Cuckoo Maran Rooster/ Gold laced wyandotte hen cross. What happened here?

[Itsvchickens]

I have a cuckoo maran rooster and a gold laced wyandotte hen and hatched an egg from them!

I was am still under the impression that 100 percent of a cuckoo roosters eggs would be dark barred and i hatched two others from the same rooster and silver wyandottes. Those two chicks came out as expected, black with white dot on head, and then grew dark barred feathers.

This new chick that just hatched from the Same rooster and a gold wyandotte came out looking like this. I thought this was genetically impossible for this chick to look like this, am I going insane?

 

[JedJackson]

If the Marans is purebred, he should be double barred and so all of his children would inherit one barring gene from him and be barred themselves. This chick has a different pattern, but it could still be show barring when it is older.

If it does not develop barring, then something is amiss. Maybe the rooster is single barred or a mix, maybe the mother is a mix, or a stealth rooster mated with the hen. These are just possibilities. Hidden color genetics are another possibility as to why the chick is so different in color from what one would expect. I would wait to see how it looks when it has feathered out some before judging. Pictures of the parent birds would be helpful, if possible.

 

[Itsvchickens]

If the Marans is purebred, he should be double barred and so all of his children would inherit one barring gene from him and be barred themselves. This chick has a different pattern, but it could still be show barring when it is older.

If it does not develop barring, then something is amiss. Maybe the rooster is single barred or a mix, maybe the mother is a mix, or a stealth rooster mated with the hen. These are just possibilities. Hidden color genetics are another possibility as to why the chick is so different in color from what one would expect. I would wait to see how it looks when it has feathered out some before judging. Pictures of the parent birds would be helpful, if possible.

Okay, not possible for a stealth rooster, they are not out of their run ever or near any other birds.

Ill attach a picture of the rooster, i dont have a picture of the mother but shes a pure wyandotte im certain.

 

[Itsvchickens]

 

[Dynamis]

We just hatched two chicks out of our Cuckoo Marans rooster and Wyandotte hens last month. We started out with eight eggs but only two made it to hatch; one pullet and one cockerel. It was our first time letting our broody hen do the work.
Neither of them turned out like that! I wonder if the rooster could have another gene in there somewhere? Our Marans rooster almost looks golden on top, but not as intense like some of the Golden Marans out there. I wonder if that could be a player in why that chick turned out different?

 

[Dynamis]

This is how my two turned out, as was to be expected. Although I feel like the pullet is a bit more spotted than outright barred.

You should post some pics once the chick feathers out!

 

[Itsvchickens]

This is how my two turned out, as was to be expected. Although I feel like the pullet is a bit more spotted than outright barred.

You should post some pics once the chick feathers out!

Will do! Im so curious to see what comes of the little girl.

My other two, one boy one girl, look exactly like your two!
Were they from silver laced wyandottes?

 

[Dynamis]

Will do! Im so curious to see what comes of the little girl.

My other two, one boy one girl, look exactly like your two!
Were they from silver laced wyandottes?

The pullet came from our Gold Laced hen, Owl. The cockerel is either from her, or from our Blue-Laced hen. I like the Wyandotte personality, and the only good flock rooster we’ve ever had happens to be a Cuckoo Marans, so I’m excited to see how they turn out, both in terms of health and temperament. They’re friendly enough, if not a bit flighty. Hope the cockerel ends up being civil. I’d like to keep the cross going, if possible. The Dottes haven’t been prone to mites or egg laying problems, and our single Marans hen has been very healthy as well. They are in their fourth year. Pic of dam(s) below.

 

[labelo]

Chick down pattern is usually governed by the e-allele. E (extended black) chicks are mostly black, E^Wh chicks are mostly yellow, e^b chicks look sort of chipmunk-ish, but with darker heads (think wyandotte chicks.

Usually, a Cuckoo Maran would be E/E, so all chicks would inherit the dominant E gene and turn out mostly black. On E genes, barring shows up as a spot on the mostly black chick's head. BUT, some Cuckoo Marans have lineage from Marans of other sorts, including some that are Wheaten and carry the E^Wh gene. If your cuckoo maran is E/E^Wh, some of his chicks would get E^Wh.

That means some chicks from your rooster and your wyandottes (Wyandottes are partridge, e^b/e^b) would be E/E^b (mostly black, with the barring spot), and some E^Wh/e^b. Normally you'd expect a wheaten chick to be mostly yellow. However, Wheaten seems to incompletely dominant when other genes (especially the melanizing genes found in wyandottes!) are present, and you often get E^Wh/e^b chicks that have a chipmunk pattern like the one your chick has. My parents have hatched several E^Wh/e^b chicks that looked very much like yours.

The barring spot usually doesn't show on chipmunk patterned chicks at hatch. Nonetheless, if your cuckoo marans is homozygous for barring (and based on his pattern, it looks like he is), the chick will still grow up to be barred. The barring will be incomplete, though, since it will also have lacing genes from the wyandotte parent that will interfere. This new chick will probably be lighter in color than the earlier, ones, too.

 

[Itsvchickens]

Chick down pattern is usually governed by the e-allele. E (extended black) chicks are mostly black, E^Wh chicks are mostly yellow, e^b chicks look sort of chipmunk-ish, but with darker heads (think wyandotte chicks.

Usually, a Cuckoo Maran would be E/E, so all chicks would inherit the dominant E gene and turn out mostly black. On E genes, barring shows up as a spot on the mostly black chick's head. BUT, some Cuckoo Marans have lineage from Marans of other sorts, including some that are Wheaten and carry the E^Wh gene. If your cuckoo maran is E/E^Wh, some of his chicks would get E^Wh.

That means some chicks from your rooster and your wyandottes (Wyandottes are partridge, e^b/e^b) would be E/E^b (mostly black, with the barring spot), and some E^Wh/e^b. Normally you'd expect a wheaten chick to be mostly yellow. However, Wheaten seems to incompletely dominant when other genes (especially the melanizing genes found in wyandottes!) are present, and you often get E^Wh/e^b chicks that have a chipmunk pattern like the one your chick has. My parents have hatched several E^Wh/e^b chicks that looked very much like yours.

The barring spot usually doesn't show on chipmunk patterned chicks at hatch. Nonetheless, if your cuckoo marans is homozygous for barring (and based on his pattern, it looks like he is), the chick will still grow up to be barred. The barring will be incomplete, though, since it will also have lacing genes from the wyandotte parent that will interfere. This new chick will probably be lighter in color than the earlier, ones, too.

That is so ridiculously informative and helpful, thank you so much! Not im extremely curious to see what she looks like all grown up!!