Cochins and colors

[Krys109uk]

So if producing white birds and two individuals with only one copy of recessive white each are mated, will the offspring be 25% some color? If this is true couldn't over time one's breeding stock be culled to have only birds with two copies of recessive white?

That would work....& once you got the recessive white plumage it's easy to keep if bred to other recessive white birds. From blacks etc there can sometimes be leg colour issues.

Here is the result of a barred cochin cock over a white cochin hen

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That's an interesting bird. I wonder what exactly caused that?
That's far more leakage than I've ever seen from het dominant white. Recessive & het dominant white wyandotte hens crossed with plymouth barred rock male gave about 50% barred non white & 50% white with noticeable shadow barring.
Presumably the bird is silver too. I wonder what is causing the zoning of the barring.​

 

[Eduardo]

Is this like the genetics they taught us in school? like there's only too letters one inherited from the mother and one the father? Like Cc, CC, cc? Maybe color is way more complicated than that. I'm just trying to grasp the basics of it.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Yes, one inherited from each parent. Most genes are abbreviated with one or two letters. Uppercase first letter indicates a dominant allele, lower case indicates recessive. With multiple alleles a superscript is used to add additional lettering. When teh text doesn't allow superscripting, the carot symbol (^) is used. Examples are E^R, I^s

 

[warmfuzzies]

I have a chick from a buff mom, and a black dad.

He came out yellow with chipmunk markings, now he has black and yellow striped feathers, but his leg feathering is coming in almost completely black.... what a strange looking little bird he is!!

It is fun, if you dont care if you get mutts.

 

[Krys109uk]

I have a chick from a buff mom, and a black dad.

He came out yellow with chipmunk markings, now he has black and yellow striped feathers, but his leg feathering is coming in almost completely black.... what a strange looking little bird he is!!

Interesting that he hatched yellow. Sounds like the father wasn't pure extended black.....or are black cochins eb?.​

 

[warmfuzzies]

Ummm whats eb? And, they are all hatchery birds, so who knows.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

e^b is one of the E-gene alleles (allele is essentially the same as alternative)

Black can be made from any allele according to much of what I've read--depending on the allele more melanizing genes are needed for some alleles than others.

The E gene (named Extended Black) is the primary base for a breed. To a certain extent it determines the patterns that a bird can display or not. I have no idea which allele is most common in cochins. It is possible to breed a different E-allele into a breed--not sure of what all that impacts, but I've inferred that type is affected--don't quote me on that--it's more of a question than a statement.

 

[warmfuzzies]

Wow. That is alot to chew on in one paragraph! Thanks for that info. I see there is very much more to know about genes then I though!!