#pennaproject

[pennaraptor]

and wendy's swarm of all NINE rosecombs - 4 blue and 5 black. 5 of them are rook's and 4 are suzie's, but i will have to wait and see if i can tell them apart. those two girls have very different comb shapes so it might be possible

[pennaraptor]

the 3 phoenix (sandy is also in possession of these along with the carlos chicks). wendy is their actual mother

[pennaraptor]

so, here is the entire rosecomb harvest. i think i can tell them apart by their white facial markings (which i figured out last year).

black:

1 - very little white on face (tiny freckles)

2 - neat, perfect freckles

3- large freckles with a third white spot above one nostril

4- mustache

5- big splotches of white

blue:

6 - almost no white

7 - halfstache (line on one side, freckle on the other)

8 - patchy mustache

9 - lots of white connecting with white on chin

[pennaraptor]

phoenix pullets (solo x wendy), 2 months old. Goldie, Buffie, and Blondie

[pennaraptor]

delphinium and mertensia. delphy's a lil shy but shes clever enough to figure out its worth it to jump on me for treats. she's also noticeably smaller than mertensia and their other siblings, real little girl. mertensia is very sleek and leggy.

[pennaraptor]

the carlos babies - one dominant white (I/i), one splash (Bl/Bl), and two blue (Bl/bl).

i thought at first they were black but theyre definitely blue, which makes more sense statistically (both parents carry Bl). the dom. white chick could also be blue (just like its mom), we will have to wait and see!

[pennaraptor]

this is interesting. ive been watching the development of the rose combs in my chicks - all of these have the same father, a rosecomb bantam. the bottom 2 are pure rosecombs (and homozygous for the rose comb gene) and the top two are just heterozygotes for the rose comb gene. their combs are notably differently shaped - much narrower and more flat, especially visible in the cockerel, who took quite a bit longer to start getting any comb growth.

this wouldnt have been my expectation! rose comb (R) is dominant to single comb (r), but single comb develops faster, so i would have guessed if there was any difference between a homo- and heterozygote for R, the heterozygote might have a faster developing comb. in pea comb heterozygotes, at least, the comb is larger and floppier than in a pea homozygote. however, what i had read was that there was NO difference between a R homo- and heterozygote.

excited to see how they look when mature.

[pennaraptor]

getting them ready to go in da oven