The first picture is of the first blue \ grey chick we got in our blue egg project. The next two pictures are of the 3 month old pullet....
The next two pictures are of a chick that I thought might be e^bc at the E-locus but may well be wild-type instead (they look a lot alike). This is a rooster and seems to be homozygous for pea comb, which should also translate into him being homozygous for the blue eggshell gene....
By Infomaniac on Monday, January 14, 2002 - 10:32 am:
The pullet is rumpless and has pea comb. Genetically, she is half Leghorn. The pullet next to her in the second picture is a phenotype that we are seeing a lot in this breeding project.
Hi Info, your "chipmunk" colored chick reminds me of what the "Easter Eggers" looked like when they came in. Most of them turned partridge though. The one I got is grey and tan. Yet they all looked alike as chicks.
Thank you for your post, Hannah. The chipmunk phenotype is due to the allele (gene) at the E-locus. Both the wild-type, e^+, and the buttercup allele, e^bc, look like chipmunks to me. The wild-type E-locus allele has the eye stripe as you can see in this side view of the rooster above as a chick ...
Thanks Info, I think you covered this very topic awhile back. Nice pics. Bet that eyestripe looks neat on an older pullet.
With respect to the rooster... I am trying to evaluate him with respect to his value as a breeding cock. He seems to be homozygous for pea comb which might make him a good breeding cock eventually. But, we should have about a hundred F2 roosters ... it isn't clear at this point which ones we should keep for breeding..... He may well wind up on the dinner table.
By HannahH on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 05:05 am:
By Infomaniac on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 12:14 pm:
The eye stripe normally doesn't persist into adulthood, but I believe we have some pullets in lay that still have it.... I was noticing that yesterday.... I'll check again.
By HannahH on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 - 08:19 pm: