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muffs and beards

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faith valley:
I noticed that one chick we hatched this year had a great muff and beard from a day old chick, and it has just gotten better.  We have hatched out 16 more chicks since then and they are not near as full in the beard and muff, comparing to the first chick that hatched.  Will they develop a better/ fuller beard and muff as they mature or will they always be on the sparse side?  I know that different lines develop at different paces, didn\'t know if this beard muff trait was like that though.

The first chick was from a different line than the second group of 16, and yes these are chicks from breeder\'s stock, not hatchery chicks.

I know that the lines could be crossed to improve the beard/muff.  Just didn\'t know if I might just have late bloomers.

Guest:
I had once chick with a muff from day one, no beard though... That chick grew up to be a nice black and gold color.  She\'s about 4 months now.  

John:
As I recall the first chick came from Michael Muenks\' flock and the others came from birds obtained from me.  I think the difference is just in the strains and that all are pure (homozygous) for muffs (& beard).  If the 16 chicks all have muffs the odds are that the parents are pure for muffs.  We know that all the parent birds have muffs so each has to either carry one gene for muffs (heterozygous) or two (homozygous).  If both are heterozygous the odds are that some chicks would lack muffs, some would have muffs like the parents and most would have full muffs.  If all 16 chicks have similar muffs I would guess they are pure for muffs.  If one parent is homozygous and the other heterozygous all chicks would have muffs and the odds are that 3/4 would have full muffs (homozygous) and 1/4, or 4 chicks out of 16, have smaller muffs (heterozygous).  Since all of them appear to have fairly equal muffs and all none of my wheaten and blue wheaten chicks lack muffs the odds are stacked in the favor of them all being pure for muffs.  I don\'t know if there are other genes that affect the fullness of the muffs, but some varieties and strains may have fuller muffs than others.  Also note that although we are after \"full\" muffs the Standard calls for \"medium length\". ;)

Mike Gilbert:
Yes, with Ameraucanas, bigger is not necessarily better.  The muffs and beards can be too full and fluffy, like Faverolles, and that would not be correct type.   The byword for Ameraucanas is medium.

Actually, in a cross of homozygous for muffs and heterozygous for muffs, half of the chicks should be homo and the other half hetero.   The expected ratio can be demonstrated with a Punnett square diagram.   Or think of it this way.   All the chicks will receive a muff gene from the homo parent.   Half the chicks will receive a muff gene from the hetero parent, and the other half won\'t.

John:
Mike is the number cruncher and right.  It should be 50/50, not 75/25 when one parent is pure and other not.

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