Standard Mille fleur d'uccle over blue splash cochin

[Osono]

What overall color chicks are they likely to make together? I'm reading up on chicken color genetics but it seems fairly complicated.

 

[NatJ]

What overall color chicks are they likely to make together?

You should get a bunch of blue chicks. They may show some gold or silver leakage in their feathers as they grow up.

I'm reading up on chicken color genetics but it seems fairly complicated.

Yes, it is fairly complicated.

In this case:

Splash has two copies of the blue gene, so each chick gets one, so all chicks show blue.

A splash cochin usually has the genes to be a solid black chicken (diluted to splash), and those genes are dominant over the ones that make the Mille Fleur coloring, so all the chicks are genetically black, diluted to blue, carrying a bunch of other genes.

If you breed those chicks together, or back to the Mille Fleur, you can get quite a collection of colors & patterns, most likely including black, blue, splash, gold columbian, silver columbian, either of those with blue or splash, and any of the above with mottling (black mottled, blue mottled, splash mottled, Mille Fleur, Silver Mille Fleur, Blue Mille Fleur, Blue Silver Mille Fleur, Splash Mille Fleur, Splash Silver Mille Fleur.)

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

What overall color chicks are they likely to make together? I'm reading up on chicken color genetics but it seems fairly complicated.

It depends on whether the cochin is blue or splash

 

[Osono]

You should get a bunch of blue chicks. They may show some gold or silver leakage in their feathers as they grow up.


Yes, it is fairly complicated.

In this case:

Splash has two copies of the blue gene, so each chick gets one, so all chicks show blue.

A splash cochin usually has the genes to be a solid black chicken (diluted to splash), and those genes are dominant over the ones that make the Mille Fleur coloring, so all the chicks are genetically black, diluted to blue, carrying a bunch of other genes.

If you breed those chicks together, or back to the Mille Fleur, you can get quite a collection of colors & patterns, most likely including black, blue, splash, gold columbian, silver columbian, either of those with blue or splash, and any of the above with mottling (black mottled, blue mottled, splash mottled, Mille Fleur, Silver Mille Fleur, Blue Mille Fleur, Blue Silver Mille Fleur, Splash Mille Fleur, Splash Silver Mille Fleur.)

Thank you, I really appreciate the response! Sounds like I will get a beautiful variety

 

[NatJ]

Thank you, I really appreciate the response! Sounds like I will get a beautiful variety

Not variety in this first generation, but yes in the next generation if you keep some pullets and breed them to their father or brothers.

 

[Osono]

Not variety in this first generation, but yes in the next generation if you keep some pullets and breed them to their father or brothers.

My general end goal is to have a small yard flock with the cold hardy small comb and muff of the easter eggers, with the much more calm personality of the cochin and mille fleur. I'm guessing my mutt easter eggers may only have one blue egg gene, so I'm likely going to end up with mostly light brown or olive eggers with the cochin mixes, but the other traits I mentioned are more important to me. Mixing breeds is always fun though.

 

[renk777]

You should get a bunch of blue chicks. They may show some gold or silver leakage in their feathers as they grow up.


Yes, it is fairly complicated.

In this case:

Splash has two copies of the blue gene, so each chick gets one, so all chicks show blue.

A splash cochin usually has the genes to be a solid black chicken (diluted to splash), and those genes are dominant over the ones that make the Mille Fleur coloring, so all the chicks are genetically black, diluted to blue, carrying a bunch of other genes.

If you breed those chicks together, or back to the Mille Fleur, you can get quite a collection of colors & patterns, most likely including black, blue, splash, gold columbian, silver columbian, either of those with blue or splash, and any of the above with mottling (black mottled, blue mottled, splash mottled, Mille Fleur, Silver Mille Fleur, Blue Mille Fleur, Blue Silver Mille Fleur, Splash Mille Fleur, Splash Silver Mille Fleur.)

Would the reverse cross create anything different in the first generation or could I expect the same?

 

[NatJ]

Would the reverse cross create anything different in the first generation or could I expect the same?

I would expect the first generation chicks to look pretty much the same, no matter which direction you do the cross.

But because the gold & silver genes are sex-linked, the daughters will have either gold or silver according to what they inherit from their father. If the Mille Fleur is the father, all daughters will inherit the gold gene, and can pass it on to their own chicks. I do not know whether the Splash Cochin has gold or silver or one of each, but that will determine what a pullet can inherit from such a father. A son will inherit gold from the Mille Fleur parent, and whatever the Splash Cochin has, no matter which direction you do the cross. So the direction of the cross only affects the daughters, and not even that if the Splash Cochin male is pure for the silver gene.