Thanks. Her father was an actually black mottle. So if I cross her with the blue she has a chance of having mottled chicks because she is a carrier of the mottling?
Mottling is a funny gene as i learned last breeding season. To show mottles properly a bird requires two copies of the mottling gene. Once you breed mottling into your stock it can stay there for ages, and then suddenly pop up unexpectedly down the road.
Both birds would need to come from mottling stock to display mottling. Because the gene is recessive, you need both parents to be carriers for offspring to have a chance at coming out mottled. So, if there is mottling in the past of your blue, then you may get mottling from that cross, it is hard to say without knowing the history of the birds.
Your female is split for mottling, and so should be bred to another bird split for mottled, or to a mottled bird, to get the best chance of getting mottled offspring.
These two popped in my my breeding, even though none of my birds show mottling, so at least two of my birds are carriers of mottling.
This one from my ckl breeding partridge line. Note the difference between the two pullets
this one from a cross to black, to improve type of partridge.
Last edited: