Barring gene question

[pbjmaker]

I have a frizzle cochin pullet who has very faint barring and the only smooth roo I hatched also has faint barring - down the road if I breed these two will the barring become stronger? The mama hens were not barred and the papa roo only had faint barring.

They are still very young (about 6 weeks) so I wasn't sure if the pattern will get stronger as they molt.

What happens if I breed her to a splash?

 

[Kev]

Yes- barring also has a dose effect, which means there is a visible difference between an animal with one or two of said gene.

However, it is also a sex linked gene which means in birds, the females can only ever have one copy of the gene. So in your line the females will always have faint barring, unless you bring in other genes that have the effect of improving the barring. The roosters with two copies will be more strongly barred, but how good the barring will be is the question.

Barring is influenced by a lot of various genes. Rate of feather growth(basically the difference between barred & cuckoo is a slow feathering and fast feathering bird, respectively), color background etc.

Breeding splash to a barred female gives blue barred sons and blue girls. That's called a sex linked mating..