Pied Genetics....why did I get an all white one?

[MuranoFarms]

I have about a dozen Guineas, only 3 are pied. The rest are Pearl.

First 4 keets of the season, 1 is pearl, 2 are pied 1 is pure white

Where did that one come from?
Is this a fluke or will it continue? If it's a fluke, will it be sterile?

Is Pied a dominant characteristic? I had assumed that if a pied male mated with a pearl female I would hatch out 50% of each. Truly can't recall where I read that though. It could just be that the pied female started laying first, that doesn't explain the pure white one though.

Thanks so much!

 

[Kevin565]

If two pied guineas cross bred then the results could be a white keet. Let's say SS is peal Ss is pied and ss is white. Pied guineas have Ss because they carry a white gene (white gene is recessive). So when so are crossed they have the alleles to form Pearls, more Pied, and some white.

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
This info came from a very reputable breeder in ME:

Pied X Colored will produce 50% Pied and 50% Colored keets
Pied X Pied will produce 25% White keets, 50% Pied keets and 25% Colored keets



No it will not be sterile, and if you breed that pure White keet next year:

White X Colored will produce 100% Pied keets
White X Pied will produce 50% White keets and 50% Pied keets

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
What has been posted is correct, and the ironic thing is that from a pied X pied breeding, your four offspring perfectly fit the expected probabilities.

Pearl Pied X Pearl Pied = 25% Pearl, 50% Pearl Pied, 25% White



~Chris

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
I thought that was ironic too, perfect example of the percentages... how often does THAT happen, lol.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Hey, that is cool! So I will get more of these!!!

It's really cute!

Is it same to assume a white X white will produce all white then?

Thanks!

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
As long as there is only one form of "White" in guinea fowl (which is the case, as far as I know), then yes. Also, if you want to make other colors Pied, you can cross White to them. However, the first generation would be Pearl Pied and split to whatever color you used. Breed that Pearl Pied back to a guinea fowl of the same color you want to make Pied and you'll get 25% of that color Pied. Here's what I mean, using Lavender as an example:

Lavender X White (out of Pearl) = 100% Pearl Pied split Lavender

Lavender X Pearl Pied split Lavender = 12.5% Lavender, 12.5% Lavender Pied, 25% Pearl split Lavender, 25% Pearl Pied split Lavender, 12.5% Pearl, 12.5% Pearl Pied

You won't be able to tell which of the Pearl or Pearl Pied are split to Lavender except by test-breeding.

The above example works for autosomal recessive mutations. I don't know if any of the guinea fowl colors are sex-linked.

What I mean by "White (out of Pearl)" is that White is independent of any other color. If a Lavender bird has two copies of the White gene, it will be White. If a Pearl has two copies of the White gene, it will be White. The White gene is like an eraser -- whatever color the bird "would have been" is erased by the White gene. One copy erases patches, and gives Pied. Two copies erases everywhere, and gives White. So since a White guinea is "totally erased", you can't tell what color "used to be there" except by test breeding. But since Pearl is the wild-type and most common color, it's safe to assume that most White guineas would have been Pearl if they didn't have any White genes.

Does that make sense?



~Chris

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
I thought that was ironic too, perfect example of the percentages... how often does THAT happen, lol.

According to Murphy's Law, only when it's not important to you.

hehe

 

[kuvats]

Hello this % ( Pearl Pied X Pearl Pied = 25% Pearl, 50% Pearl Pied, 25% White ) if per egg not per clutch right So if you hatch 100 birds you wont get 25 white 25 pearl and 50 pied you could get 10 10 and 80 its a roll of the dice per egg

 

[PeepsCA]

Quote:
Correct, per egg

The examples above were based on a hypothetical 100% hatch rate (which rarely happens, for me any way)... and these percentages are what SHOULD hatch, doesn't mean you won't get some mystery color or pied color popping up in each hatch. Guineas can and usually do have a lot of mystery recessive genes swimming around in their genetic make up that don't show up in a hatch until they are bred with another Guineas with some mystery recessive genes as well.

Scratching your head yet?

lol