Genetics?

[Frosty]

I wrote to Kevin Porter just a little bit ago, but thought that I would ask here while I wait for a reply...

I have nine turkeys that I bought from him, including one Bourbon Red and one Regal Red. When they were little, he told me how to cross a Regal and Bourbon to produce more Regals. Both turned out to be toms, so that is out.

What I have in the pen:
1 Bourbon Red tom
1 Regal Red tom
2 White Holland toms
5 White Holland hens
1 BBB hen

I set 5 eggs under a chicken hen. Long story short, I wasn't planning on trying to hatch this year and didn't have them on breeder rations. One egg developed and hatched yesterday (which was day 27). This chick is mostly yellow with some rust coloring on the head. I think I would rule out the BBB hen, so I think mom is WH. Do you think dad is WH, BR, or RR? If one of the reds, would it be possible (if a hen) to breed back to a red and eventually have red turkeys? I really like my Regal and would like to have more... or will I need to just buy more? Thoughts?

 

[Tunastopper]

You most likely will have white babies. It is possible to get a few that look a little like Sweetgrass.

To get the Regal Red you need two black wing bronze genes and two red genes and you need to get the white gene out.

 

[Lagerdogger]

It sounds like one of the reds may be the father if the poult has some rust in it.

Regal Reds are b1b1CCrr, which means they have two black-wing bronze genes, two not white genes, and two red genes. All their other color genes are standard bronze (i.e. they have, not blue genes, not chocolate genes, not narragansett genes, etc.).

The WH are bbccRR, which is standard bronze with two recessive white genes that turn the whole bird white and cover up the bronze colors.

If the crossed, you would have bb1 Cc Rr. Crossing back to a regal red, you would get a number of combinations. One out of eight would be b1b1CCrr, which is the regal red.

If a bourbon red is the father, then the poult would be bbCcRr, with no black-winged genes. In this case, it would take two generations to get regal reds, because you could introduce only one b1 gene with each mating.

If you are sure you want regal reds, the best thing would be to buy some more. Even if your father was the reagal red, and you get a clutch of eggs to hatch, you might not get any regal reds.