Do feathered legs breed true?

[Realtree4]

Hello! I just had my first broody hatch out some eggs....YAY! I had to get eggs from someone else since my boys aren't old enough and I'm curious as to what I have. One was a mystery egg and I was told that it either came from a buff Orpington hen X barnyard mix Roo or a Brahma hen X the same barnyard Roo.

I guess that I assumed that if it was the brahma then it would have feathered legs....well my hatch was 100% and all chicks have clean legs. Which made me start wondering, will feathered legs breed true if one mate is cleaned legged? Especially since the one was already a barnyard mix.

Just curiosity really...I have raised hatchery chicks but I am new to mixing breeds. And when mixing breeds, are there certain traits that will breed through to the chicks? Ex. Feathered legs, beards, etc.

Thanks! I'm really just a nerd and love learning new facts

 

[Michael OShay]

Feathered legs are dominant over clean legs, however if your Brahma hen had some other clean legged breed in her lineage, she would still be feather legged due to the presence of a feather legged gene in her, but she could give her clean legged gene to her offspring and they would not be feather legged.

 

[Realtree4]

Feathered legs are dominant over clean legs, however if your Brahma hen had some other clean legged breed in her lineage, she would still be feather legged due to the presence of a feather legged gene in her, but she could give her clean legged gene to her offspring and they would not be feather legged.

Interesting! So kinda like our pigs...when they were born, some were born red but neither one of their parents were Duroc...it was then that they realized that a Duroc had been bred into the lineage at some point. It just came out a few generations later.

 

[Michael OShay]

Interesting! So kinda like our pigs...when they were born, some were born red but neither one of their parents were Duroc...it was then that they realized that a Duroc had been bred into the lineage at some point. It just came out a few generations later.

Yes, that's a good example.