Color genetics thread.

[ShadesofSable]

I just hatch some of my home grown chicks out, and one looks like its developing barring. The mother is a ccl/wellsummer cross that looks exactly like the ccl parent. I didn't think of her as barred, but cream crested Legbar are actually aren't they?

So if I'm correct and she actually is a barred bird, that would make this chick male since all the roosters in the pen are solid colored, correct?

 

[junebuggena]

I just hatch some of my home grown chicks out, and one looks like its developing barring. The mother is a ccl/wellsummer cross that looks exactly like the ccl parent. I didn't think of her as barred, but cream crested Legbar are actually aren't they?

So if I'm correct and she actually is a barred bird, that would make this chick male since all the roosters in the pen are solid colored, correct?

Pictures? A lot of time people confuse juvenile partridge markings for barring.

 

[ShadesofSable]

Pictures? A lot of time people confuse juvenile partridge markings for barring.

I don't have a good picture right now, but it's a black colored chick (two of our roosters are solid black, so most of the chicks are black) with silver on the edges of the feathers. It's only a few weeks old, so it's not fully developed yet, but I remember my cuckoo Marans looking like this when I got her as what I thought was a wyandotte.

Here's the only picture I have. I've cropped it down severely so only the chick in question is featured. I'll take a few better pictures in the morning.

 

[ShadesofSable]

Pictures? A lot of time people confuse juvenile partridge markings for barring.

What do you think, is this chick barred?

 

[Wappoke]

I just hatch some of my home grown chicks out, and one looks like its developing barring. The mother is a ccl/wellsummer cross that looks exactly like the ccl parent. I didn't think of her as barred, but cream crested Legbar are actually aren't they?

So if I'm correct and she actually is a barred bird, that would make this chick male since all the roosters in the pen are solid colored, correct?

Yes legbars carry the barring gene. It is the barring gene that makes the legbar autosexing. The male legbar carries two barring genes while the female legbar carries one barring gene. The effects of the barring gene on down color is dose dependent. A male bird that is wild type at the E locus and carries two barring genes has a lighter down color than a female of the same genotype that carries one barring gene. This allows for the autosexing characteristic.

In your case, the legbar/welsummer hybrid inherited a barring gene from her father which she will pass on to her sons. The black dot on the chicks head is an indicator the chick carries a barring gene.

yes the chicks is barred.

 

[ShadesofSable]

Yes legbars carry the barring gene. It is the barring gene that makes the legbar autosexing. The male legbar carries two barring genes while the female legbar carries one barring gene. The effects of the barring gene on down color is dose dependent. A male bird that is wild type at the E locus and carries two barring genes has a lighter down color than a female of the same genotype that carries one barring gene. This allows for the autosexing characteristic.

In your case, the legbar/welsummer hybrid inherited a barring gene from her father which she will pass on to her sons. The black dot on the chicks head is an indicator the chick carries a barring gene.

yes the chicks is barred.

Thank you for that very thorough answer! Awesome to know that this hen will produce sexlinked chicks, since none of my roosters are barred. It'll make keeping the right chicks to grow out a lot easier.

 

[Chicken5555]

Question.... if the rooster has one copy each of the genes for blue and white eggs, and the hen is a pure Marans, could some of the offspring lay eggs like this? Thanks.

 

[Wappoke]

Question.... if the rooster has one copy each of the genes for blue and white eggs, and the hen is a pure Marans, could some of the offspring lay eggs like this? Thanks.

Egg color does not follow simple Mendelian genetics. But to keep things as simple as possible the answer is yes. If only two egg shell color loci are taken into consideration, some offspring can produce brown shelled eggs and others produce green shelled eggs.

It is possible for the cross to produce some hens that lay blue egg shells also, if the brown egg shell breed is a carrier of the recessive brown egg shell inhibitor gene and the blue egg shell breed is homozygous or a carrier of the recessive brown shell inhibitor gene.

 

[Chicken5555]

Egg color does not follow simple Mendelian genetics. But to keep things as simple as possible the answer is yes. If only two egg shell color loci are taken into consideration, some offspring can produce brown shelled eggs and others produce green shelled eggs.

It is possible for the cross to produce some hens that lay blue egg shells also, if the brown egg shell breed is a carrier of the recessive brown egg shell inhibitor gene and the blue egg shell breed is homozygous or a carrier of the recessive brown shell inhibitor gene.

Thank you for answering. I really appreciate it.

 

[Violetsfeathers]

This spring I bred my mottled Cochin bantam hen (from my pet chicken) to my buff brahma bantam roo (from Murray McMurray). They both have orange eyes but both of their children have green eyes.
Why?