Is one white chick like another?

[Pele]

The white legs and the body shape give her away. She's a pretty white Orpington. Congrats, that's not a very common bird

 

[Cowgirl71]

In my experience with Buff Orpingtons they don't get tails until they're older, and even then they have small tails. Their abundant fluff tends to cover up a lot of their tail.

 

[Chicken Boy-17]

what a cuti!

 

[andalusn]

I find myself studying her more now with all the positive talk of her being a white Orphington.. She just darts amongst all the other jr chickens in the pen and is well received. Her color brings up the question of .. is it possible to get a white colored peep from colored parent fertile eggs? I stopped in at the feed store and asked about her and I was told they don't offer White Orphingtons... Since the proof is in the pudding so to speak she came from that hatchery and is what she is. So what genetics make white? White on white only or are there other possibilities?

 

[Pele]

Quote:
hooooboy, that's a loaded question! There are different combos to get 'white'. The favorite gene for those who want a 'true white' is the silver gene. But there are many many other genes that come into play, some dominant, some recessive. There is a really cool gene calculator that is floating out here in the BYC forums, I'll have to do some digging and see if I can link it.

The easier explanation is that feed store are...... well bless them, but they're trying to cross the pacific with a canoe paddle, so to speak. Most employees of feedstores have very little experience with chickens (as most are very low paid, and therefore very low motivated employees). Since there are many 'white' chicken breeds that look freakishly identical as chicks, I'd faint dead away in shock if a feedstore employee could positively point out one breed from another.

For example: Here are white orpington chicks:
http://www.orpingtonsgalore.com/USERIMAGES/P1010854.JPG

Here are white leghorns:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5a-ir0UQnn4/Rh7vLKbvzWI/AAAAAAAAAIU/NDHqSObTxig/s400/aeu0267.jpg

Here's a white rock:
http://www.bumblebeeblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/olivia-2-weeks.jpg


etc...

You could see how easily a hatchery could accidentally mix them, and how the untrained minimum wage feedstore employees could adimantly state that they're the same breed.

 

[Obyli]

Buff leghorn!