basic genetics question

[NewFlockOnTheBlock]

I'm a relatively new chicken owner (coming up on one year) and very new to chicken genetics. Here's my question:

When considering the offspring of two specific breeds, does it matter which breed is on the paternal side and which is on the maternal side when determining physical appearance and character traits, or are the two breeds themselves all that really matters, regardless of which is the mom and which is the dad?

I realize I'm not phrasing this very clearly, so here's a real-life example: We have a cockerel whose dad is a Buff Orpington and whose mom is a Silver Cuckoo Marans. Would he look the same and have the same temperament if the dad was a Silver Cuckoo Marans and the mom was a Buff Orpington?

One curious thing we noticed is that our little guy's tail looks more like the tail of a Marans rooster than that of an Orpington rooster. So, I'm wondering if tail shape is one of those features were Marans genes are more dominant, regardless of which parent they're passed down from.

(Side note: I love the the little golden brown Buff Orpington splotches on his chest, wings, and back!)

 

[Amer]

It definitely is important. For example, barring is sexlinked. With his parentage, all the daughters wouldn't be barred and the sons would be like him. The other way around the daughters and sons will both be barred. Physical traits other than color can also be affected by this.

 

[NewFlockOnTheBlock]

Thank you for explaining! Fascinating. So if this cockerel of ours were to produce offspring, his sons would be barred and his daughters would not be regardless of whether the hen he mates with is barred (or carries a barred gene)?

 

[Amer]

Thank you for explaining! Fascinating. So if this cockerel of ours were to produce offspring, his sons would be barred and his daughters would not be regardless of whether the hen he mates with is barred (or carries a barred gene)?

No. Sexlinkage doesn't work the other way around. If crossed with a barred hen B/- (all barred hens are single barred) he (he is single barred by the way B/b) would produce fifty percent double barred males BB, and fifty percent single barred males. Of the female chicks he would produce fifty percent barred B/-, and fifty percent nonbarred b/-


With a nonbarred female he would produce fifty percent single barred B/b males and fifty percent nonbarred b/b males. He would have fifty percent barred B/- and fifty percent nonbarred b/- females.


Also no bird can carry the barring gene. What you see is what you get.

 

[BlackHackle]

One curious thing we noticed is that our little guy's tail looks more like the tail of a Marans rooster than that of an Orpington rooster. So, I'm wondering if tail shape is one of those features were Marans genes are more dominant, regardless of which parent they're passed down from.

From 4+ years of experiments, I found sickle tails to tend to be recessive in comparison to longer tails so that's most likely why he has a Marans looking tail rather than an orp

 

[3riverschick]

Genetics works differently in poultry than in mammals. In mammals the female carries the XX and the male carries the XY genes. In poultry it is reversed. The Male carries two of the same genes and the female carries one of one and one of the other. Add to that all of the sex-linked genes which don't exist in mammals and poultry is a lot harder to breed correctly. This is why some of the earliest purebred dog breeders ( circa 1920) were so successful. they had been noted prize-winning poultry breeders before.
Best,
Karen
Bellwether Collies, retired. ( Roughs and Smoothes)
currently Waterford Light Sussex