Hey everyone!
Update from Aloha Chicken world . . . where I'm working on a multi-colored mottled breed. (Web site here: http://alohachickens.webs.com/ )
Anyway, I did a "test hatch" in November with my new stock, hatched out about 25 chicks and culled, culled, culled down to four. Now, one of my goals is to get a buff & white mottled, and a "true red" and white mottled chicken. So I've been culling anything with too much black. Have you noticed that most RED chickens actually have BLACK tailfeathers?? Like, the NHR and RIR. Like my NHR cross - out of a mottled hen, an outcross roo I'll be using to help increase size. (He carries mottling gene.)
Oh, and here's a hen who is a favorite of mine, her "black" tail has been replaced with blue color, very neat:
So, anyway, here's the rooster I kept for my program. Note that he doesn't have the black tail, but heck, he's super mottled, so figured the white mottled feathers were just "hiding" what should have been a black tail tip:
Anyway, above is the "daddy" to the roosters you'll see below:
On the LEFT, is what I figured Daddy Roo would look like, if he didn't have that white on his tail. See that guy, he's red, with a little black on his tail, and white mottling on top. Sort of like the red NHR cross rooster, if you added white mottling to the mix. But more recently, I hatched out this other little guy with even less white than dad and his brother. And lo and behold - his tail has NO BLACK! It looks like a deeper more chocolate shade of dark brown? Here are a bunch more photos of the youngest red mottled roo, who I've nicknamed "Cinnaroo":
So I went back and looked at Daddy Roo again, and I don't actually see any true black on him anywhere. I just assumed all along that the black was there, but it happened to be hidden underneath some white splashes or something.
Anyone care to guess what might be going on here? Definately looks like some darker shade of brown on what should be black areas . . . this suggests to me, some kind of modifier gene has hit the black and changed it to a rich dark brown . . . . but what gene? Ideas???
Thanks!!!
Sommer
Update from Aloha Chicken world . . . where I'm working on a multi-colored mottled breed. (Web site here: http://alohachickens.webs.com/ )
Anyway, I did a "test hatch" in November with my new stock, hatched out about 25 chicks and culled, culled, culled down to four. Now, one of my goals is to get a buff & white mottled, and a "true red" and white mottled chicken. So I've been culling anything with too much black. Have you noticed that most RED chickens actually have BLACK tailfeathers?? Like, the NHR and RIR. Like my NHR cross - out of a mottled hen, an outcross roo I'll be using to help increase size. (He carries mottling gene.)
Oh, and here's a hen who is a favorite of mine, her "black" tail has been replaced with blue color, very neat:
So, anyway, here's the rooster I kept for my program. Note that he doesn't have the black tail, but heck, he's super mottled, so figured the white mottled feathers were just "hiding" what should have been a black tail tip:
Anyway, above is the "daddy" to the roosters you'll see below:
On the LEFT, is what I figured Daddy Roo would look like, if he didn't have that white on his tail. See that guy, he's red, with a little black on his tail, and white mottling on top. Sort of like the red NHR cross rooster, if you added white mottling to the mix. But more recently, I hatched out this other little guy with even less white than dad and his brother. And lo and behold - his tail has NO BLACK! It looks like a deeper more chocolate shade of dark brown? Here are a bunch more photos of the youngest red mottled roo, who I've nicknamed "Cinnaroo":
So I went back and looked at Daddy Roo again, and I don't actually see any true black on him anywhere. I just assumed all along that the black was there, but it happened to be hidden underneath some white splashes or something.
Anyone care to guess what might be going on here? Definately looks like some darker shade of brown on what should be black areas . . . this suggests to me, some kind of modifier gene has hit the black and changed it to a rich dark brown . . . . but what gene? Ideas???
Thanks!!!
Sommer
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