What's The Story With White Bobs?

[millebantam]

Does anyone out there know the background of the White Bobwhite? Was it a naturally occuring color mutation that was found to breed true? About a year ago I bought some white bob eggs from Ebay, and had only 3 hatch out of 2 dozen. Incubation error was not the cause of a poor hatch since I have hatched thousands of various birds in my cabinet bator. Most of the ones that didn't hatch were infertile duds. Of the 3 that hatched, 2 of them were pure white, but the third was a normal feathered bob, but seemed to be lighter in color than a normal colored bird.

The 2 whites matured and ended up being males and the semi-normal colored one died a couple of days after hatching. I ended up buying a few northern bob hens locally, and have had all of them penned up together since last fall. The hens did lay a few eggs at the end of the season last year and I hatched a couple of them. I ended up with mostly normal colored birds and a couple of those really light colored ones, but no white ones.

I guess my question is, is it possible to get white offspring from a white cock and normal colored hen pairing? I know that both parents must possess the "white" gene for white offspring to occur, but I'm wondering if all bobs carry the gene somewhere. I guess knowing the origin of the white bobwhite would answer my questions.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[deerman]

I got my first white bobs back in the late 60s , yes a mutation , but been around for a long time, so guess they maybe some normal colors carring the white gene, but most are not. You are right the hens will need to carry the white gene to get white chicks. The light color could be a silver or blonde, so people have been know mixed them.

pic would be nice

 

[millebantam]

Thanks deerman, for confirming my suspicions. So I guess my search is officially on for either some shipped hens, or go the hatching eggs routine all over again.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
are they whites or mex snowflakes I have a breeder local to me who had snowflakes and he is experienced at shipping

 

[deerman]

Quote:
are they whites or mex snowflakes I have a breeder local to me who had snowflakes and he is experienced at shipping

Snowflakes are a new mutation , only been around for few years, white are all white , some have black on the beak.

Not the same, snowflakes are white with black specks.