Another color question...

[SunAngel]

Would anyone happen to know what color chicks would hatch out from mating a Mottled Cochin roo w/ a White Cochin hen?

Or w/ a Red Frizzle Cochin hen?

And If he was crossed with a Blue Cochin hen would I get any Blue Mottled babies?

I have a gorgeous little Mottled cockerel...with awesome foot feathering already at 5 weeks and I am wondering if I should keep him or not. I really don't need another roo, but he is sooo pretty!

 

[TurtleFeathers]

Quote:
Ok, I'll take a stab at this...

Mottled x white = no telling, because white covers (or turns off) colors and patterns, so unless you have background info, you just don't know what she could be carrying. Offspring would be split for mottled tho.

Mottled x red = all offspring would be visually black but split to mottled. Not sure, but I *think*, frizzling would be either 100% or 50%, depending on how many frizzle gene's the red hen has?

Mottled x blue = visual blacks and blues, all split to mottled

BUT... you could breed any of the mottled's offspring together - or breed his daughters back to him - and get a percentage of mottled offspring in the F2 generation.

Ok, give it to me straight - how did I do????

 

[SunAngel]

So it takes 2 mottling genes to get mottled babies? None of the offspring would be mottled then, just split. I really don't want or need any more black chicks.

Do Mille Fleur d'Uccles carry the mottled gene?

 

[TurtleFeathers]

Yes, and yes. At least, that's my understanding - I'm pretty good at parrot genetics, but chicken genetics has thrown me for a loop, so someone else may have to chime in here...

 

[catwalk]

Mottling is recessive, so you do need two copies of it to show up as mottled. The chickens you breed him to may have one mottled gene without you knowing it, and some chicks would come up mottled. Or like turtle feathers said, breed him back to his daughters and half of those chicks should be mottled.

As far as white goes: breeding white to another color is like being on a game show and saying, "I'll take door number three, Bob!" You may be pleasantly suprised, but you'll likely always be suprised. Now, if the hen has two copies of the dominant white gene, all the chicks should be white.

I understand that mille fleur is a combination of mottled and columbian, with melanizers, restrictors, and all sorts of genetic craziness. Really nice mottled birds are commonly used to improve type on milles.