Breeding

In real life, chicken sexes are determined by Z and W chromosomes. In this game, that is also the case...but our chickens are a little different. The only visual difference between ZZ and ZW chickens is the presence of leg spurs.

Both in real life and in this game, chickens can also have ZZW chromosomes. ZZW chickens in this game can mate with anyone, including each other. There's a 1/1000 chance of hatching a ZZW chicken.

Breeding eligibility

Each chicken can have chicks with another chicken of a different karyotype. Both chickens must also be:

• Adults
• Well-fed
• Not on egg cooldown
• Not currently tending a nest, and
• Not related in the last 2 generations.

ZZW chickens will show up in both menus, but cannot be bred with themselves. The user will have to feed each parent 5 seed for them to produce an egg, and the nest will not be initiated if the user does not have enough seed.

InterNests

InterNests are a special type of nest that allow two users to breed their chickens together. On the InterNest request form, the initiator selects the two chickens to breed—one of their own and the other from another user. Upon a successful breeding eligibility check, they may send the request. The breeding criteria are the same as with normal nests; however, temporary blocks like nest availability, hunger and egg cooldowns are not checked at the time when the request is sent.

The nest is only initiated after the invitee accepts the request. Checks for nests, hunger and egg cooldown occur at this time, and the InterNest is initiated if all checks are passed. If the check fails, the initiating user will be notified.

If it succeeds, the price of 10 seed (per user) will be deducted, and each user will receive an InterNest egg, occupying one of their nest boxes. InterNest eggs take 6 days to hatch.

Gene inheritance

There are two broad categories of genes: Features and Colours.

Features show discontinuous variation (they don't form a gradient). There are seven Feature loci: karyotype, body, pattern, tail, wattle, comb, and eyespot. Generally, each chick has an equal chance of inheriting each parent's Feature for that locus.

However, some pattern Features are not inherited in a simple ratio. Some pairs can have offspring with entirely new patterns. Check the Features page for a more detailed rundown.

Colours generally show continuous variation (they form a gradient). Chickens will inherit a Colour anywhere on the spectrum between the parents' colours, including possibly the same colour as one parent. You can see the full spectrum here:

The chicken colour wheel has 55 colours in the following order, looping around from the end to the start: Pink (hex code #f0a3ce), maroon (hex code #870544), rose (hex code #fac3d2), crimson (hex code #bd2246), red (hex code #b34747), russet (hex code #944d3b), brown (hex code #a66d4c), vermilion (hex code #de552f), bark (hex code #5e4c3e), cream (hex code #f7ecdf), beige (hex code #d4b590), orange (hex code #d9952e), honey (hex code #ebb75b), gold (hex code #c49035), ochre (hex code #c2881d), yellow (hex code #f2de2c), lemon (hex code #d8e38d), lime (hex code #c5e838), apple (hex code #def2ac), chartreuse (hex code #799c28), olive (hex code #505e29), leaf (hex code #147521), grass (hex code #81d136), gluppy (hex code #bddead), viridian (hex code #258a40), spring (hex code #73de9a), mint (hex code #73debc), turquoise (hex code #21a698), teal (hex code #06888f), aqua (hex code #44d4db), sea (hex code #047f91), cerulean (hex code #08a6d1), sky (hex code #15a7eb), sapphire (hex code #0277c4), ultramarine (hex code #0254b3), tumblr (hex code #021a35), navy (hex code #1d246b), indigo (hex code #4f2dc2), lilac (hex code #af8ff7), blurple (hex code #854fe3), overcast (hex code #5c4682), violet (hex code #8018b8), amethyst (hex code #b912db), lavender (hex code #f098fa), orchid (hex code #d95be3), plum (hex code #9c0b94), fuchsia (hex code #d80c9b), wine (hex code #7a0a4d), black (hex code #141413), sable (hex code #1a1918), grey (hex code #696562), ash (hex code #8a8981), silver (hex code #bfc9c8), mist (hex code #ced4d9), white (hex code #f7f7f2).

There are four Colour loci: base, over, flair and peep. Base determines the base body colour; over determines pattern and wing colours; flair determines comb, wattle and beak; and peep determines eye colour. Peep is the only discontinuous Colour trait: it can only be one of two colours (for now), black and white.

So, do chickens have genders?

I like to think chickens' idea of gender is inherently different from ours. After all, they can spontaneously change secondary sexual characteristics depending on the composition of the flock, and also, they're chickens.

In the end, you get to decide how you think your own chickens relate with the concept of gender.