Recessive White Rooster, babies are blue?

[shaw613]

I hatched a small batch of ameraucanas ... the rooster is recessive white; I raised him and he was a smoky white baby. The hens paired him with were black (2), blue (1) and lavender (1). The lavenders hatched to black as I expected, however all the rest are blue. Not that I'm unhappy, just surprised. I expected maybe one or two blue from the pairings, and mostly black chicks. Is this possible? What a fun puzzle these chickens are . Thanks all for your expertise.

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Your rooster could very well be blue underneath the white : D do you know who his parents were by chance?

 

[shaw613]

Your rooster could very well be blue underneath the white : D do you know who his parents were by chance?

I got him from cackle, one of their blue layer surplus special. (I got blue, black and lavender pullets plus him). Honestly was thankful to get him as I lost the blue rooster I had purchased from a breeder. No idea at all what his breeding is, but sure surprised this morning to get so many blues. I thought white recessive was two copies ... Does it mean white dominant over blue? Even the eggs from the blacks hatched blue ... Thanks

 

[shaw613]

Your rooster could very well be blue underneath the white : D do you know who his parents were by chance?

Also, the chicken calculator indicated recessive white would breed as black unless need to white? always something new to learn

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I got him from cackle, one of their blue layer surplus special. (I got blue, black and lavender pullets plus him). Honestly was thankful to get him as I lost the blue rooster I had purchased from a breeder. No idea at all what his breeding is, but sure surprised this morning to get so many blues. I thought white recessive was two copies ... Does it mean white dominant over blue? Even the eggs from the blacks hatched blue ... Thanks

Yes, if he’s recessive white, he has two copies of the gene. Two copies covers anything underneath, while one copy doesn’t show up at all.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Also, the chicken calculator indicated white would breed as black; always something new to learn

The calculator assumed that black was under the recessive white, since that’s most common. However, any color can be under recessive white, though it’s less common.

 

[shaw613]

Yes, if he’s recessive white, he has two copies of the gene. Two copies covers anything underneath, while one copy doesn’t show up at all.

So he's dominant white and has one copy? I understood they were yellow as chicks

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

So he's dominant white and has one copy? I understood they were yellow as chicks

Possibly. But that’s not exactly what I was saying. If you breed a recessive white (two copies) to a non-recessive white, all the chicks will only have one copy of recessive white, which wouldn’t show up.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

If they're all blue it's more likely that he's splash under the white actually. But it would take more test breeding to find out.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Same thing happened with my recessive white silkie, when I bred him to black and splash.
He is "hiding" blue underneath I discovered when he threw blue chicks with the black hen and splash chicks with the splash.