F2 ShowGirls with hard feathering?

[Bluebell81]

Good morning! I need help understating what has happened…. I started my own line of ShowGirl Silkies. I’ve just recently hatched my second generation. All 4 chicks came from my BBS pen. The mom is a Black F1 ShowGirl (Naked Neck/Silkie cross) and the Dad is a Splash Silkie. I know that my F1 SG are supposed to have hard feathers. But, from what I read, before starting, my F2 chicks should have Silkie feathering. For some reason, 3 of the 4 F2 SG chicks look to have hard feathers. What has happened? I have someone coming to buy these chicks and I have no idea what to tell them! I’ve googled everything I can think of looking for answers and I’ve come up with nothing. I don’t understand what has happened here. Did I read wrong in my research before now? Can some of your F2’s have hard feathers too? Pics of chicks in question below.

 

[sourland]

The mother carries genes for both silkied and hard feathering. From such a mating you can expect roughly 50% hard feathered birds.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Here is a Punnet square that illustrates it if this help. "A" can represent the hard feathering (smooth) and "a" repesents the silkied feathering. Silkied feathers are recessive, so you need two copies (one from each parent) for the bird to express these feathers.
In your chicks case bird "Aa" represent the mother and bird "aa" represents the father.
So as stated above half the chicks will have silkied feathers and half will have hard feathers, but carry the gene for the silkied feathers. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Bluebell81]

The mother carries genes for both silkied and hard feathering. From such a mating you can expect roughly 50% hard feathered birds.

I see…. Did not find this info when researching. Thank you!!

 

[Bluebell81]

Here is a Punnet square that illustrates it if this help. "A" can represent the hard feathering (smooth) and "a" repesents the silkied feathering. Silkied feathers are recessive, so you need two copies (one from each parent) for the bird to express these feathers.
In your chicks case bird "Aa" represent the mother and bird "aa" represents the father.
So as stated above half the chicks will have silkied feathers and half will have hard feathers, but carry the gene for the silkied feathers. Hope this makes sense.View attachment 2828867

Ok. So I would take the offspring showing aa and breed them back to my Silkies to get Showgirls only showing silkie feathering?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Ok. So I would take the offspring showing aa and breed them back to my Silkies to get Showgirls only showing silkie feathering?

Yes! If both parents have silkied feathers ("aa" in this case). All offspring will have silkied feathers.

 

[Bluebell81]

Yes! If both parents have silkied feathers ("aa" in this case). All offspring will have silkied feathers.

Thank you! The showgirl chicks with hard feathers are now “Aa” correct? If I breed them back to my Silkies I still get 50% Aa & 50% aa? Am I thinking right?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Thank you! The showgirl chicks with hard feathers are now “Aa” correct? If I breed them back to my Silkies I still get 50% Aa & 50% aa? Am I thinking right?

Yes, the hard feathered ones are Aa, as they have a silkie parent (If they were hard feathered with no silkie parentage, then they would be AA for hard feathers)
Yes, the punnet square is really easy to read and use when trying to figure out basic genetics. You may have remembered it from school where "Brown eyes" and "Blue eyes" were used as examples classically of dominant and recessive genes. The show girl (naked neck) gene is more complicated (incomplete dominant) and needs two copies of the gene to express (one copy will give you a "bowtie" instead).

 

[Bluebell81]

Yes I do remember that eye chart from school now that you mention it. Lol. You have no idea how much you’ve helped me. Thank you so much!! Below is a pic of my First Gen. ShowGirl that I’m using for my F2. She has the bow tie (her mom also has it).

 

[LadiesAndJane]

You are quite welcome and belated welcome to BYC.
Have fun with your showgirl project!