# Three Generations



## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

I've been having some fun with color breeding and trying to figure out what the birds are carrying. This first pair is an Indigo hen whose history is unknown and her mate, a black spread cock, also unknown history. He was a rescue whose band was removed by the rehabber who gave him to me. He looks very blue in this photo but looks blacker in reality.


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

The opal hen is the offspring of the black and indigo pair. They have thrown everything from dark andulusian to this opal.

I paired her with this cock, history unknown but as you see he has some red in him as well as some splash.


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

And here are their first round. I don't know what color/pattern to call them. I also don't know what kind of red, ash or RR is in the parents.


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

And the second squeaker from this hatching.


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## Henk69 (Feb 25, 2010)

How can the opal hen be opal? What is the chance that the unrelated parents both carried it.


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

Henk, are you suggesting it could be TS? Is it possible the Indigo hen is actually dom opal but not showing through strong because of the indigo?

Margarret -The blue bird does not carry any type of red that I can see, It has some bronzing by the looks of things, Got a pic of an andalusian? Also, can we see the tail bar of the opal???


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## bigislerollers (Jan 20, 2008)

Do you breed in individual breeding pens? If not, do you have an opal cockbird in the same pen as this pair?


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

To answer several questions. No, I do not have an opal cock. My breeding pen is an open loft, so there is always the potential that the fathers are not the fathers of either generation. I will put up a picture of the tail of the opal soon. I am not very informed about bronze. I need to do some reading. I saw the reddish color on some of the cockbird's feathers and thought it indicated some kind of red.
Thank you for the responses. I don't know if you can see it, but the opal hen has very pink skin around her eyes. Her nose was very pink as well, but is getting whiter now.

Margaret


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

Here are some more pictures of the opal hen. The tail, as requested and a photo of her eye.

Margaret


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

BTW, that is not pox on her beak. she is feeding babies.

M.


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## ryannon (Jul 4, 2007)

Those are some quite handsome little turkeys, Margaret!


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

Looks to be opal, It is possible that rec opal is in your flock, also possible that a different cock maybe that is from that line of rec opal carrying birds jumped the hen who also has it. All possibilities of course.


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## rudolph.est (May 14, 2009)

Agreed, that hen looks like a rec opal to me too.

As to the splashy cock with the copper/bronze in the flights, I've been trying to pin down the bronzing in my homer stock too, and to no avail. Some bronze is due to het. RR. Your bird though does not express like any het. RR I've ever seen.


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## rudolph.est (May 14, 2009)

Margarret said:


> And here are their first round. I don't know what color/pattern to call them. I also don't know what kind of red, ash or RR is in the parents.












Firstly, ash red is not even a possibility, since it cannot be hidden or carried by the parent.

This youngster looks like it will change a lot over time, though there seems to be opal here too maybe... Though probably not if the parents are who you say they are. It is porbably just sooty check with some kind of bronzing. 

Send us pictures after the first moult for a more certain diagnosis.


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## rudolph.est (May 14, 2009)

Margarret said:


> And the second squeaker from this hatching.












This youngster looks like plain old blue bar sooty to me, but once again, it is very young still, no bar or proper tail bar visible yet.

Again, check back after the first moult.

Also, I really suggest you invest in some individual breeding cages, they are inexpensive and people will believe the parentage of your birds, because you can prove it. It happens all too often that people assume that some kind of infidelity has occurred (since it is possible) if the genetics don't seem to match up. Also, I find that the parent are usually better parents in individual breeding cages anyways, since there is nothing else to do than to feed the babies... My hens also start their second clutch up to a week earlier that they do in a communal setup. (My hens are mostly related and most of them hate doing a second clutch, they'd rather feed the babies a full four weeks. Good mothers, bad layers!).


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