Color genetics thread.

[Violetsfeathers]

If I bred a blue rooster with a lavender/self blue hen the chicks would be black and... what color?

 

[ShadesofSable]

If I bred a blue rooster with a lavender/self blue hen the chicks would be black and... what color?

Unless your chickens have some hidden genes, you'd get half blue chicks and half black chicks, all split(recessive) for lavender.
Blue and lavender are two different genes, although they do look very similar!

 

[Violetsfeathers]

Unless your chickens have some hidden genes, you'd get half blue chicks and half black chicks, all split(recessive) for lavender.
Blue and lavender are two different genes, although they do look very similar!

The blue rooster has some gold leakage

 

[ShadesofSable]

The blue rooster has some gold leakage

That may not mean much, but it's possible he only has one black gene. Black covers everything usually, and one blue gene dilutes black to blue.

So if he only has one black gene the only way to tell what else he had is to breed him, and then preferably breed him back to his daughters to reveal the genes.

Depending on your lavender though, you might still only get black or blue offspring because if she has two black genes (which are then diluted by the recessive lavender genes) then all her offspring will still carry at least one black gene, which will make them all black. Though, because the father is a blue and blue is a Co-dominant gene then half of his offspring will still inherit the blue dilution gene, making the chicks that inherited it also blue colored.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Hey guys I'm really wanting to start a breeding project with my silkies but have no clue where to start. I want to work on breeding a better calico that resembles the mille de fleur. I've been thinking about using the paint silkie but trying to figure out what I would need to get the orange and red to show through. I'm still learning about the genetics so have a long ways to go. Hoping someone here can give me a few pointers in the right direction. Thanks.

 

[Wappoke]

Hey guys I'm really wanting to start a breeding project with my silkies but have no clue where to start. I want to work on breeding a better calico that resembles the mille de fleur. I've been thinking about using the paint silkie but trying to figure out what I would need to get the orange and red to show through. I'm still learning about the genetics so have a long ways to go. Hoping someone here can give me a few pointers in the right direction. Thanks.

Paints carry genes for making a black bird plus a dominant white gene that is epistatic to the black (covers the black with white). You do not want to use a paint to produce a calico/ mille fleur. Paints will produce paints/whites and basic blacks when crossed with other varieties of chickens. It is possible that breeding with paints will produce white/red/ black offspring. An individual bird could have all three colors in the plumage.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Paints carry genes for making a black bird plus a dominant white gene that is epistatic to the black (covers the black with white). You do not want to use a paint to produce a calico/ mille fleur. Paints will produce paints/whites and basic blacks when crossed with other varieties of chickens. It is possible that breeding with paints will produce white/red/ black offspring. An individual bird could have all three colors in the plumage. 

I was reading up and saw that a others working on the calico were using the splash color. When I was reading about the paint genetics it was saying the spots pop up do to genetic holes in the coloring. I was wondering if their would be a way to get other leakage through where the holes are? It wouldn't be completely like a mille de fleur but would be hoping more spotty then the other examples. I'm not sure though.

 

[Wappoke]

I was reading up and saw that a others working on the calico were using the splash color. When I was reading about the paint genetics it was saying the spots pop up do to genetic holes in the coloring. I was wondering if their would be a way to get other leakage through where the holes are? It wouldn't be completely like a mille de fleur but would be hoping more spotty then the other examples. I'm not sure though.

The reason some areas are black and others white is due to the incomplete dominance of the dominant white gene, The expression of black can occur any where on the bird with respect to the dominant white gene. The white plumage in a dominant white bird is due to bad packaging of pigments by the cells. The cells that add color to a feather do not recognize the packages so the cells destroy the packages of black pigment. The previous explanation is a simplified explanation of a complex process. Some times the pigments are packaged normally so the black feathers are found on the chicken.

If you want red leaking through splash- you would have to breed out some of the genes that produce a black chicken, Other gene interactions do not work the same way as dominant white and the genes that make a black chicken. Red pigment will bleed through in a different way than black pigment through the white.

Mille fleur is a secondary color pattern produced by mottling on a columbian restricted bird ( black tailed red ), So mille fleur is mottling on a black tailed red phenotype. If a mille fleur bird carries dominant white there would not be any black chevrons on the feathers- you would have white in the tail and wing feathers with larger mottling spots. A similar effect could be accomplished on splash.

In order to produce a mille fleur the mottling gene would have to be introduced to the offspring. You may have to outcross to get the mottling gene from another breed. A breed that is already mille fleur. Outcrossing can be a pain and may require some time and hatching quite a few chicks.

 

[Chicken5555]

This is the mom and one of her chicks. Is the chick's father my wheaten Ameraucana? My White leghorn can't be the dad, can he? Because splash is actually black with two genes for blue and black is dominant to wheaten.... but white leghorns are dominant white, so one gene of dominant white would cover up most of the black (or in this case blue) that the chick would inherit from the mom, therefore making it yellow. But why is this chick rusty red with blue coloring under the red?




Either one of these two is the mother of the next two chicks. They lay the same color egg, so without seeing the egg come out, I don't know which is the mother. That said, is there a way to know if these 2 chicks are the offspring of a wheaten Ameraucana or a white Leghorn? The chicks both have dark primary wing feathers if that tells you anything genetically.





Thank you all for your thoughts!

 

[jenniferlamar70]

The reason some areas are black and others white is due to the incomplete dominance of the dominant white gene, The expression of black can occur any where on the bird with respect to the dominant white gene. The white plumage in a dominant white bird is due to bad packaging of pigments by the cells. The cells that add color to a feather do not recognize the packages so the cells destroy the packages of black pigment. The previous explanation is a simplified explanation of a complex process. Some times the pigments are packaged normally so the black feathers are found on the chicken. 

If you want red leaking through splash- you would have to breed out some of the genes that produce a black chicken, Other gene interactions do not work the same way as dominant white and the genes that make a black chicken. Red pigment will bleed through in a different way than black pigment through the white. 

Mille fleur is a secondary color pattern produced by mottling on a columbian restricted bird ( black tailed red ), So mille fleur is mottling on a black tailed red phenotype. If a mille fleur bird carries dominant white there would not be any black chevrons on the feathers- you would have white in the tail and wing feathers with larger mottling spots. A similar effect could be accomplished on splash. 

In order to produce a mille fleur the mottling gene would have to be introduced to the offspring. You may have to outcross to get the mottling gene from another breed. A breed that is already mille fleur. Outcrossing can be a pain and may require some time and hatching quite a few chicks.

Thank you so much for explaining this to me. I have some mille de fleur cochins. Do you think it could be introduced by crossing those and if so what color would I want to cross with in my silkies. Does the sex of the bird matter? I'm learning so much here. I've been reading up and studying but it's nice to have someone to explain it. Also are there any good books you could recommend? I'm a book worm and having a study guide would help me so much..