Recessive White 🤯

[Bluebell81]

Good morning! I’m hoping someone can help me with Recessive White Genes. I hatched chicks from (what I thought was) recessive white Silkie Cock & my (what I thought was) recessive white Silkie Hen. At the same time I hatched chicks from my Silkie BBS pen. I ended up with Blue, Deep Blue, Splash, Dusty White & Partridge marked chicks. I’m almost positive that the Blue, Deep Blue & Splash chicks came from my BBS pen. I thought the 2 Partridge chicks came from my recessive white Hen & Cock. But I was told that my whites are not recessive white if they’re producing Partridge chicks. If R. White hides colors, can it not hide partridge? So far, my Splash Cock has only produced Blue, Deep Blue & Splash. So I wouldn’t think that it would be coming from him or my splash hen. I’m attaching pics of partridge marked chicks. Maybe they’re not Partridge but some black leakage? I’m confused…..

 

[The Moonshiner]

Recessive white does hide every color/pattern including partridge.
The problem is that it's recessive so it takes two copies to show. If both parents are indeed RW then they both have two copies so both would have to pass one to their offspring. There for all offspring would get two copies and have to be white.
On the other hand BBS can carry and hid partridge. It's quite easy for the females to but usually the males show leakage. Your male could be a rare case that doesn't.
To produce partridge from your BBS pen both parents would have to carry a partridge gene and those offspring happen to get a copy from each.
The problem with that scenario is if your rooster is splash he would only produce chicks with one or two copies of the blue gene.
Those chicks do not appear to be blue partridge.
Is it possible one of your whites is recessive white and the other is one copy of dominate white? Did either come from someone that works with Paints?
Does either of your whites show any specks of color? Do any of your white chicks?

 

[Bluebell81]

Recessive white does hide every color/pattern including partridge.
The problem is that it's recessive so it takes two copies to show. If both parents are indeed RW then they both have two copies so both would have to pass one to their offspring. There for all offspring would get two copies and have to be white.
On the other hand BBS can carry and hid partridge. It's quite easy for the females to but usually the males show leakage. Your male could be a rare case that doesn't.
To produce partridge from your BBS pen both parents would have to carry a partridge gene and those offspring happen to get a copy from each.
The problem with that scenario is if your rooster is splash he would only produce chicks with one or two copies of the blue gene.
Those chicks do not appear to be blue partridge.
Is it possible one of your whites is recessive white and the other is one copy of dominate white? Did either come from someone that works with Paints?
Does either of your whites show any specks of color? Do any of your white chicks?

Thank you The Moonshiner for responding! I decided to shut my incubator down earlier this afternoon. I had 3 eggs left. Looked like the chicks died mid incubation when I candled them. It turned out that 2 of those 3 eggs were the ones that belonged to my W. Silkie Cock & W. Silkie Hen. And that means that these 2 partridge marked chicks came from my BBS pen. 2 chicks hatched from my Splash Hen’s eggs and 1 chick from my Deep Blue Hen. So now everything is starting to come together . You say Splash can hide partridge also. Then either my Splash silkie cock or my Splash silkie Hen is hiding partridge. I got them both from my Dad. I know he has a Partridge Silkie Hen, a White Hen and a Black Silkie Cock. I assumed his Splash came.from his Black cock over his White Hen. I did not know that partridge could produce splash. I’ll look my Splashes over good and see if either one is showing any leakage of another color besides blue, black & white. Pics below are the rest of the chicks that hatched from my Splash Cock over my Deep Blue & Splash Silkie Hen and my Black F1 ShowGirl.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I assumed his Splash came.from his Black cock over his White Hen.

Splash requires two copies of the Blue gene. It is impossible for a black bird (that doesn't carry any blue genes or it would be blue or splash, not black) and a white bird to throw Splash.

I would advise test breeding the whites together. Recessive white x recessive white will only yield recessive white. If you get anything else at all from them, they aren't recessive. Or at least not both of them. I'm pretty sure white in Silkies is pretty evenly split between recessive and dominant.

 

[Bluebell81]

Splash requires two copies of the Blue gene. It is impossible for a black bird (that doesn't carry any blue genes or it would be blue or splash, not black) and a white bird to throw Splash.

I would advise test breeding the whites together. Recessive white x recessive white will only yield recessive white. If you get anything else at all from them, they aren't recessive. Or at least not both of them. I'm pretty sure white in Silkies is pretty evenly split between recessive and dominant.

Splash requires two copies of the Blue gene. It is impossible for a black bird (that doesn't carry any blue genes or it would be blue or splash, not black) and a white bird to throw Splash.

I would advise test breeding the whites together. Recessive white x recessive white will only yield recessive white. If you get anything else at all from them, they aren't recessive. Or at least not both of them. I'm pretty sure white in Silkies is pretty evenly split between recessive and dominant.

His Rooster must be a Deep Blue instead of Black like he calls it.
I’ll test breed my White Silkie Cock & Hen and see what colors come from it. Thank you!!

 

[ColtHandorf]

His Rooster must be a Deep Blue instead of Black like he calls it.
I’ll test breed my White Silkie Cock & Hen and see what colors come from it. Thank you!!

That’s a possibility. Some blues can appear so dark they look black. Test breeding him to a black hen would show if he was black or blue.

 

[Bluebell81]

I’m still trying to learn color genetics so please correct me if I’m wrong. If he test breeds his Black (possibly Deep Blue) rooster to a Black hen, the results should be the following:
Black X Black= Only Black offspring
Deep Blue X Black= Blue-Deep Blue offspring

 

[ColtHandorf]

I’m still trying to learn color genetics so please correct me if I’m wrong. If he test breeds his Black (possibly Deep Blue) rooster to a Black hen, the results should be the following:
Black X Black= Only Black offspring
Deep Blue X Black= Blue-Deep Blue offspring

Blue is Blue regardless of how deep or light the color is. I wouldn't worry about specifying dark blue versus blue.

 

[Bluebell81]

Blue is Blue regardless of how deep or light the color is. I wouldn't worry about specifying dark blue versus blue.

View attachment 2835111

I’m sorry. I should’ve just said Blue. Thank you for the chart. I’m finding out something very interesting with one of my birds now. I thought my F1 ShowGirl was Black. (Attaching pic of her). Looking at this color chart though, she must be Blue also. Because when I put her with my Splash Silkie Rooster all of the ShowGirl chicks hatched were either Blue or Splash. Hmm… I really though she was black

 

[ColtHandorf]

By the photo I'd say she was black too, but in person the blue might be more obvious. I have a Blue English Orpington that I knew was a Blue the first time I saw a picture of him. His breeder swore up and down he was black. I was so pleased when the girls started laying and she hatched Splash chicks out. lol