BBS genetics?... huh?

[Kiley_Mahan]

Okay so I just hatched 7 English Orpington chicks.. their father the Roo is a Splash, while one of the mother hens is a Blue and the other is a Black.

I posted them up for grabs on one of my Facebook groups and this woman asked for a Blue and a Splash. I answered her: I’m sorry but they’re mixed.. they could be Splash/Blue or Splash/Black.

I had actually purchased hens from this woman before so we have been acquainted so she attempted to explain to me what BBS is for English Orpington's.. I’ll attach the diagram she send me.

Now, it’s important to know I do understand punnet squares.. what I don’t understand is how I can breed my Splash Roo with my Black hen and get 100% chance of them producing BLUE chicks.. I just don’t get it.

Anyway, 3 of my chicks were hatched black, 2 hatched a grey/blue, one hatched all white, and the 7th and final one hatched white with a black spot on it.. please help, I’m confused

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Knowing punnett squares is great, so think of it like this maybe; the Blue Gene is DILUTING Black to become that grey color. If you DILUTE Blue, it makes it "white" or splash?

----

A Black bird, doesn't have any blue genes in it [b/b]

Blue is when you have ONE of the blue genes [B/b]

and Splash is when you have TWO of the blue gene [B/B] and having two of the blue genes causes that really cool white/speckled/"splashed" look! <3

----

So Black x Splash [bb x BB] makes 100% blue babies because the splash passes on ONE blue gene to all of it's babies, while the black parent passes on no blue genes (cause it doesn't have any) leaving you with 100% [Bb] blues!

Black x Black, theres no blue gene in here at all, 100% black babies [bb x bb = 100% bb]

Splash x Splash [bb x bb] gives you 100% Splash chicks, both parents pass on one of the genes, so the chicks end up with two genes [BB x BB = 100% BB]

A Blue bird however technically has two genes (hetero) It has one gene for no blue and one gene for blue so when you breed two of them together [Bb x Bb] theres more possibilities! [Bb x Bb = 25% BB, 50% Bb and 25% bb]

----

I'm generally not the best at explaining this sometimes, maybe some of this will help? I can however tell you what possibilities you have amongst your chicks, which by the way do you have photos of them? : O I love babies <3

Splash Rooster x Black Hen = 100% Blue Chicks
Splash Rooster x Blue Hen = 50% Blue, 50% Splash Chicks

 

[FuzzyCritters]

The blue color is caused by having only one copy of the blue gene. Black is caused by no copies of the blue gene and splash is caused by two copies of blue gene.

The blue gene is dominant, so it is represented by a capital B.

The possible combinations are:

bb: Black

Bb: Blue

BB: Splash

When you breed two blues, each parent will pass either a blue gene or a black gene. You can see the odds with the punnet squares (pay attention to the gene symbol instead of the picture--maybe that will help make it more clear why you can get blue, black and splash).

In the case of black and splash, lets assume the rooster is splash and hen is black. The rooster will pass a blue gene to all of his offspring. The hen will pass a black gene to all of her offspring. This makes the chicks all blue, because they only have one copy of the blue gene.

Does this make any more sense? Feel free to ask any more questions!

 

[FuzzyCritters]

Knowing punnett squares is great, so think of it like this maybe; the Blue Gene is DILUTING Black to become that grey color. If you DILUTE Blue, it makes it "white" or splash?

----

A Black bird, doesn't have any blue genes in it [B/B]

Blue is when you have ONE of the blue genes [B/b]

and Splash is when you have TWO of the blue gene [b/b] and having two of the blue genes causes that really cool white/speckled/"splashed" look! <3

----

So Black x Splash [BB x bb] makes 100% blue babies because the splash passes on ONE blue gene to all of it's babies, while the black parent passes on no blue genes (cause it doesn't have any) leaving you with 100% [Bb] blues!

Black x Black, theres no blue gene in here at all, 100% black babies [BB x BB = 100% BB]

Splash x Splash [bb x bb] gives you 100% Splash chicks, both parents pass on one of the genes, so the chicks end up with two genes [bb x bb = 100% bb]

A Blue bird however technically has two genes (hetero) It has one gene for no blue and one gene for blue so when you breed two of them together [Bb x Bb] theres more possibilities! [Bb x Bb = 25% BB, 50% Bb and 25% bb]

----

I'm generally not the best at explaining this sometimes, maybe some of this will help? I can however tell you what possibilities you have amongst your chicks, which by the way do you have photos of them? : O I love babies <3

Splash Rooster x Black Hen = 100% Blue Chicks
Splash Rooster x Blue Hen = 50% Blue, 50% Splash Chicks

You have the gene symbols swapped. Dominant and incompletely dominant genes are represented by a capital letter, so splash is BB and black, being recessive, is bb.

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

You have the gene symbols swapped. Dominant and incompletely dominant genes are represented by a capital letter, so splash is BB and black, being recessive, is bb.

I totally blanked as I was writing that, sorry xD I'll go change that

 

[Kiley_Mahan]

The blue color is caused by having only one copy of the blue gene. Black is caused by no copies of the blue gene and splash is caused by two copies of blue gene.

The blue gene is dominant, so it is represented by a capital B.

The possible combinations are:

bb: Black

Bb: Blue

BB: Splash

When you breed two blues, each parent will pass either a blue gene or a black gene. You can see the odds with the punnet squares (pay attention to the gene symbol instead of the picture--maybe that will help make it more clear why you can get blue, black and splash).

In the case of black and splash, lets assume the rooster is splash and hen is black. The rooster will pass a blue gene to all of his offspring. The hen will pass a black gene to all of her offspring. This makes the chicks all blue, because they only have one copy of the blue gene.

Does this make any more sense? Feel free to ask any more questions!

Yeah that actually helps a lot knowing which genes are dominant and recessive.. that’s so cool!

 

[Kiley_Mahan]

Knowing punnett squares is great, so think of it like this maybe; the Blue Gene is DILUTING Black to become that grey color. If you DILUTE Blue, it makes it "white" or splash?

----

A Black bird, doesn't have any blue genes in it [b/b]

Blue is when you have ONE of the blue genes [B/b]

and Splash is when you have TWO of the blue gene [B/B] and having two of the blue genes causes that really cool white/speckled/"splashed" look! <3

----

So Black x Splash [bb x BB] makes 100% blue babies because the splash passes on ONE blue gene to all of it's babies, while the black parent passes on no blue genes (cause it doesn't have any) leaving you with 100% [Bb] blues!

Black x Black, theres no blue gene in here at all, 100% black babies [bb x bb = 100% bb]

Splash x Splash [bb x bb] gives you 100% Splash chicks, both parents pass on one of the genes, so the chicks end up with two genes [BB x BB = 100% BB]

A Blue bird however technically has two genes (hetero) It has one gene for no blue and one gene for blue so when you breed two of them together [Bb x Bb] theres more possibilities! [Bb x Bb = 25% BB, 50% Bb and 25% bb]

----

I'm generally not the best at explaining this sometimes, maybe some of this will help? I can however tell you what possibilities you have amongst your chicks, which by the way do you have photos of them? : O I love babies <3

Splash Rooster x Black Hen = 100% Blue Chicks
Splash Rooster x Blue Hen = 50% Blue, 50% Splash Chicks

Thank you! Makes total sense.. I’ll add their pics, there are 7 of the little things . This was my first time hatching and I was sooo nervous but I got a 7/7 hatch rate and they are all healthy and doing well, turning a week old tomorrow

 

[Kiley_Mahan]

The blue color is caused by having only one copy of the blue gene. Black is caused by no copies of the blue gene and splash is caused by two copies of blue gene.

The blue gene is dominant, so it is represented by a capital B.

The possible combinations are:

bb: Black

Bb: Blue

BB: Splash

When you breed two blues, each parent will pass either a blue gene or a black gene. You can see the odds with the punnet squares (pay attention to the gene symbol instead of the picture--maybe that will help make it more clear why you can get blue, black and splash).

In the case of black and splash, lets assume the rooster is splash and hen is black. The rooster will pass a blue gene to all of his offspring. The hen will pass a black gene to all of her offspring. This makes the chicks all blue, because they only have one copy of the blue gene.

Does this make any more sense? Feel free to ask any more questions!

One more thing.. would you mind taking a look at the pics I posted below and taking a guess on which ones are blue and which are splash?

 

[FuzzyCritters]

One more thing.. would you mind taking a look at the pics I posted below and taking a guess on which ones are blue and which are splash?

Sure! The first three are splash, the next one is blue, the next two are black, and the last is blue.

 

[Sally PB]

Thank you very much for this thread! Very helpful.

And cute chick pictures too.