Guinea color genetics question?

[flgardengirl]

Hi I have 3 guinea keets right now all the same age. Two are all white, one is lavender. In the future, if I crossed lavender with white what would I get? In chickens lavender is autosomal recessive but in guineas is "lavender" really blue or is it truly lavender like in chickens? Is the white dominant or recessive in guineas? Thanks

 

[R2elk]

Hi I have 3 guinea keets right now all the same age. Two are all white, one is lavender. In the future, if I crossed lavender with white what would I get? In chickens lavender is autosomal recessive but in guineas is "lavender" really blue or is it truly lavender like in chickens? Is the white dominant or recessive in guineas? Thanks

When it comes to guineas, forget what you know about chicken color genetics.

Lavender is caused by two recessive blue genes and at least one full dotting gene. White is dominant but located in a different area than other color genes. A guinea that has two white genes will be white and will hide any other color genes and dotting genes present. Mating a Lavender with a white will create a Pied Lavender and other possibilities depending on what other color genes the white is hiding.

Two copies of the white gene = white, one copy of the white gene and any other color gene = pied.

 

[flgardengirl]

Ooohhh Pied lavender sounds lovely! These were bought at a feed store so you are probably correct in that they could be hiding who knows what under those innocent white feathers (genes) lol. I hope I get the right sex combination to mate the white and lavender guineas. They just got their feathers in and are so cute! Cant tell sex yet..at least I cant lol. Thank you very much for the easy to understand explaination

 

[The Moonshiner]

Lavender is caused by two recessive blue genes and at least one full dotting gene.

Mating a Lavender with a white will create Pied Lavender and other possibilities

If it takes two recessive blue genes to make lavender then how would white Xs lavender make pied lavender? Wouldn't the white have to also have lavender and pass it to offspring for them to be lavender?

 

[R2elk]

If it takes two recessive blue genes to make lavender then how would white Xs lavender make pied lavender? Wouldn't the white have to also have lavender and pass it to offspring for them to be lavender?

Yes. If the white passed on the Pearl Gray gene then the offspring would be Pied Pearls. There is no way to look at a White guinea and know which other color genes the white is carrying. If the white came from a flock of mixed whites, blues and pied blues, it is very likely carrying at least one blue gene and probably two blue genes.