Pied gene in chickens?

[Bob Schaible]

I have produced blue mottled chickens by appropriate crosses descended from a cross of Ancona and Blue Andalusian and found that the mottling (particularly the amount of white) remained reasonably constant in the three generations of crosses. Since the cross of Exchequer Leghorn and Ancona is reported to result in a wide variety in amount of white in the progeny Carefoot, 1987), it appears that mottled and pied are controlled by two different alleles (different mutations of the same gene). If a testcross of the F1 of the cross were conducted by backcrossing the F! to the Ancona parent breed, the backcross offspring would be expected to be 50% typically mottled and 50% of the wide variation of white found in the Exchequer Leghorn if the genes for mottling and pied were alleles (multiple alleles hypothesis). If the genes were independent, incompletely dominant autosomal genes as suggested by Smyth (1990), the backcross progeny would be expected to be 25% typically mottled, 25% solid black, 25% pied like the Exchequer and 25% with wide variation in amount of white like the F1. The latter two classes would be difficult to distinguish from each other but the former two classes should be easy to classify and thus determine a different result from the multiple alleles hypothesis. I will check the articles by Carefoot (1987) and Smyth (1990) but I doubt that the testcross has been made. Please reply if you know that the testcross has been conducted.

 

[MichelK]

Hi!
I've bought 3 hens and one cock from a chicken farm here in germany. It looks like the cock carries the pied gene. With every molt he gets whiter. As a young bird he looked totally like the "Vorwerk" breed should look like. (black-gold-black) Then slowly the transformation began.
An austrian chicken expert brought me to the pied idea.
For my opinion the cock looks very beautiful. I wanted to show it to you.
Best regards!

 

[The Moonshiner]

In Germany what is considered pied? Is it different then what we call mottled in the states?
We have mottled here but nothing considered "pied" like the pied in other birds.
Your rooster is what we call mottled and it is very common for them to get more white with each molt.
Pied in guineas, ducks, etc pretty much maintain the same amount once they're adults.

 

[Henk69]

Hi!
I've bought 3 hens and one cock from a chicken farm here in germany. It looks like the cock carries the pied gene. With every molt he gets whiter. As a young bird he looked totally like the "Vorwerk" breed should look like. (black-gold-black) Then slowly the transformation began.
An austrian chicken expert brought me to the pied idea.
For my opinion the cock looks very beautiful. I wanted to show it to you.
Best regards!

To me it looks like vitiligo. Not typical mottled or pied looking

 

[MichelK]

In Germany what is considered pied? Is it different then what we call mottled in the states?
We have mottled here but nothing considered "pied" like the pied in other birds.
Your rooster is what we call mottled and it is very common for them to get more white with each molt.
Pied in guineas, ducks, etc pretty much maintain the same amount once they're adults.

Hi Moonshiner,
to tell the truth, i have no idea. I just got the hint that it could be the the result of the pied-gene. After your question and a bit of research, i've read that the pied and the mottled factor are the same. Unfortunately in german i found no articles about pied. I also read about leucism. This is a gene mutation where there can be white feathers in the coat, as a result of partial or complete missing pigments. I would exclude that, cause some feathers of my rooster are multicolored.
In this vid, Robert Hoeck says, that typically pied chicks have the mottled factor, but the Exchequer Leghorns coat is a result of the pied factor. In the case of my rooster, he supposed the pied factor.
But what is the definition of mottled? As a hobby chicken owner, this whole issue is really confusing to me. but i´m willing to learn.

To me it looks like vitiligo. Not typical mottled or pied looking

Is this a synonym for leucism? If it ist, then there should be no multicolored feathers.

Best regards!
(i hope my english is good enough for this discussion)

 

[MichelK]

maybe you need a more detailed picture of my rooster?

 

[Birdinhand]

my understanding of pied would be more like an albino base with non-cemetrical patches of a given breed's pattern. I've never seen this in chickens and it would be very interesting to find out if it's possible. here is an example of it in ball pythons: https://www.google.com/search?q=bal...QIHaDHAiIQ9QEwAXoECAAQBg#imgrc=3edSJJPGUqdPoM:

 

[MichelK]

thats what i understand of partial leucism. Albino-like body areas and normal coloured eyes. That snakes are looking amazing!
https://imgur.com/gallery/Mtrxb

 

[MysteryChicken]

I think this chick I have is pied. These are older pictures will be getting updated pictures today of the chick. It's a runt of an Ancona bantam. She's the size of a button Quail.

She's 3-4 weeks old in these pictures, but is now around 9 weeks old, and no white spots on body, only a few blue spots on her chest though.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Here are the updated photos.

9 weeks, and no white spots.