Genetics question regarding barring

[LaurenRitz]

The father of this group was a Bielefelder x Jersey Giant and barred copper. No white.

The mothers were BA and Jersey Giant.

Broody hatched 4 chicks, all of them black. Only one had a white spot on the head, but the other three had white on the sides, almost like the white spot was reversed.

The three with white on the sides are showing barring on the belly and chest. The other is fully barred.

I was under the impression that barring is either full or absent. Are there genes that could result in half-barring? Can barring get diluted over time? Will these chicks pass on barring to their descendants?

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Maybe @NatJ will be able to help?

 

[Yardmom]

I don't know the scientific explanation, but I have a mixed flock that includes barred rock as well as the genes of a red barred roo. My very mixed chicks get different amounts of barring. I have gotten a chick with what I call reverse barring with the pullet having wide white with narrow black stripes.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I don't know if there's anything that would cause partial barring, but the cockerel in the second picture looks more like mottling.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Barring can be reduced depending on how many barring genes there are, & if there's any extra Melanizers. They can have 1-2 of the barring gene copies(Males), females can only have one copy of the barring gene.

This is Brassy Crele. It's Gold Partridge Barred with Charcoal(Melanizer) as an example of reduced barring.
He's also Single Barred, which means he's got 1 Barring Gene.

 

[MysteryChicken]

The father of this group was a Bielefelder x Jersey Giant and barred copper. No white.View attachment 3888854

The mothers were BA and Jersey Giant.

Broody hatched 4 chicks, all of them black. Only one had a white spot on the head, but the other three had white on the sides, almost like the white spot was reversed.View attachment 3888857

The three with white on the sides are showing barring on the belly and chest. The other is fully barred.View attachment 3888861

I was under the impression that barring is either full or absent. Are there genes that could result in half-barring? Can barring get diluted over time? Will these chicks pass on barring to their descendants?

View attachment 3888864

The spots on the sides of the head of the chick has nothing to do with barring, it's just the color they hatched out to be. Black with eyebrows.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I don't know if there's anything that would cause partial barring, but the cockerel in the second picture looks more like mottling.

I agree that bird doesn't have barring.

 

[LaurenRitz]

But the roo should have passed barring to all his chicks, as I understand it, and yet only one is barred?

There is obviously a genetic component, since all three of the other chicks have this same pattern. I doubt it came from either of the mothers, so it would have to come from the barred father. Genetically, is mottling a variation on barring?

 

[MysteryChicken]

But the roo should have passed barring to all his chicks, as I understand it, and yet only one is barred?

There is obviously a genetic component, since all three of the other chicks have this same pattern. I doubt it came from either of the mothers, so it would have to come from the barred father. Genetically, is mottling a variation on barring?

He's Single Barred, only half his offspring would be Barred.

Mottling is a separate mutation, & is recessive.

 

[NatJ]

The father of this group was a Bielefelder x Jersey Giant and barred copper. No white.View attachment 3888854

He inherited one gene for barring from the Bielefelder parent, and one gene for not-barred from the Jersey Giant parent.

Because he has one barring gene and one not-barring gene, he will give barring to some chicks and no barring to other chicks.

Barring is white lines across the feathers (most obvious in his black tail feathers), but some other genes can make patterns of gold-and-black lines, or black and white lines, or various other combinations.

The mothers were BA and Jersey Giant.

Assuming BA is Black Australorp, neither of those has barring, so no chicks will inherit barring from their mothers.

With those hens and that rooster, I would expect about half of chicks to show barring and about half to have no barring.

Broody hatched 4 chicks, all of them black. Only one had a white spot on the head, but the other three had white on the sides, almost like the white spot was reversed.View attachment 3888857

The three with white on the sides are showing barring on the belly and chest. The other is fully barred.View attachment 3888861

The chick with a white spot on the head, that is showing barring, is the only one with the barring gene.

The other chicks have something else going on. They do not have barring. I strongly suspect they are black with white leakage, but I don't know for sure.

I was under the impression that barring is either full or absent. Are there genes that could result in half-barring? Can barring get diluted over time? Will these chicks pass on barring to their descendants?

The ones with no barring cannot pass barring to their descendants, because they do not have it. But their descendants can inherit whatever genes are causing that appearance (not barring, something else.)