Just curious....split/lavender

[Yard full o' rocks]

I see several posts on BST for eggs and chicks that are "split/lavendar". I'm pretty new to the whole genetics thing, so can someone tell me what that means? I have all the chickens I can handle, this is a question of curiousity more than anything.

Thanks!!

 

[Krys109uk]

Being 'split' for a certain gene pair is a way of saying a bird is heterozygous for a trait. From the Greek hetero meaning other or different & zygote meaning yoked (together).

Heterozygous, means in a particular gene pair the two genes are different (alternatve) alleles.

People seem to find the word 'split' easier to understand.

So when a bird is described as being 'split' for lavender it means that the bird is carrying one Lavender gene (lav) & one not lavender gene (Lav+). Looks like Lav+/lav. Lavender only has two alleles (at least as far as we know). If a bird is 'split' for dominant white (I) the bird will be I/?, unless the person is specific about which allele of dominant white is the other of the gene pair in that instance. Most often it would be the wild type i+, but there are other alternative alleles of dominant white.

I expect I've made that about as clear as mud.
Perhaps someone else will explain it in a more understandable manner.

 

[pips&peeps]

Most often it means it will be a black bird carrying the lavender gene. When you breed the birds carrying this gene together you will get some (25%) offspring that will be pure lavender.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

In addition to the comments above by Krys and Jean, split is often used with recessive genes, when it is not apparent that the creature carries a copy of the gene (but it is known through breeding records).