Color help

[Fallenone05]

Hello! I hatched some chicks and I have some questions about their coloration.



The one on the left has hardly any feathers on the feet, cheeks like my EE hens and has black running down her legs and onto her toes. The feathers on the black spots are also black. My hens with beards are a blue wheaten, blue laced red, or a barred hen. Dad is an OE, Marans/Ameraucana mix.

The one on the right has fully feathered feet, no black stripes and no beard. I have a Splash Brahma hen that I suspect is her mother.

Here's a backshot if the bearded bird



Does the bearded bird look more Splash? Or does recessive White create so many black leakage spots? Could they both be from my Brahma hen but one inherited the beard from their dad? They all share the same dad. Dad is blue with silver barring and heavily feathered legs.

Heeeelp.
Thank you!

 

[Fallenone05]

Bump!

 

[Fallenone05]

Bump

 

[NatJ]

Dad is blue with silver barring and heavily feathered legs.

The one on the left has hardly any feathers on the feet, cheeks like my EE hens and has black running down her legs and onto her toes. The feathers on the black spots are also black. My hens with beards are a blue wheaten, blue laced red, or a barred hen.

If the father had a beard, the chick may have gotten the beard from him, so the mother could be any hen you have.

I think the chick is splash (black with two copies of the blue gene.)
It got the "black" part from the father (dominant over whatever the mother had).
It got one blue gene from the father, and the other blue gene from the mother.
If the father had no beard, then the mother must have a beard. In that case, since she must have blue, the mother would be either the blue wheaten or the blue laced red.
But if the feather had a beard, then the mother could be any hen with the blue gene (blue or splash in her coloring).

The one on the right has fully feathered feet, no black stripes and no beard. I have a Splash Brahma hen that I suspect is her mother.

That seems quite likely. The chick looks splash, which is quite common when one parent is blue and the other is splash.

Does the bearded bird look more Splash? Or does recessive White create so many black leakage spots? Could they both be from my Brahma hen but one inherited the beard from their dad? They all share the same dad.

Yes, that is also possible. If the father has a beard, he could have given it to the one chick.

Recessive white typically does not leave black spots. Dominant White can have black spots, but I think it would make the pale areas more white than they look in the photos. Dominant White turns black into white, but typically leaves gold/red/brown shades present. It is present in some all-white chickens, and also in brown chickens who have white tails (like ISA Browns and Golden Comets), and Dominant White is also in White Laced Red and some other color patterns that have white and gold/red. If you have a hen with Dominant White, that might be a possibility. But if you do not have any hens with Dominant White, then the chicks cannot have it either.

 

[Fallenone05]

If the father had a beard, the chick may have gotten the beard from him, so the mother could be any hen you have.

I think the chick is splash (black with two copies of the blue gene.)
It got the "black" part from the father (dominant over whatever the mother had).
It got one blue gene from the father, and the other blue gene from the mother.
If the father had no beard, then the mother must have a beard. In that case, since she must have blue, the mother would be either the blue wheaten or the blue laced red.
But if the feather had a beard, then the mother could be any hen with the blue gene (blue or splash in her coloring).


That seems quite likely. The chick looks splash, which is quite common when one parent is blue and the other is splash.


Yes, that is also possible. If the father has a beard, he could have given it to the one chick.

Recessive white typically does not leave black spots. Dominant White can have black spots, but I think it would make the pale areas more white than they look in the photos. Dominant White turns black into white, but typically leaves gold/red/brown shades present. It is present in some all-white chickens, and also in brown chickens who have white tails (like ISA Browns and Golden Comets), and Dominant White is also in White Laced Red and some other color patterns that have white and gold/red. If you have a hen with Dominant White, that might be a possibility. But if you do not have any hens with Dominant White, then the chicks cannot have it either.

I should have specified - dad doesn't have a beard, but the man I got him from kept him mixed in with an OE group. Some had beards but he didn't. I'm not sure what his parent mix was, like, Marans over one of the OE or an OE over an Ameraucana. He was multiple generations in. While he didn't express one, I wouldn't be surprised if his mom had one.

This is my group of turd heads. Lots of beardless EE from Atwoods.


My blue wheaten gal up front, her mom was a pure white EE. Dad was an EE/Wyandotte mix if I remember correctly, and was Crele. Her offspring tend to come out barred and with her cushion comb. She lays a very light green egg. My Splash Brahma is currently up for the night with her chicks.

 

[NatJ]

I should have specified - dad doesn't have a beard, but the man I got him from kept him mixed in with an OE group. Some had beards but he didn't.

Yes, that makes it much clearer.
Beard is caused by a dominant gene.
If he does not have a beard, chicks cannot inherit a beard from him.

So the bearded chick must have a bearded mother.

That chick must be splash, because it cannot be Dominant White (the rooster does not have Dominant White, and none of the bearded hens have Dominant White.)

Since it is splash, the mother must have blue, so either the Blue Wheaten or the Blue Laced Red.

 

[Fallenone05]

Yes, that makes it much clearer.
Beard is caused by a dominant gene.
If he does not have a beard, chicks cannot inherit a beard from him.

So the bearded chick must have a bearded mother.

That chick must be splash, because it cannot be Dominant White (the rooster does not have Dominant White, and none of the bearded hens have Dominant White.)

Since it is splash, the mother must have blue, so either the Blue Wheaten or the Blue Laced Red.

Thank you! Idk why I had it in my head that splash only comes around with a blue*splash?? I appreciate it!

 

[NatJ]

Thank you! Idk why I had it in my head that splash only comes around with a blue*splash?? I appreciate it!

Splash needs two blue genes, one from each parent.

So you can get a splash from two blues, or from a blue and a splash, or from two splashes. Some of those pairings will give more splashes than others, but all of them can produce some splashes.

 

[Fallenone05]

Is this lil guy Cuckoo?

 

[Fallenone05]

Here's a view from the top.