2 genetics questions!

[Fourgirlsoneboy]

I have a nice Copper Maran roo and a blue (all the way) hen. Anyone know what I would end up pairing up those 2? Also, I have a pen of bantam cochins- a splash roo over one black, several blues, and one girl appears lavender. We always end up with some (what appears) lavender chicks- does this mean the roo has a recessive gene for that (almost all of the other chicks are blue or splash- we haven't had a black yet)? Thanks all- I'm just beginning to learn about chicken genetics!

 

[Fourgirlsoneboy]

here's our most recent hatch- they are 2-3 weeks old (the babysitters are a standard cochin/sumatra mix)

 

[Goose and Fig]

I'm not sure about the marans- have to check the calculator.

As for the cochins- you're probably getting all blue chicks, maybe some splashes. I don't think a splash could ever be split for lav because splash is basically 2 blue genes, as opposed to a black/ split that has one black and one lav.

I have a splash (LF) cochin roo over blue & black hens, and some various other colors. All my babies are either blue or splash (the splash can only come from my blue hens)

 

[Fourgirlsoneboy]

Quote:
Yes, I thought it was something like that (I'm just totally lost,lol!). I know 2 of those lighter looking ones are splash- so are the the others really light blue?
I thought it was funny a lady bought the two I brought to chickenstock first off (way before it supposedly started

). That started me wondering (I just advertised them as bbs)! Thanks for the info!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Splash and lavender ARE separate genes, which is exactly why a bird can be both. That is like saying a radhead cannot have blue eyes, or a tall person cannot have a small jaw.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

With a splash parent, you cannot get a black chick. The splash parent will always contribute a blue gene, so any chicks will have at least one blue gene. From a black parent they will receive one not-blue gene, from a blue parent they will receive either a blue or a not-blue gene.

 

[KellyHM]

Quote:
Splash and lavender ARE separate genes, which is exactly why a bird can be both. That is like saying a radhead cannot have blue eyes, or a tall person cannot have a small jaw.

Correct!

Also, you will never get a black out of a splash rooster since they will always pass a copy of the dilution gene to their offspring. You can only get blue or splash (or lav if they carry it, which isn't common in splash birds, but is possible).

Edited b/c Sonoran beat me to it.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Splash and lavender ARE separate genes, which is exactly why a bird can be both. That is like saying a radhead cannot have blue eyes, or a tall person cannot have a small jaw.

Let me phrase that differently. It sounds like you do not understand what a gene is and is not, and are mixing up different genes.

A gene is a protein string at a specific place (locus) on a chromosome. At that locus different ALLELES of the gene can occur. No other gene can occur at that locus--ONLY the alleles of that particular gene.

In the case of the blue gene, the alleles are blue (Bl) and not-blue (bl+). Bl dilutes whatever black pigment may be in the bird. bl+ does not dilute black pigment in the bird. Lavender is a different gene at a different locus. Its alleles are not-lavender (Lav+) and lavender (lav). Lav+ does not dilute pigment; lav dilutes all pigment: both black and red.

Notice that blue is a dominant gene (incomplete dominant we will save for another discussion) as indicated by the capital letter Bl, and that lavender is a recessive gene as indicated by the lower case letter lav. The + indicates wild-type--the allele found in the red jungle fowl. One can consider wildtype alleles as the default for each gene.

A dominant allele takes affect even if another allele is present; a recessive allele does not take affect if a more dominant allele is present. Only when there is no more dominant allele will it take affect.

The black gene is an entirely separate gene (and thus locus) from either lavender or blue, and really has no bearing on this particular discussion. People often say "black" when in actuality they mean "not-blue."

 

[Fourgirlsoneboy]

Lol! I am lost again! So is it possible those are lavender? Unfortunately, I don't know the history of my birds parentage, although lavender was a possibility. Thanks for letting me know about not getting any black chicks- that makes total sense!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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It's possible. I have my granddaughter here, and need to pay attention to her. I'll be back on this evening.