Light Brahma Rooster and White Rock Hen offspring

[JonJacobJinglHimerSchmit]

Hi, we are new to this site. We have a Light Brahma rooster and an assortment of hens. We have hatched White Leghorn hens and Easter eggers with the rooster, and they are doing fine (5 in total). Recently, we hatched our brown egger White Rock, and the chicks are all black, 4 weeks old still black. How did this happen? I will upload photos soon.

Thanks

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

! He looks just as beautiful as my light brahma rooster.

 

[JonJacobJinglHimerSchmit]

thank you, he is our pride and joy

 

[Sneebsey]

So as I understand it, White Rocks are Recessive White, which requires two copies of the gene to express. Your hen has two copies of Recessive White which alters all black pigment to white (underneath the white she is black). The chick only has one copy, therefore does not express as white, but as black.

 

[JonJacobJinglHimerSchmit]

So as I understand it, White Rocks are Recessive White, which requires two copies of the gene to express. Your hen has two copies of Recessive White which alters all black pigment to white (underneath the white she is black). The chick only has one copy, therefore does not express as white, but as black.

That makes sense....where do you find the gene information? obviously we have mixed breeds, and would like to know the details as to "why" on our other chicks.

 

[sylviethecochin]

This site is a chicken color calculator.

 

[Sneebsey]

This colour genetics calculator is a great tool for finding out what your offspring will look like, and this is an informative essay on Recessive white. You can find more in-depth information on chicken colours and mutations here. With the chicken calculator, you can generally find your birds' genotype by googling.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I don't know much about genetics, or what pulled black chicks out of this mix, but I wanted to point out that your Brahma may be mixed as well. My understanding is that Brahmas should have yellow legs, and yours appears to have white legs...

 

[JonJacobJinglHimerSchmit]

Well I should hope not. I ordered all of my starter chicks from Murray McMurray.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Well I should hope not. I ordered all of my starter chicks from Murray McMurray.

well, there's a danger there... Hatcheries aren't really about keeping breed standards, but more interested in making a buck. If a rooster snuck in for a bit of fun with a different breed of chicks... they're still going to sell the product of that rendezvous as whatever they look most like, and not as crossbreeds.