Is this splash, or a similar trait?

Background: I am into the third or fourth generation of my flock, selecting for members of an original easter egger/americauna x some sort of white rooster. Within the last couple generations I have accidentally stumbled across a splash gene that was hidden within my original pair. Last year, I had one chick hatch with some light black spots on otherwise yellow down. He grew into one of my current roosters and has a black feather or two on his neck against a mostly white/grey background.

This spring I hatched several more chicks with even more pronounced dalmation "spots." Another individual has the classic splash look, with a bit of red leaking:




The "spotted" chickens however, have a totally different appearance from this classic splash. They seem to be much more purely white, with straight black feathers scattered here or there:











I also noticed that whereas the regular splash bird had no indication of her trait upon hatching, all of these mottled, black-spotted birds had these patches visible in their down as soon as they left the shell. Here is one only a few weeks old, showing the trait coming in very strongly, but it does not appear as the normal splash.



One of these latest birds is now clearly a rooster, and over the last couple generations I have noticed that the red on the shoulders is entirely sex-linked. This male also has a couple black patches on his neck, although they are hard to see from this angle.


Here is the parent flock. The white rooster on the right with the black sickle feather is carrying this hidden splash/patch gene. He is the son of the original rooster, now gone. I also have one of his sons, who looks identical and might as well be a clone, but he is not in the picture.





So I am wondering if this is just a different variation of splash, or is it something else entirely? So far, there has been no shade of in-between these two traits. I have now had several birds hatch with the "patch" trait over multiple seasons, while this spring was my first time coming across the classic splash.

I'm not seeing splash. Your birds base color looks to be white, and splash is based on a light grey. Splash is a double dilute of black, you can't get to splash with a white bird.

I've not researched it much, but I think your birds are similar to the paint Silkies. You might take a look at those threads and see what genetics they're playing with for those colors.

I do know when you cross a dominant white bird like a Leghorn, you get offspring that are white with flecks of black (or other base color). More like your top bird. But the rest aren't flecked, they're more spotted, with larger patches of color. Makes for very pretty birds . I'm not sure if it's recessive white, I'm not as familiar with how that interacts genetically as dominant white. But the chicks don't look recessive white, that's usually a smoky grey chick

They do resemble the markings of "paint silkies." You have some lovely birds. There is a thread for "paint silkies," you may want to question how "that" came about.

Thanks for the help. I do think the original white rooster was at least part leghorn, so it seems that you are right and I am likely dealing with white dominance. I like the look, especially with the blue legs, and plan on continuing to select for more of the spottiness.