Chicken Genetics Questions

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I have read some posts where people talk about the leghorns’ white color being dominant or recessive, I would like to understand this concept. Does that mean if the white is dominant then a white leghorn rooster (single comb or rose comb) over any color hen will yield white offspring? I am very interested in what a white leghorn rooster (large fowl or bantam) gives over to his offspring genetically and what they will look like. Can some one please explain this to me? Thank you in advance.

 

[The Moonshiner]

White leghorns are dominate white.
Dominate white only covers black and black dilutes.
One copy covers well but leaves so specks or patches of color showing. Two copies cover it all.
Paint silkies are one copy of dominate white. That's how they get the spots.
Dominate white doesn't effect red/gold so if added to a buff or red bird it doesn't show up. If added to a black tailed red it will leave the red but change black to white so you would get a white tailed red.
It also covers the brown in brown leghorns so with that cross it only leaves the red/gold so turns a brown leghorn into a red pyle looking bird.
Austra whites are one copy over black. You will see the random black specks showing randomly.
Hope that gives you an idea.
Recessive white takes two copies to show but recessive white covers all colors.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Thank you @moonshiner for the detailed response. So if a dominant white leghorn rooster with one copy of the gene was crossed over a speckled/spangled hen what would the offspring look like? Would any black or blue colors become white?

 

[The Moonshiner]

If it was a white leghorn it would have two copies of dominate white and give one copy to all offspring.
For discussion sake if it was a pure white leghorn with one copy the half his offspring would get the gene and half wouldn't.
Idk anything about the spangled birds.
It would depend what genes the leghorn had under the white.
Since dominate white doesn't cover red/gold would want to have that all off a bird so white leghorns can be different things underneath.
Using extended black (solid black bird) works. Adding barring and silver can add more white to a black bird so that can be done.
Its said they can or do carry other genes to make it less color for the dominate white to cover.
Just my experience most are extended black in one form or another which is really dominate to about everything so he would pass that to his offspring covering about any pattern /color they have and produce a lot of black chicks.
With one dominate white gene half would most likely be black and half would be white with specks of black showing randomly.
Recessives like mottled would all be lost.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

If it was a white leghorn it would have two copies of dominate white and give one copy to all offspring.
For discussion sake if it was a pure white leghorn with one copy the half his offspring would get the gene and half wouldn't.
Idk anything about the spangled birds.
It would depend what genes the leghorn had under the white.
Since dominate white doesn't cover red/gold would want to have that all off a bird so white leghorns can be different things underneath.
Using extended black (solid black bird) works. Adding barring and silver can add more white to a black bird so that can be done.
Its said they can or do carry other genes to make it less color for the dominate white to cover.
Just my experience most are extended black in one form or another which is really dominate to about everything so he would pass that to his offspring covering about any pattern /color they have and produce a lot of black chicks.
With one dominate white gene half would most likely be black and half would be white with specks of black showing randomly.
Recessives like mottled would all be lost.

Ok thank you for your response. I am going to start making my own breed of bantam (one that breeds true) and I wanted to use a white leghorn rooster to increase egg production in the hens, but it looks like I’d get mostly white chicks which I don’t want because I want speckled or spangled birds. Maybe I could use a splash Andalusian rooster over the hens to up egg production? But I really want these bantams to have rosecombs which was why I was going to use a leghorn rooster with a rosecomb.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Use a rose comb brown leghorn.
I'm not sure what you're trying to get when you say speckled/ spangled. Like speckled Sussex? Mille fleur pattern?
Some of those are on Wheaton. Brown leghorns are wild type which is dominate to Wheaton.
You can put mottling on wild type. Like a black breasted red pattern with mottling added.
Or cross the brown leghorn and offspring would have one wild type and one Wheaton. With the next generation you should get a few with two Wheaton genes. You should be able to see the difference at hatch.
You'll then have pure Wheaton that will produce pure Wheaton.
Reccesives like mottled works the same. First cross will not show it but carry it. Second generation some will get two genes for it and it will show and breed true.
So look to hatch a ton and keep the lucky few that get two Wheaton genes and two genes for mottling.
There would be other genes you have to breed for and select for. Columbian, you buff or red color. The rose comb. Etc.
The recessives are easy. Breed to one without the gene and first generation carries it or is split for it. Cross the offspring or back to parent and some chicks will get two copies. When they have two copies it shows and you know they are pure for it.
Rose comb is dominate so when crosses to single comb they get one gene for each but it shows a a rose comb.
Seems cool cause you get it with first cross but you're dragging a long a recessive single comb and it will travel sight unseen for generations. You have to get rid of it to ever breed true for the dominate rose comb.
That takes test breeding. If you want to know if a rose comb carries the single you breed it to a single comb bird. If it is pure for rose comb all chicks will be rose comb. If it carries the recessive single you will hatch both rose and single combs. All those chicks are throw aways and a generation of breeding just to find out if your originals are correct or not.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Thank you. I have been writing out how long it would take to get the rosecomb established and it seems that after about 6 generations I’ll get birds with rose combs that breed true. As for the speckled/spangled colors is it dominant or recessive? So if I bred a brown leghorn rooster with a rose comb to say a Speckled Sussex would the offspring be speckled? Or would I have to breed them to each other or back to their parents to achieve the colors I wanted?
This isn’t my photo, someone posted this picture on the Gamefowl thread. Are they speckled or spangled? I’d love to use a hen like the one below for my project bantam breed.

 

[The Moonshiner]

With the rose comb. Cross rose with single. First cross will produce all rose combs that carry single comb gene. Breed those back to rose comb parent and you'll get half pure rose and half rose carrying single.
The first cross chicks bred together will produce 1/4 pure rose, 1/4 pure single and 1/2 rose carrying single.
Pay close attention to the originals rose comb and the first crosses. Sometimes when you seen enough you can kinda pick out if they're pure or splits.
Anyways after second cross you will have some that are done. Pure for rose and breed true for it.
Trick is figuring out which are pure and which are split. To be sure you have to test breed. If you just keep breeding rose to rose you will get less singles each generation but just because they're not showing up doesn't mean the genes aren't still there. If you keep breeding the crosses with pure rose the rose is dominate so the single will never show up but can always be there. Years later you'll end up crosses your project birds and then when the ones carrying the single gene bred a few chicks will get the gene from each parent and then you have singles back that you don't want.
So you can get the pure rose at 3rd generation or never depending how or if you go about getting rid of the recessive single.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Your chicks wouldn't be speckled with the first cross. Mottling is recessive so it needs two copies. First cross will give chicks one copy. Second cross will give you some that are mottled and some that aren't.
The pattern you're talking about has different names depending on breed sometimes and can be made in different ways with slight differences. It is kinda a complexed pattern.
I'm working with Wheaton but had Wheaton/ partridge/ wild type mixed in the beganing. It can be buff or red. You need to figure out exactly what you want to figure out what to breed towards.
Find a bird that you like that is a breed so you can look into all the genes it has going on.
I'm working with a mille fluer pattern. Its wheaton, columbian, mottled and I'm trying to split it to two patterns. One buff like the MF and one red like a speckled Sussex.
Buff has different things going on that no one really understands completely. Red is pretty much the same story.
Your project will be challenging because you have several genes that you need to get two copies of all on the same bird.
You'll be breeding to get two of thesw, two of those, two of that, two of this that and the other. When trying to get that many of the right genes on one bird will take a ton of hatching and luck.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Getting the rose comb by the 3rd generation is great. I said 6 generations because after I get the rose comb and hopefully the color right in the 3rd generation I will breed the F3s to another single comb bantam for temperament and then it’ll take me another 3 generations to get all dominant rose comb (RR) chickens.
So just to reiterate: 1.Brown rose comb Leghorn rooster over spangled hen=F1. 2.Breed F1 rose comb chicks when mature to brown rose comb leghorns=F2.
3.Breed F2 rose comb chicks when mature to each other=F3.
4.Then breed F3 to single comb bantam and repeat steps 1-3 for hopefully some good chicks to make up the parent stock.
Thank you for all the information. I have to speak to my close family friend who has 5 acres to see if she’d be willing to let me house my breeding project on her property as my town doesn’t allow cockerels or roosters.