Double-Dose Barring in Minorca Cockerel--How??

[rodriguezpoultry]

Hello, I'm almost afraid to broach this subject, but I have an interesting conundrum. My Barred Plymouth Rock male is in the "laying" pen with all of my mismatched females. This flock includes show-quality S.C. Black Minorca females.

Apparently they have bred and produced several excellent chicks. The females all possess, the single-barring which I was expecting seeing as the female was not barred. I have only ever had females of this breeding until now. I had assumed that because of the excellent barring on the chick, that it was a pure Barred Plymouth Rock. Upon closer inspection today, I've noticed it has white skin, excellently long legs and white earlobes. The Minorca is the only option. This chick is unique in that is posses a "double-dose" of the barring gene.

Is that possible in a cross where the male is the only one possessing the barring gene?

Please excuse the photos, it was the best I could do with a low battery.

The chick is approximately 7 weeks old. The female is almost completely feathered. The type in the females is excellent and the earlobes so far are free of red coloring.

There is no possibility of this male being pure as I watched him hatch out of a white egg and all of my chicks begin getting yellow legs and feet by at least their 6th week.

 

[ve]

Your chicks can not have yelow legs if they have SQ minorca blood.White Leghorns have yelow legs and hide barring?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Correct, and this bird does not have yellow legs. Would you like to see a photo of it's legs vs. those of a pure Barred Rock?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Here is a photo of another male at a similar age, the male is to the left. The yellow legs and beaks are very evident even at this age.

Barred Plymouth Rock male x Blue Cochin female, same age as bird in question:

Edited because I can't seem to type fast on this computer...sorry for the confusion.

 

[blackdotte]

You ask an unanswerable question by providing insufficient information.
You say the Barred Rock cock is in a pen with a mixture of hens, so how do you know the mother of this chick is a Black Minorca?
Could you list all the other hens in the pen that could possibly be the mother of the chick in question?
David

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Yes I can, white and brown:

White:
2 S.C. Black Minorca
1 S.C. White Leghorn


Brown Eggs:
1 Black Australorp x Light Brahma (possible, but the chick hatched from a white egg, this bird lays a very dark brown egg.)
1 Blue Cochin
1 Barred Plymouth Rock
1 Light Brahma
1 Rhode Island Red
1 Silver-Laced Cochin


All other birds are 16 weeks and younger. The only male in the pen is the Barred Plymouth Rock cockerel.

 

[speckledhen]

This is the puzzle you mentioned to me last night, right? This is interesting. Will be good to hear what our genetics gurus (a group to which I do not belong, LOL) have to say about this. Very cool!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

This would be that puzzle!

 

[Krys109uk]

Upon closer inspection today, I've noticed it has white skin,

Here is a photo of the male at a similar age, the male is to the left. The yellow legs and beaks are very evident even at this age.

I am a bit confused; does the bird have yellow legs or white legs? White skinned birds have white legs; yellow skinned birds have yellow legs.​

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

The bird in question has white legs, here are photos taken in better lighting:

Leg photo of same bird:

For some reason, on the second quote, it should have said "another" instead of "the". Thank you for pointing that out, I will go ahead and edit it. The male in the "flock" photo is of the bird-in-questions father.


Here are photos of the females that I took photos of as well:

The two with white legs are the Barred Rock x Minorca pullets, the other two are pure Barred Plymouth Rocks, 1 male and 1 female.