Quote: The white hen is white because she carries two recessive white genes. When crossed with a black she will pass only one recessive white gene to the chicks. One recessive white gene will not make a white chicken, it takes two of them. So the chicks will most likely be black. However, the hen can be anything and it will be covered by the recessive white. I think the only thing she could have that would show for sure in the chicks would be barring which would make all the male chicks barred. If she were barred under the white her legs would be light colored. If her legs are slate she is not hiding any barring. Most likely she is black with two recessive genes, that is what proper recessive white chickens usually are. So again the chicks will be black. Now since each chick has a copy of recessive white, if they were crossed to each other you would get 75% black chicks and 25% white with 2/3 of the black chicks carrying a recessive gene .If one was crossed with his mother you would get 50% black and 50% white with all the black chicks carrying a recessive white gene. If this doesn't make sense feel free to ask questions until it does.
jj
