Articles about breeding poultry and the genetics of poultry.
My first flock of hens were some Warren Browns, and were essentially spent stock from a local egg producer. My first cockerel was a traditionally coloured farmyard fowl that was somewhere in between large fowl and bantam in size, but after getting no results with fertility we opted to try …
The word ‘gene’ is enough to put many people off when it comes to poultry articles. However, let me assure you, I don’t intend to get technical; there will be no complex looking scientific symbols in this article for poultrykeeper – just the basics. The aim is for it to …
I have read with great interest the breeding articles by Stan Simister (Creating a Strain), Derek Alsop’s response and more recently, Robin Ramus’ Federation Interview in Fancy Fowl Magazine UK. I found their advice to be very wise and coming from a wealth of experience in poultry. The common theme …
Most of us have a mental image of an albino; a bird or animal that is completely white. To complete the picture accurately we should also see the red eyes. In birds, albinism is a complete lack of pigment in all feathers and soft parts. Their feathers are white, and …
Anyone writing an article on the subject of poultry plumage has to begin with the 2 pigments that account for all the beautiful colours and patterns seen today. These pigments are black and red. They are best observed in the wild Red Jungle Fowl – the original form of chicken …
The lavender variety of poultry is very beautiful. The effect is born from the lavender gene being present in a black fowl and reducing the quantity of pigment allowed to express on each feather; instead of black, the feathers appear a much softer shade of pastel blue. This shouldn’t be confused …
After a recent post about sexing chicks, I mentioned a little bit about sex-linked crosses. I’m certainly no expert on the subject, but I do know a man who is!
I have great pleasure in welcoming Grant Brereton, poultry genetics expert as this months guest blogger who is going to answer some questions he has been sent on sex-linked crosses and their subsequent offspring.
When assessing your rearing stock and noticing an obvious fault, it can be very disheartening. An otherwise-fine specimen is ruined for show and breeding. However, If the fault in question is observable in the bird’s parents or grandparents, perhaps you only have yourself to blame? We would all breed from near-perfect …
Black crossed to white? A common question in relation to breeding is: what will be the outcome of crossing a black to a white fowl? The answer to which, no-one really knows. This may seem a bold statement, but there is an explanation… The outcome of a proposed black to white, or …
When learning about how Gold and Silver genes work in poultry, it can be very gratifying to realise that much can be made of the sex-linked cross (Gold male over Silver female). This produces sex-identifiable progeny in the day-old offspring (yellow males and brown females). Silver Pencilled Wyandottes. These specimens being …
As I alluded to in a recent article on the subject, there are many factors that got me interested in colour genetics of poultry. One of the main sources was the book ‘Bantams in Colour‘ first published in 1984 by Gold Cockerel books. Little did I know at the time that both Michael …
Whether you are an experienced poultry breeder or relatively new to the hobby, there are some common factors which have to be learnt in order to improve your stock. The principle factor in breeding is the ‘art of selection.’ This basically means acquiring the knowledge to understand what is and what …
Grant Brereton, a lifelong poultry breeder, is an internationally acclaimed authority on poultry plumage genetics and has written a book and several e-books on the subject. Here, he looks at where it all began. Black and red When learning about poultry plumage there is only one starting point: the Red …
Following on from Making your Own Line of birds, Laurence Beeken looks at how to fix specific traits into your line, and how to introduce fresh blood when necessary. So you’ve selected your birds and your first season has gone well, and now you’re ready to look to the future …
If you are familiar with showing and breeding then you will almost certainly recognise the reference to a ‘line’ or a ‘strain’ and this becomes immediately obvious when you start to look at show winners. A particular exhibitor will have a row of birds all appearing exactly the same, and in …
Many years ago, a group of scientists in Cambridge discovered that certain characteristics are passed down from parent birds to their sons and not their daughters and vice versa. Some of these characteristics are down colours and markings that can be used to identify male and female chicks when they …
Black, Chocolate and Blue ducks – with white patches? White Patches on Ducks with Extended Black Genes are commonly seen as they age. Pure Black, Chocolate or Blue coloured ducks will start off as the correct colour during their first year of life however, they will normally get white patches of …
If blue birds (genetic code Bb) are mated together, they throw a percentage of ‘off’ colours in their progeny (youngsters), the probability being 25% blacks (BB), 25% blue splashed whites (bb) as well as 50% blues (Bb). You need to breed a sufficiently large number to achieve this percentage – …
Autosexing is when pure bred day old chicks can be sexed by their different appearances when they have hatched. This is a characteristic that is highly desirable so that chicks can be raised as guaranteed pullets, keeping food costs down. There are a number of breeds (note: pure bred birds) that will …
