White Offspring from Multi-Colored Flock?

[chickenwhisperer123]

I am so confused. I have hatched out chicks every spring from my laying flock for a couple years now, and more are hatching right now. I have so far hatched out 3 white ones...

I have never hatched a white chick before. I only have 2 white hens out of my whole flock and all these eggs were collected the same day (so that means at least one was from a non-white hen.) All my roosters are dark colored, Red Blue or Black.

What could be causing the chicks to be white? Like I said, I have hatched out eggs from these same chickens a few times before, and have never gotten ONE white chick....

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Sounds like recessive white. Your white hens have contributed it to all their offspring, and you now have birds split for recessive white--that means they are carrying a hidden copy. When bred with another bird carrying a hidden copy of recessive white (your rooster) about half of their offspring will inherit the gene from both parents and be pure for the gene, thus displaying it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I know I'm getting picky, but wouldn't only 1/4 display white? 1/4 both dominant, 1/2 dominant/recessive, and 1/4 both recessive. And this is only the ones that have a white recessive. Many would not.

 

[Mahonri]

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no, you are not being picky, you are correct.

 

[Chooksaurus]

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It may be semantics, but those are probabilities for each offspring, not a definite result where 1/4 will display white. You could hatch out 10 birds and it is possible that they would all display white, even though each only had a 1 out of 4 probability. Just like you can hatch out 10 chicks and end up with all cockerels or all pullets.

Another note of interest: in some breeds feather coloring is co-dominant. Any of the donated color genes can show up regardless of which the parents displayed.

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

#4 is out, and I cant tell if it is white or EXTREMELY light buff. (I will update when its dry.)

 

[Whispering Winds]

Just call it God's sense of humor!!

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

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Im not mad about it, but It is REALLY weird!! Out of a flock of 50 or so chickens, with only 2 white hens, I have ended up with 3 white chicks!!

 

[MissPrissy]

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Those types of statistics are based on the law of probability in at least 100 hatches.

Hatch 100 chicks then do the numbers.


I raise blue orps. The statistics say I should only hatch 25 out of 100 splash. I hatch a majority 65% splashes when I hatch.

Genetics is toss of the coin with limited predictability.

I think you just have the right combo of recessive white for it to be dominant in your hatches.

 

[barred-rocks-rock]

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Well there are two possibilities.

Big letters are dominant, small letters are reccesive.

1.
The male has Dd

Th female has Dd

This means they are both heterozygous.
The offspring would be :

DD (dark ), Dd ( Dark) , dd (Light), and Dd dark. 25% light

2. The male ha Dd

The female has dd

The offspring would be Dd (dark), Dd (dark), dd (light) , dd light 50% light.