Plymouth white rock chicks with black striping in wings?

[bjw113]

Just hatched out 10 chicks from my stock which includes Buff Orpingtons and Plymouth White Rocks. 4 chicks were born with a black dot on their heads and have now developed black/white striping on their wings. They are just a week old today. I thought the white gene WAS the recessive gene and therefor the black striping had been bred out? Some chicks are very pale yellow indicating potential white rocks but the wing coloring has me stumped. Anyone?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Are your white Rocks, actually white Rocks? The coloration on the chicks look Silver Columbian.

 

[bjw113]

They were purchased from Meyer Hatchery as Plymouth White Rocks.

 

[MysteryChicken]

They were purchased from Meyer Hatchery as Plymouth White Rocks.

Okay.

Are these in with the Buff Orpingtons? Or are they in their own separate coops? If not then the answer would be it's due to them being crossed.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

White Plymouth Rocks do have the recessive white gene to give them their white plumage. Unlike dominant white, however, recessive white hides everything by making it all white, so you don't have to breed out plumage color genes, they're just hidden underneath the recessive white gene. Barring, for example, pretty frequently hides in White Plymouth Rocks from my understanding. So more than likely one or more of your White Plymouth Rocks is hiding some genes that, in combination with the genes from a Buff Orpington, give you this pattern.

 

[bjw113]

Okay.

Are these in with the Buff Orpingtons? Or are they in their own separate coops? If not then the answer would be it's due to them being crossed.

They are all in a shared coop and free range together. So striping on the wings (and potentially more) are because it is a cross breed with the Buff?

 

[bjw113]

White Plymouth Rocks do have the recessive white gene to give them their white plumage. Unlike dominant white, however, recessive white hides everything by making it all white, so you don't have to breed out plumage color genes, they're just hidden underneath the recessive white gene. Barring, for example, pretty frequently hides in White Plymouth Rocks from my understanding. So more than likely one or more of your White Plymouth Rocks is hiding some genes that, in combination with the genes from a Buff Orpington, give you this pattern.

It will be interesting to see how they turn out. Thought it was odd because I thought with the White rocks that the white WAS the recessive gene and basically only gene, therefore bringing out the white in the chicken. Just found it funny that it now appears that I have some black striping back in the chicks. Don't really care just found it odd.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

No, other plumage genes are still present, just hiding under the recessive white gene. The gene is recessive in that it needs two copies to express, but once it expresses, it covers everything. That's why you never really know what you might get if you cross a recessive white bird to a non-white bird, such as in this case. It'll be interesting to see how these chicks look as they grow!

 

[MysteryChicken]

They are all in a shared coop and free range together. So striping on the wings (and potentially more) are because it is a cross breed with the Buff?

Yes, with the whites most likely being silver based, all, or most chicks will be silver Columbian crossed with the Buff Orpingtons.