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Eye Colors on the different Varieties and shank....
philipu:
Well here it goes.
These birds are June hatched birds.
I have some blacks that the eye color is still pretty dark...
and some of the whites just getting some color, some still appear to what I call pearl color.
Also have a couple of buffs where the shanks are light, don\'t really see any slate, should I cull these, type and combs good.
ones undercoat is like almost white, but it is just starting to get
what I learned are called sex feathers, this is the adult feathers,
and they are appearing to be more vibrate and darker buff.
The first feathers where buff with white.
What should I cull on these....???????????????
thanks, phil
Mike Gilbert:
Phil,
If you have any well colored buff females with decent type that have white shanks, I would keep them as breeders. Just make sure the male you use with them has slate legs. All the females from such a mating will have slate legs and all the males will have white legs, but will carry the gene for slate. That is because the gene that causes dermal melanin pigment is carried on the sex-link chromosome. In birds the males have the extra gene bearing chromosome, just the opposite of humans.
With regard to the eye color of the whites and blacks, they are still too young to cull on that basis alone.
Mike
philipu:
Hi Mike, thanks, what if a male has the white colored leg shank?
Would that mean he is only carrying one gene for the slate or none at all?
phil
John:
Some of my LF buffs also don\'t have buff under color or fluff (if that is what it is called), but white. They look buff, but when you move the feathers around you will see that the part that isn\'t exposed is white. The LF buff variety is improving, but isn\'t developed to the same degree as the Blacks and Whites. Good buff color, combs, leg color and egg color can be found, but very rarely on the same bird. The ones you have may not be show quality, but sound like valuable breeders when mated to the right birds. I\'m big on compensation mating.
I originally used 5 buff Orpington pullets (hatchery stock) and a medium sized white Ameraucana cock (from Jerry Segler) to develop LF buffs. After I had some LF whites (using that same cock over 5 white Orpingtons) and Mike and I developed bantam buffs, I put a LF white male over buff bantam females. Those strains were breed together and over the years have also used a bantam buff male and buff laced Polish male for various reasons. The Polish gave me the slate legs and made them less \"fluffy\". I believe Arne Schmidt used LF whites and buff Orpingtons to develop his strain. Jay Horn said he has crossed LF whites into his buffs to try to get slate legs. I think he bought his buffs from me before I made the Polish cross.
Mike Gilbert:
--- Quote from: philipu ---Hi Mike, thanks, what if a male has the white colored leg shank?
Would that mean he is only carrying one gene for the slate or none at all?
phil
--- End quote ---
Phil,
You can\'t tell if a white legged male has one gene for slate legs or none by looking at him. I\'m quite sure John would have used slate legs on one side of any mating he made, so I\'m betting your white legged males do have the one gene for slate legs. If so, half the pullets from him will have dark legs, the other half white legs (irregardless of the leg color of the females used). If he is mated with slate legged females, same ratio in the male offspring, half and half. If he is mated with white legged females, all the male offspring will have white legs. Hope this helps.
Mike
Mike
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