By Infomaniac on Saturday, January 5, 2002 - 01:24 pm:
The first chick is copper-colored, the second chick is blue/grey with some yellow and the last baby is, of course, black... but she looks like one of our faux-Marans chicks.
Info, you ain't kiddin' about the colors your getting. Different feather and shank colors I see. Nice looking chicks though, nice and healthy. These chicks are the offspring of your F1 chicks?
Thank you Hannah, yes, these are all F2s that are progeny of the F1s.... no P generation parents for these F2s.
So the color of the bird is of no concern, just the color of the eggs, right? Interesting. Didn't you say before you used Leghorn hens to Araucana sires? Are the colors coming from the Araucanas?
THank you for your note, Hannah. By the time one is getting F2 generation birds, the white genes that make the Leghorn white will be absent in about 25% of the birds. Now, if one 'cancels' the white genes in your White Leghorn, the bird could be any color. And, Leghorns in general are colorful birds. Anytime a breeder breeds a White Leghorn to a colorful Leghorn and selects back for white (to reduce inbreeding, for example) you get 'color' genes that are masked by the dominant white. Certainly the colors can be coming through the sires, but they could also be Leghorn genes.
Infomaniac, Have really enjoyed following (not with too much retention) the Leghorn basis in your poultry breeding program! Have printed it off for files.
Is the Italianer same in type as the leghorn (where did this name come from,it makes me chuckle) only larger framed
I really like the looks of the blue/grey chick. How did you set up your original cross? Did you use just one pair? What colors/breeds were used in the original cross? Were all F1's identical?
Robbpa, Yes almost the same in type as the Leghorn. Huge gorgeous birds! I have pictures, but am not sure if they are "on line" I do not have a scanner. I will look, but I would have to send pictures to someone else to post, as I STILL am unable to go through the right motions to do it! CJR
We're getting blue/grey chicks at about the 1% level.... The last grey chick in the previous batch is developing into a black barred bird. Really surprised me. I felt that she would become a blue chicken, but that doesn't look like it will be the case.
These babies are one week old.
By HannahH on Sunday, January 6, 2002 - 03:52 pm:
By Infomaniac on Sunday, January 6, 2002 - 04:16 pm:
There are some reasons for this. There may be color enhancers (from the Leghorn line) that are recessive. There is some chance of getting recessive homozygotes in the F2s mated this way... although it would be more probable if one of the parents were Leghorn. After we evaluate these F2s for eggshell color, we will probably breed the best F2s to Leghorns. We're still discussing this, but I believe that is what we will do to get the F3 generation.
By HannahH on Monday, January 7, 2002 - 03:30 am:
By Infomaniac on Monday, January 7, 2002 - 10:20 am:
Right now, we're selecting for eggshell color and properties only. We would reject an inferior eggshell structure, for example, but we're working for a cosmetically attractive blue egg.
But, I wouldn't say that the bird colors are uninteresting.... we have, actually, some things in this group that we've never seen before, like the black-headed 'white' bird and the blue-barred birds. But, certainly we're selecting for eggshell color and our breeding strategy seeks to improve the eggshell color.
By Cjeanr on Monday, January 7, 2002 - 12:15 pm:
The American White Leghorn, as a production breed was developed from the Italianer. At the Poultry Shows at Hannover, Germany (20,000 entries--many many breeds), the Italianer is one of the largest classes. There are so many beautiful varieties, never seen here. The American Leghorn is a smaller bird (efficiency), but I wonder if all those glorious (GLORIOUS) varieties are hidden under the dominant white of our White Leghorns???? Hannover Show has separate classes for the American Leghorns. But breeding for eggshell color by someone who keeps RECORDS is really enlightening-- who knows what "boring" is???? Not me! CJR
By Robbpa on Monday, January 7, 2002 - 02:07 pm:
By Uncle Buddy (Ubuddy) on Tuesday, January 22, 2002 - 11:29 am:
By Cjeanr on Tuesday, January 22, 2002 - 02:18 pm: