genetics color question...

[klf73]

I was just curious if anyone knew how the wc gene works? If I take a white crested chocolate(dun) polish and outcross to a non crested breed what happens with the white crest? will the head still be white?

 

[Henk69]

white crest is the default but only applies to a large crest (I call it brainfeathers

).
Crest is dominant but the size is reduced in crossings. The brainfeathers probably don't show.

 

[nzpouter]

Quote:
are you saying it can appear spontaneously in a flock of large crested silkies????

 

[Henk69]

Sorry, with large crested I mean incuding the skull knob, like in the polish.
Silkies are also a special case because they have dark skin (fibromelanosis). Don't know if that counteracts the white crest.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Hmmm, I have a white crested black silkie--let me go check her skin colour--okay her skin is quite dark. And I just noticed that she is now getting white feathers in her beard. She started out completely black; after her first adult molt she started getting white in her crest--right now it is between a quarter and a third white. Mot are completely white feathers, but a few are barely tipped in white. The same with her beard, but I could only find one fully white feather. Camera needs new batteries or I'd have taken pics.

 

[Henk69]

On the beard I would expect groundcolor silver. The white in polish crest is not silver as you can make gold based chickens with white crest.

 

[klf73]

if crossing to a non crested breed, how many crosses does it take to breed out the crest? Approximately, if any one knows...

 

[Henk69]

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