Kev, since my first post I found an article that explains that there IS a recessive white that is leaky is just the way my pullet is. There is also a cockerel from that breeding that has very light apricot across his shoulders that I also believe is a "leaky" recessive. Interesting stuff! The breeder that developed the Red Pyles in my incubator used pullets like mine to start her project, and she says she crosses her Pyles with recessive whites to get the ticking out of the white on her cocks, so apparently it is helpful? The whole thing makes me very curious.Recessive white sometimes can be leaky. I've had the occasional onewith brown on face and upper front neck.. not sure how much it would extend as they are naked necks, lol... btw mine are on black and eb (patridge/dark brown).
Those are not red pyles though, as it is specifically dominant white on wild type.
Not sure if it;s possible but that is an interesting thought, breeding for birds with pyle looks using recessive white instead of dominant white. Nobody has done that as far as I know.
btw for the first time in my experience there's a recessive white hen(both of her parents were solid black) with random black markings on random feathers. If I had not bred her, would have assumed her to be a leaky dominant white.. the black markings are not stable, they change pattern and show on different feathers between molt. I don't know what to make of that as I have not heard or seen of other examples like this.
Now back to your birds- the results are very clear in crosses between a white and a colored bird without dominant white. If a white crossed with say a black, produces blacks it is a recessive white. If they produce whites it is dominant white(need to keep in mind the possibility the cross bird is a recessive white carrier...)
If that pullet was from parents without white, she is recessive white and she simply happens to be one of the few RW that leak color.
Dominant white and recessive white are not alleles, which means they are different genes on different chromosome locations, so there is nothing to stop a bird from being both dominant white and recessive white. In fact it's not so rare to find recessive white in dominant white lines as it helps crispen the white coloring...
Recessive white can pop up from colored birds, dominant white never can do this. Sometimes people get surprised by crossing say a red sex link with a black chicken and get mostly white chicks.. that is not a surprise pop up as the rsl shows dominant white on their tails and necks..
There's an exception though.. some solid buff chickens have dominant white. It's used to cover up any little black flecks the bird might have- white is less visible than black flecks. A perfectly solid buff chicken is one of the hardest things to accomplish as the genetics are so complicated. It can also soften the buff coloring some.
I know that with OEGB Red Pyles that they will often keep two lines, one for breeding properly colored males and one for breeding properly colored females, because you need different parents to get the "right" results.
One more week until hatch day for my Red Pyles.