Genetics question for speckledhen or Miss Prissy

[scgamecock]

My wheels are turning and assuming I hatch out a Black Orpington Roo,what would I get mating him to my White Orpington hen?Probably a washed out mess but I want an official answer from the experts.

 

[pips&peeps]

You should get a black chick with white genetics hiding in the background. If either has hidden genes they also could show up.

 

[scgamecock]

My white hen is from Mcmurray so there's no telling if she has any hidden genes locked up.

 

[speckledhen]

Marlon, I'd have to defer to someone else on white. I dont raise white birds at all and I really know nothing about the genetics of white. There is dominant and recessive white and I just am never sure what to tell people about the mating of a white bird with any other colors.

 

[scgamecock]

I was just curious and I may try it sometime.I know I'm just fishing but I thought maybe the two would wash out and be sort of a Lavender color.I wouldn't be so lucky would I?

 

[MissPrissy]

I do know you won't get a grey or a mottled or speckled chick from that simple cross in colors. Colors don't work that way.

 

[scgamecock]

I wasn't looking for mottled or anything, just maybe a mix of the two.I'm not real up on genetics so I'm just asking.

 

[speckledhen]

Might have to breed them and find out.

 

[scgamecock]

If you sent me a Black roo egg.

 

[coopist]

Hmm, I think pips&peeps is basically right. but I'll take a stab at it, although I'm no expert.

As I understand it, there are three main genes that produce what looks like white coloring. Dominant white, recessive white, and silver. The first two are autosomal and the last is sex-linked. Depending on which of these your hen is, you might get different results. If she's dominant white (not likely because this white doesn't usually produce a clean white bird), you'd get white with some gray and black leaking through. If she's recessive white, you'd get a black bird carrying white; if she's silver, you'd get a black carrying silver (silver won't express as long as extended black is present, so this one would do you the least amount of good as long as you're breeding with black in your program). What you won't get is a nice clean white, unless you breed a son back to her, and then you might. Again, I'm not an expert. I work exclusively with silver, and so I don't know that much about how the other whites work...

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, anybody.