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Thank you for this valuable information. I am not entirely sure what the difference is between homozygous and heterozygous... but okay!
I think I will be pairing up the roo with some of the nicely patterned Barred Rocks!! I would love to have blue hens!!
You're welcome. The difference is that homozygous means a bird has two copies and is pure for a certain gene and heterozygous means the bird only has one copy. Dominant white is a Dominant gene and in its homozygous state ( has two copies) should be completely solid white in areas that would normally be black if the white wasnt there. Like for instance if you look at White Leghorns, they are solid white from the Dominant white completely masking all the black. But in a heterozygous state with one copy, it will allow a little bit of black spotting to come through. Like in California Whites becuase they are a cross of White Leghorns and California Greys. And it being a Dominant gene, it can be expressed with even one copy so if a your hens are homo for dom white ( two copies) and they are bred to your roo who dosent carry dom white so he has 0 copies, then their chicks would have all have 1 copy and being a dominant gene, the white would still be expressed. If the hens only have one copy though and bred to a roo with 0 copies, then half will get one copy and show the white, and the other half will get 0 copies and not show the white.
But with your roo, you are also bringing in another dilution gene of black, Andalusian Blue, this gene is incompletely dominant and so 0 copies is black, 1 copy is blue, and two copies is splash. Do you know how the blue breeding works from there or would you like that to be explained too ?
Thank you for this valuable information. I am not entirely sure what the difference is between homozygous and heterozygous... but okay!
You're welcome. The difference is that homozygous means a bird has two copies and is pure for a certain gene and heterozygous means the bird only has one copy. Dominant white is a Dominant gene and in its homozygous state ( has two copies) should be completely solid white in areas that would normally be black if the white wasnt there. Like for instance if you look at White Leghorns, they are solid white from the Dominant white completely masking all the black. But in a heterozygous state with one copy, it will allow a little bit of black spotting to come through. Like in California Whites becuase they are a cross of White Leghorns and California Greys. And it being a Dominant gene, it can be expressed with even one copy so if a your hens are homo for dom white ( two copies) and they are bred to your roo who dosent carry dom white so he has 0 copies, then their chicks would have all have 1 copy and being a dominant gene, the white would still be expressed. If the hens only have one copy though and bred to a roo with 0 copies, then half will get one copy and show the white, and the other half will get 0 copies and not show the white.
But with your roo, you are also bringing in another dilution gene of black, Andalusian Blue, this gene is incompletely dominant and so 0 copies is black, 1 copy is blue, and two copies is splash. Do you know how the blue breeding works from there or would you like that to be explained too ?
