Breed for Muffs and A Beard in Chickens

Chickens with fluffy faces are the cutest! The muffs (fluffy cheek poufs) and beard feathers is controlled by a gene that can be selectively bred for and it is easy to do! You can quickly increase the number of muffed and bearded chicks you get in the next generation. Here is how to breed for muffs and a beard in chickens:

How to Breed for Muffs and a Beard in Chickens

Chickens who inherit a single copy of the Muffs and Beard gene (Mb) will have fluffy faces. This means it is easy to selectively breed for this trait so we can hatch more chicks with those adorable cheeks!

The Underlying Muffs and Beard Genetics

The Muffs and Beard gene is abbreviated Mb. A capital M, as in Mb, indicates the presence of one Muffs and Beard gene while a lowercase m, as in mb, indicates the absence of the Muffs and Beard gene. If no Mb gene is present, the bird is said to be clean-faced (this is the wild-type).

Muffs and Beard is An Incompletely Dominant Trait

The Mb gene is incompletely dominant, which means that if a single copy is present, the chicken will have Muffs and a Beard. But a heterozygous muffs and beard chicken may not be quite the same in appearance as a chicken who is homozygous Mb and carries two copies of the gene (Mb/Mb).

Heterozygous, Homozygous & Wild Type

If a chicken is Homozygous for Muffs and Beard it is Mb/Mb and will be fluffy faced.

If a chicken is Heterozygous for Muffs and Beard it is Mb/mb and will be fluffy faced.

A chicken who is clean faced does not carry the Muffs and Beard gene, which is the wild-type: mb/mb. Most chicken breeds are mb/mb (clean faced).

Muffs & Beard Can Be Inherited in Any Color

Mixed breed hens can inherit muffs and a beard in any color, including barred! This can lead to some very interesting looking birds:

Bantams Can Have Muffs and a Beard, Too!

Bantam (miniature) chickens can inherit muffs and a beard just like their full-size cousins. Such traits are seen among some colored egg laying bantams. My Pet Chicken and Murray McMurray hatchery specifically breeds for them. Purebred Silkies should be bearded and many Silkie crosses are also bearded.

Breeding for the Most Fluffy Faces!

Selectively breeding for Muffs and Beard over a few generations will produce a flock that is increasingly homozygous (Mb/Mb) for the gene. You’ll know you have homozygous individuals in your breeding flock when 100% of your offspring hatches with a partial or full Muffs and Beard.

Is My Easter Egger Hetero or Homozygous?

Fluffy faced Easter Eggers, Olive Eggers and hybrid hens can be heterozygous (Mb/mb) or homozygous (Mb/Mb). While you may be able to guess by looking at the hen (smaller muffs is more likely to indicate heterozygous) it is not always that simple. For breeding purposes, you should assume any hatchery Americana/Easter Egger is heterozygous Mb/mb.

Hints She’s Only Heterozygous:

Hybrid hens, such as Olive Eggers, are likely to be heterozygous. If one parent is clean faced, the hen is most certainly heterozygous because the clean faced parent can only pass on clean face genes (mb). Marans, which are so often used in Olive Egger breeding and back-crossing, are a clean faced breed. A fluffy faced olive egger hen with Marans parentage will be heterozygous Mb/mb.

Test Breeding to Determine Hetero or Homozygous:

If you have a bearded chicken that produces both clean faced and fluffy faced offspring when bred to a clean faced chicken, that bird is heterozygous (Mb/mb). If a chicken produces 100% fluffy faced offspring even when bred to a clean faced chicken, that bird is homozygous.

Does a Lack of Wattles Mean Homozygous?

Chickens carrying a single copy of the Mb gene can have wattles that are small or absent. She does not need to have two copies (be homozygous Mb/Mb) in order for wattles to be absent. It is possible for a heterozygous (Mb/mb) chicken to have no visible wattles.

Clean Faced Offspring from 2 Fluffy Faced Parents?

If you are breeding for Muffs and Beard and get a few clean faced chicks, this indicates both the hen and roo are heterozygous. Crossing two heterozygous Mb/mb chickens will produce 25% clean faced (mb/mb) offspring:

Getting Fluffy Faced Easter & Olive Eggers

If you want hybrid hens with muffs and beards, it is easy to breed for! Simply select for both hens and roosters who have fluffy faces. Since one rooster will be fertilizing multiple hens, it is best if he is carrying at least one copy of the Mb gene. Continuing to select and breed only fluffy faced birds together will produce increasingly homozygous offspring.

Getting a Fully Homozygous Flock

You won’t be certain your flock is fully homozygous (Mb/Mb) unless you test breed each individual by crossing them to a clean faced chicken. If 100% of the offspring from one bearded parent and one clean-faced parent have muffs and beard, the bearded parent is homozygous (Mb/Mb).

Are Hatchery Easter Eggers Hetero or Homozygous?

I purchased Americana chicks from Hoover’s Hatchery in 2023. Over the phone a representative told me that their Americana chicks all hatch with fluffy faces and my order did have 100% fluffy faced Americana chicks. This means that a significant portion (perhaps around half or more) is homozygous Mb/Mb and the hatchery’s entire breeding flock has muffs and a beard. It is safest to assume a hatchery Americana/Easter Egger is heterozygous Mb/mb. You may discover from breeding an individual hen that she’s actually Mb/Mb because she only produces offspring with muffs and a beard, even if bred to a clean face rooster.

Do Muffs and Beard Mean the Hen Lays a Colored Egg?

No, the Muffs and Beard gene is not linked to any egg color genes. A hen with a muff and beard can lay any color egg. Salmon Faverolles, with their adorable cheeks, lay a lightly tinted egg while Americanas lay blue, aqua, green, peach or cream tones. Whiting True Blues and Prairie Bluebell Eggers can be bearded or clean faced but all are expected to lay a blue egg. Mixed breed hens with muffs and a beard can lay any egg color, including brown.

Fluffy Faced Colored Egg Layers

If you adore bearded hens who lay colored eggs, you can find hatcheries that offer Ameraucanas, Americana/Easter Eggers, and some fluffy faced Olive Eggers. Purebred Whiting True Blues can be clean or fluffy faced so select individual Whitings with muffs and a beard if you want to breed using them!

I hope this article has demystified the muffs and beard genetics in chickens and encouraged you with how easy a trait it is to breed for. Your chicks only need to inherit one copy of the Mb gene to have those darling fluffy faces!

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