) one was sold to me as having just popped out of a silver laced pen, but I think she’s a buff laced cross of some sort, as she’s obviously got dominant white and not recessive. View attachment 3815259
They aren’t perfect hens, but they’re much nicer than the black crested whites. I wanted them to increase body and crest size, as well as tail length, as I dislike the bodies of my black crested whites. Originally I intended to have them separate, and track which chicks came from them, but that didn’t happen, so their eggs and the eggs from my black crested white hens have been intermingled for a while.

I hatched out the first of the crossed chicks in January- a non bearded paint cockerel and self black pullet from the white hen. Breeding her didn’t drastically improve the crests, but her chicks tend to have longer tails and her sons mature quicker, which I like. View attachment 3815264
The non-bearded part is important, seeing as when the chicks hatch out identical to black crested whites in color, the only way I’ve known them to be crosses was whether they had a beard. Now I’m thinking I got a third chick from her.

This cockerel, who I shared a photo of previously, is another bird I’ve recently begun to think came from the white hen. He’s been growing more tinted feathers recently, having actual golden ones popping up in his crest today, so I think he’s actually S/s+. My only bird who might carry the gold gene would be the white hen. His tail is longer than all the other black crested whites, and he’s got the same comb shape the white hen has.View attachment 3815266
He looks a lot like a black crested white. I don’t know why, if he actually came from her. I’ll be keeping him for test breeding unless he develops any issues. If he produces gold pullets, I can at least confirm to myself he’s S/s+, and likely a cross from the white hen.

More recently, I hatched out more chicks and got the first bearded ones, 2 of which looked like my black crested white chicks in down color. I don’t have any new photos of them, but one is slowly getting more patterned. I don’t know which hen they came from, but since none of my black crested whites are bearded, it has to be either the white hen or the silver.

Thanks for such a detailed reply. I agree with your analysis. One thing you didn't mention is these crossed birds will have excellent vigor. They can be bred back to BCW and improvement should follow. I think these crosses are not likely to improve color, but you should be able select back to the color you started with and have better type with vigor.

 

[ElPaso]

Thanks for such a detailed reply. I agree with your analysis. One thing you didn't mention is these crossed birds will have excellent vigor. They can be bred back to BCW and improvement should follow. I think these crosses are not likely to improve color, but you should be able select back to the color you started with and have better type with vigor.

These chicks are day old. They are f2 from polish x buff Orpington cross.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Thanks for such a detailed reply. I agree with your analysis. One thing you didn't mention is these crossed birds will have excellent vigor. They can be bred back to BCW and improvement should follow. I think these crosses are not likely to improve color, but you should be able select back to the color you started with and have better type with vigor.

Yeah, good catch!

I forgot to mention that aspect, but the crossed birds have been stronger than the non-crossed ones. Around the time I hatched the first paint and self black, I had noticed them originally growing at 2x the pace and size of the black crested white chicks they were hatched alongside.
The crossed cockerels have also been maturing quicker, probably because of that. The BCW male I chose to originally breed was slow to mature, something that also showed up in 3/4 of the first 4 BCW cockerels I raised, being around 3 months old before they began even reddening in their wattles. For the first paint cockerel I hatched, it became apparent he was a cockerel around 6 weeks old. Much quicker than his siblings.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

These chicks are day old. They are f2 from polish x buff Orpington cross.

Looking good! Lots of color variation, but that’s to be expected. I see a few with a down color reminiscent of what I tend to see. I’ll be mighty curious to see how they all feather out.

Hopefully you’ll see darker heads in the chicks, without the ridiculously annoying breast spangling that birds like mine have. Your f1s had amazingly clear breasts.