Dominant White or Recessive White

[3riverschick]

Ask nicalandia , whose name is Marvin. See his earlier post in this thread, post number 26. He is very expert in color genetics. Henk69 and tadakerson Are also excellent color experts.

Best, Karen

 

[123silver]

Is there a way to tell if a chicken is a carrier of rececive white without breed testing? Especially on colors other than black.

 

[Ivy_Chickens]

Recessive white X black does not yield black--it all depends on the genes the white is hiding.​

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This isn't so. Recessive white is recessive to black. I found this out with my Jersey Giants. I had a black roo in with my white hens, and all offspring were black. (White JG's are recessive). When I crossed one of the resulting black roos back to the white hens and hybrid black hens, I got some recessive white offspring. Blacks can be carriers of recessive white and not show it.​

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You can tell if you have a recessive white chick at hatch by it's down color. They will be what is called "smoky", a silvery color resembling a light blue or splash chick, but will feather out pure white.​

HI there, I just want to follow up on this comment. I just hatched out my first white orpingtons and had an "oh sh!t" moment when they came out looking similar to my lavender and splashes....there's a slight difference in the down but they are definitely not the bright yellow chick I expected. So I found this. Does this mean my chicks are just recessive white and they'll grow into white as they get older? I was afraid they might be crosses. These are my first white birds so I didn't know about the recessive white gene.