Melanizers

[Trish1974]

What are melanizers and how do they work?

 

[Cyprus]

Melanizers are genes that cause extensive amounts of dark pigment 'melanin'.
They can turn skin and flesh black, feathers black, leg scales black, etc.

Melanizers cover up other genes. A chicken can have red plumage genes for example, but if they carry the melanizer gene the chicken's feathers are all black.

 

[Cyprus]

There's more detail to the above, but that is an overview.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Hmmm, the term “melanizers” is often a bit unclear to me too, I think I see it used sort of generically in one of two ways:

1) It is used to refer to a number of unnamed, undocumented, and not understood recessive genes that extend eumelanin (black pigment), commonly referred to as "recessive black" ( rb )

Edit: Hmmm, In re-reading a few cases where I interpreted the term “melanizers” being used in this second case, I think:

• the person was either misstating things
• or the person's grammar , English as 2nd language , or internet style writing (no punctuation, dangling participles and such) lead to an interpretation that was different than what the person intended.

So I don't think what I wrote previously is correct, see italicized edits... sorry for any confusion!

2) but I think I have seen it used to refer to genes that extend or intensify either type of melanin:
a) pheomelanin (red pigment)
b) eumelanin (black)

So that would mean these genes would be “melanizers” in this sense:
Mh - intensifies pheomelanin
Co - extends pheomelanin
Db - extends pheomelanin
Ml - extends eumelanin
cha - extends eumelanin

Most often I think when we see “melanizers” it’s meant in the first sense: unnamed recessive genes that extend eumelanin (black) ...( for instance in crosses where parents were known not to carry Ml... but the offspring showed evidence that there was some other unknown gene causing black to be extended)

Anyway, that’s my understanding of it, hopefully someone will correct me if I’ve misstated some of this.

Edit to add link:
http://the-coop.org/poultrygenetics/index.php?title=Melanizers

 

[Trish1974]

Is it possible to add melanizers through breeding to cover gold leakage? For instance, I have been talking to a breeder about buying some of his birds. One is a blue birchen. I have a black mottled cock, a black cock with gold leakage in his saddle feathers, and the duckwing cock in my avatar. The breeder said I will get black and blue chicks but they will have leakage as the hen does not have melanizers. Will I have leaky offspring no matter what I breed with her?

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Is it possible to add melanizers through breeding to cover gold leakage?

I think in most cases breeding out the gold would be the recommendation

 

[Cyprus]

I think in most cases breeding out the gold would be the recommendation

I agree.
Males are tricky. They often have leakage.