How does this work genetically?

[LilacOak]

My california white snuck off and started a nest. I found the nest and discarded all of the nonfertile eggs. I know she is the mother because she is the only chicken that lays large white eggs at the moment. The father is a red cochin.

One of the chicks is white with black specks, two are yellow with orangish backs, two are red with faint stripes, and one is red with dark stripes.

From what I can tell the mom is heterogeneous for dominant white. How can the chicks be red if she doesn't show red/cream coloring?

 

[Amer]

You’re right. They shouldn’t. The chicks should be black. I’m interested in seeing more replies.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Maybe the chick down has so much red because red Cochins have a similar genotype to self buff?

 

[Amer]

Maybe the chick down has so much red because red Cochins have a similar genotype to self buff?

Maybe. It’s the only plausible explanation. I would have expected more black on them though, I guess.

 

[LilacOak]

Maybe. It’s the only plausible explanation. I would have expected more black on them though, I guess.

It looks like the feathers coming in on the two red chicks and the striped chick have black on them, I'll wait until they grow in their juvenile feathers to see what they look like.

 

[Amer]

It looks like the feathers coming in on the two red chicks and the striped chick have black on them, I'll wait until they grow in their juvenile feathers to see what they look like.

Wheaten/red chicks typically grow feathers like that though.

 

[007Sean]

My california white snuck off and started a nest. I found the nest and discarded all of the nonfertile eggs. I know she is the mother because she is the only chicken that lays large white eggs at the moment. The father is a red cochin.

One of the chicks is white with black specks, two are yellow with orangish backs, two are red with faint stripes, and one is red with dark stripes.

From what I can tell the mom is heterogeneous for dominant white. How can the chicks be red if she doesn't show red/cream coloring?

This might help you understand how, where the chick's got their plumage color genes.
http://chickengenetics.edelras.nl/

 

[NatJ]

From what I can tell the mom is heterogeneous for dominant white. How can the chicks be red if she doesn't show red/cream coloring?

She's probably also heterozygous for extended black (which makes the whole chicken black, and then the dominant white makes all the black into white.) So if some of her chicks don't have the extended black, they have something else that lets them show red. If you want to research it more, look for the "e locus" section on any page about chicken genetics.

Or else it's the gold/silver genes getting involved. Gold rooster, silver hen is the recipe for red sexlink chicks. (But since silver makes red feathers into white ones, and dominant white makes black feathers into white ones, and a given chicken can have either or both, it can get confusing!)