Because one of my readers asked for pictures of the Dalmies, I present to you…. three mostly white little hennies.
Perdie, who, as you see, got the most gray from her adventures in the ash pile. I got pictures of her investigating the nests and it apparently upset her routine, so she went back outside.
Pongo, who is slightly bigger than Perdie in build and has a bit more fluff in the trunk.
Pongo is also the more friendly of the two. Granted, Ashley raised them all to “hide because it’s safer” … but I can pet Pongo and Maxie. Perdie doesn’t really want me near her at all. She is very skittish, as is their hatch-brother, Felix.
Genetics… Pongo and Perdie are most likely Pip’s children, with Australorp mothers. They act a lot like my Australorps, and also the Orpingtons. Those two breeds are cousins of sorts, so I guess that makes sense.
They are the most dramatic when it comes to laying eggs. Often, they will go into several nests in search of the right one, announcing their displeasure at the rejected ones and complaining if their preferred is empty – for a very long time before settling on one. Or faking the Egg Song in an attempt to get someone out of the nest they want.
I’ve noticed the same behavior in the Orps and Lorps, where as my sexlinks (Abby and the Mystery Bin Girls) are very no-nonsense about it.
Maxie, on the other hand….
… she is a straight to business type of girl. More like Abby and the Mystery Bin Girls who jump into any available nest, lay their eggs and move on. Like I said, no-nonsense.
Given that Maxie is a mini-me of Dots, I’m guessing her egg donor was one of the sexlinks. She’s pretty and friendly, a little smaller than her sisters. Another indicator that she is a sexlink. Possible straight-on second generation if we assume Dots as the father.
Maxie was one of the few who avoided the ash pile altogether, so she isn’t even the least bit gray. Which makes her very smart, in my opinion.
Anyway… that’s the girls. 🙂
There a Chick 
Oh, they are so grown up and lovely! It is interesting that Pongo has definitely thrown more to the Australorp side whereas Perdie looks more like one of your roos. She does have some fluffy butt going on though hehe.
I looked back at the last time we discussed their genetics and used the chicken calculator: http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html. I somehow missed your last comment about Dots’ sexlink genetics. I have just read a little about sexlink genetics, but from what I now understand, in the case of red sexlinks, a white female with the dominant S (silver) gene is mated with a red male. In that case I think Dots would have a partially dominant white (“golden”) gene. The diagram here: http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information is helpful and can help you fiddle with the S gene on the chicken calculator. So it would be more accurate when using the chicken calculator to go back to Dots’ parents since you have some idea what they are, then click on ‘Continue with this male’ beside the white male offspring, as Dots. That way, when you use that rooster paired with whatever coloured hens you have, there are actually a whole lot more colour options. So I was wrong about Dots and he could actually be the father of any number of coloured offspring, which just makes it more confusing! And everything goes out the window…
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Well, Dots and Abby are all that’s left of Gen 1 on our farm, so the parents are hatchery stock. Unknowns. If I compare Claire’s chicks… Dots was the only rooster mating at that that point because Pip was still too afraid of the Aunties to try and kept running away from them. All the eggs were Rhode Island Red. Claire had 3 chicks, 2 white and 1 red. One of the white ones died…. but the other is Eugenie, who is pretty white. The red was a little boy. Pip also is a red/other boy. If we don’t look at the Dalmies, but assume Maxie is possibly Dots daughter, too… then a strong argument could be made that Dots will sire red sons and white daughters most the time.
Steve is talking about making me a separate breeding coop so I can play around with my different roosters. If he ever does we can test this for real. Put Dots in with a sampling of hens and hatch the babies.
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Oh, yes, he must make you a breeding coop! It’s for educational purposes… Much testing to be done! 😉
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