Guys? Confusion? 🤔

[lilwanderer]

Well I won't be hatching from that roo anymore- He just got rehomed today with one of his hens that had some flaws.
He has been replaced with a stunning new boy I'm quite excited about. He came from a breeder who says he has the silver gene, but she said all that means is he'll look extra white. I also told her about the problems with the previous roo and when i mentioned him possibly being dominant white she didn't seem to believe that was possible at all. But she taught me a lot about the cochin sop and graded my birds lol.
I remember at the start of this thread y'all thought the previous roo may have carried the silver gene- Is looking extra white really all it means?
Here's the new boy:

P.S: The yellow is from the corn he's ate overtime and also from the pines. The lady he came from had plenty of them and he has been free ranging since he was a month old. (He'll eventually get a bath with a 50/50 mix of water and peroxide.)

 

[NatJ]

I remember at the start of this thread y'all thought the previous roo may have carried the silver gene- Is looking extra white really all it means?

In most white chickens, pretty much yes.

In chickens that show several colors on each bird: silver turns gold/red into white. It makes a big difference there (example: Gold Laced Polish vs. Silver Laced Polish.)

To make a white chicken, genetically, there are several ways to do it:
--recessive white turns the whole chicken white, no matter what other genes the chicken has for feather colors. Several white chicken breeds have recessive white. Adding the Silver gene will not make much difference to a chicken with recessive white, but it might make the chicken just a bit whiter than it otherwise would be.

--Dominant White turns black into white. So if you make a completely black chicken, and then add Dominant White, you have a white chicken. White Leghorns typically have this, and so do some other white chicken breeds. Again, adding the Silver gene will not make much difference to a chicken like this, although it would prevent leakage of red or gold, and I suppose there's a chance of it making the white be overall a nicer white. It's about the same as talking about whether a black chicken has gold or Silver: it certainly does have one of those genes, but you can't tell which one, and you don't usually care very much. It only shows if the black allows another color to leak through. Of course in a white chicken, silver leakage is fine (looks white) but gold leakage would be obvious and unwanted.

--Silver turns gold into white. So if you make a completely gold chicken, and then add Silver, you have a white chicken. Silver could turn a Buff Orpington Orpington into a completely white chicken. This seems to be much less common than the previous two ways to get white. Maybe it's because getting a solid gold chicken is harder than getting a solid black chicken. In this case, of course the Silver gene is making a big difference: replace it with gold and you no longer have a white chicken at all.

--Some white chickens have the genetics to show some pattern of gold & black in their feathers, but then they have Silver turning the gold to white, and Dominant White turning the black to white. This also makes them look white. This happens when people cross a Silver Laced Polish with a Buff Laced Polish: they get some chicks that are white laced white (they look white, but still have the genes to be laced.) I think this may be more common than just Silver, because you don't have as much chance of leakage in black or gold. In this case, the Silver gene is also quite important, so changing it to gold would mean the chicken no longer looks white (it might look like Buff Laced Polish, or like Red Pyle Old English Game, or like White Laced Red Cornish, or like Gold Sexlink hens that are gold with a white tail. All of those have Dominant White, but they have some amount of gold as well and no Silver to turn the gold into white.)

 

[lilwanderer]

In most white chickens, pretty much yes.

In chickens that show several colors on each bird: silver turns gold/red into white. It makes a big difference there (example: Gold Laced Polish vs. Silver Laced Polish.)

To make a white chicken, genetically, there are several ways to do it:
--recessive white turns the whole chicken white, no matter what other genes the chicken has for feather colors. Several white chicken breeds have recessive white. Adding the Silver gene will not make much difference to a chicken with recessive white, but it might make the chicken just a bit whiter than it otherwise would be.

--Dominant White turns black into white. So if you make a completely black chicken, and then add Dominant White, you have a white chicken. White Leghorns typically have this, and so do some other white chicken breeds. Again, adding the Silver gene will not make much difference to a chicken like this, although it would prevent leakage of red or gold, and I suppose there's a chance of it making the white be overall a nicer white. It's about the same as talking about whether a black chicken has gold or Silver: it certainly does have one of those genes, but you can't tell which one, and you don't usually care very much. It only shows if the black allows another color to leak through. Of course in a white chicken, silver leakage is fine (looks white) but gold leakage would be obvious and unwanted.

--Silver turns gold into white. So if you make a completely gold chicken, and then add Silver, you have a white chicken. Silver could turn a Buff Orpington Orpington into a completely white chicken. This seems to be much less common than the previous two ways to get white. Maybe it's because getting a solid gold chicken is harder than getting a solid black chicken. In this case, of course the Silver gene is making a big difference: replace it with gold and you no longer have a white chicken at all.

--Some white chickens have the genetics to show some pattern of gold & black in their feathers, but then they have Silver turning the gold to white, and Dominant White turning the black to white. This also makes them look white. This happens when people cross a Silver Laced Polish with a Buff Laced Polish: they get some chicks that are white laced white (they look white, but still have the genes to be laced.) I think this may be more common than just Silver, because you don't have as much chance of leakage in black or gold. In this case, the Silver gene is also quite important, so changing it to gold would mean the chicken no longer looks white (it might look like Buff Laced Polish, or like Red Pyle Old English Game, or like White Laced Red Cornish, or like Gold Sexlink hens that are gold with a white tail. All of those have Dominant White, but they have some amount of gold as well and no Silver to turn the gold into white.)

I've experimented on the buff laced/silver laced polish actually. I only ever had the offspring up until 2 weeks at most and rehomed them- But i got poorly laced buff laced and all white. I believe the ones showing buff would be pullets and the all white would be males, right?

 

[NatJ]

I've experimented on the buff laced/silver laced polish actually. I only ever had the offspring up until 2 weeks at most and rehomed them- But i got poorly laced buff laced and all white. I believe the ones showing buff would be pullets and the all white would be males, right?

If you used a Buff Laced Polish rooster and Silver Laced Polish hens, then yes the daughters will show gold (buff) and the sons will show silver (all white.)

But if you cross a Silver Laced Polish rooster with a Buff Laced hen, you will typically get all white chicks in both genders.

And if you have a Silver Laced rooster that carries one gold gene, and cross him with a Buff Laced hen, you will get some chicks with silver and some with buff/gold, but each color will exist in both males and females. Having a Silver Laced rooster that carries a gold gene is not particularly common, because most source of Silver Laced Polish are going to have ones that are pure for the Silver gene. (Hatcheries and private breeders will usually keep the colors separate in their breeding pens, unless they have a specific reason to mix them.)

 

[Ponypoor]

If you used a Buff Laced Polish rooster and Silver Laced Polish hens, then yes the daughters will show gold (buff) and the sons will show silver (all white.)

But if you cross a Silver Laced Polish rooster with a Buff Laced hen, you will typically get all white chicks in both genders.

And if you have a Silver Laced rooster that carries one gold gene, and cross him with a Buff Laced hen, you will get some chicks with silver and some with buff/gold, but each color will exist in both males and females. Having a Silver Laced rooster that carries a gold gene is not particularly common, because most source of Silver Laced Polish are going to have ones that are pure for the Silver gene. (Hatcheries and private breeders will usually keep the colors separate in their breeding pens, unless they have a specific reason to mix them.)

What colour would you call this Polish Roo? He is a real sweet heart with the girls, I don’t care if he is anything in particular but I am just curious.

When I first got him I thought he was dirty but that yellow is his actual colour.

 

[NatJ]

What colour would you call this Polish Roo? He is a real sweet heart with the girls, I don’t care if he is anything in particular but I am just curious.

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When I first got him I thought he was dirty but that yellow is his actual colour.

That is about what I would expect if someone crossed a Silver Laced Polish with a Buff Laced Polish. Or maybe a Buff Laced Polish with a Black Crested White Polish.

I think he has the Silver gene (turns gold into white), and probably carries one gold gene as well (causing the yellowish color). He has one copy of the Dominant White gene (turns black into white, but can miss a few bits of black here and there.)

I would probably just call him a mixed-color Polish.

 

[Ponypoor]

That is about what I would expect if someone crossed a Silver Laced Polish with a Buff Laced Polish. Or maybe a Buff Laced Polish with a Black Crested White Polish.

I think he has the Silver gene (turns gold into white), and probably carries one gold gene as well (causing the yellowish color). He has one copy of the Dominant White gene (turns black into white, but can miss a few bits of black here and there.)

I would probably just call him a mixed-color Polish.

When I first got him I tried to ‘clean him up’ I thought he was dirty

I have a pure white daughter of his from my silkie frizzle who is a splash.

I was very surprised she doesn’t have any black spots at all.

 

[NatJ]

When I first got him I tried to ‘clean him up’ I thought he was dirty

I have a pure white daughter of his from my silkie frizzle who is a splash.

I was very surprised she doesn’t have any black spots at all.

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I don't know what makes the difference in black spots vs. not in that situation.
But she's a pretty bird

 

[lilwanderer]

When I first got him I tried to ‘clean him up’ I thought he was dirty

I have a pure white daughter of his from my silkie frizzle who is a splash.

I was very surprised she doesn’t have any black spots at all.

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My new cochin boy I know carries the silver gene- he has a lot of that yellow also- but It's from pine trees and the corn in their diet i believe. Pretty birds!
I'm surprised those photos of my boy don't show more of his yellow- it's a lot more visible then what it tells us.

 

[Ponypoor]

Well I won't be hatching from that roo anymore- He just got rehomed today with one of his hens that had some flaws.
He has been replaced with a stunning new boy I'm quite excited about. He came from a breeder who says he has the silver gene, but she said all that means is he'll look extra white. I also told her about the problems with the previous roo and when i mentioned him possibly being dominant white she didn't seem to believe that was possible at all. But she taught me a lot about the cochin sop and graded my birds lol.
I remember at the start of this thread y'all thought the previous roo may have carried the silver gene- Is looking extra white really all it means?
Here's the new boy:
View attachment 3794850View attachment 3794851View attachment 3794852View attachment 3794853
P.S: The yellow is from the corn he's ate overtime and also from the pines. The lady he came from had plenty of them and he has been free ranging since he was a month old. (He'll eventually get a bath with a 50/50 mix of water and peroxide.)

He’s a beauty, I love fuzzy legs

You know I have a feeling that buttery colour is his true feather colouring.

Mr P’s chicks started getting yellow and I thought they were dirty, I tried to wash it off and realized that like their Dada they would have yellow on their feathers!

This is one of his daughters, out of a barnyard mutt mama.

Try as I might I couldn’t wash that yellow off