Silkie genetics with a white roo

[Jag1415]

Recessive white takes a copy from each parent to be expressed. When they are recessive white it can be hiding any color or pattern underneath.
Your rooster could carry something like partridge so watch for any color leakage on the chicks as they age.
He may well be pure black underneath which would be best if he's gonna be producing chicks you want to use with BBS breeding.
Your chicks would be called blue split to recessive white or blue carrying recessive white.
If bred to a blue rooster you will not produce whites unless the rooster carries white but by playing the odds about 50% of those chicks will get a RW gene and carry it sight unseen. Recessive genes can be passed on sight unseen forever.
You won't get in trouble until you start breeding carriers together.
If you want to sooner or later breed out the white you'll need to test breed.
To do that you breed to a recessive white bird. One that is white. If those mating produce any white chicks you know that bird carries the gene. If the pairing produces no white chicks you know they don't carry the gene. Of course you'll need to hatch quite a few chicks to make sure.
If your chicks are blue and bred to a pure blue rooster you'll get on average 25% black 50% blue and 25% splash.

Very helpful. Thanks!

 

[NatJ]

I'm confident the white is pure white.

Thanks guys. Looks like the breeder wasn't as strict as she thought.

The breeder probably WAS as strict as she thought, and the white rooster IS pure white.

When you cross a white chicken (two copies of the recessive white gene) to another white chicken (two copies of the recessive white gene), every chick will also be white (two copies of the recessive white gene.)

So you can breed pure white chickens forever, (like the breeder was doing.)

But those chickens still have genes for blue or not-blue, and for gold or silver, and for barred or not-barred, and for partridge or solid black or some other pattern, and so on. You do not see any effects from these other genes, because the chicken is all white, but they still have all those other genes. It's as if you took a colored chicken and dipped it in a bucket of whitewash.

But when you breed one of those white chickens to a chicken of a different color, the white chicken passes on one copy of the recessive white gene. The colored chicken passes on one copy of not-recessive-white. So the chicks show color. What color? Something determined by the genes from the colored parent, and the genes that were hiding (invisible) in the white parent.

That's why some people do not cross colors of chickens. Genes that have no effect when you breed two of the same color (white to white) can become visible when you cross to a different color. So if you want to produce chicks of specific colors, you either breed colors that are known to have compatible genetics, or you study the genetics of the particular chickens you have and learn what they will produce, or you get surprises.

(Crossing chicken colors is not bad, it just provides the opportunity for unexpected results.)

 

[Jag1415]

The breeder probably WAS as strict as she thought, and the white rooster IS pure white.

When you cross a white chicken (two copies of the recessive white gene) to another white chicken (two copies of the recessive white gene), every chick will also be white (two copies of the recessive white gene.)

So you can breed pure white chickens forever, (like the breeder was doing.)

But those chickens still have genes for blue or not-blue, and for gold or silver, and for barred or not-barred, and for partridge or solid black or some other pattern, and so on. You do not see any effects from these other genes, because the chicken is all white, but they still have all those other genes. It's as if you took a colored chicken and dipped it in a bucket of whitewash.

But when you breed one of those white chickens to a chicken of a different color, the white chicken passes on one copy of the recessive white gene. The colored chicken passes on one copy of not-recessive-white. So the chicks show color. What color? Something determined by the genes from the colored parent, and the genes that were hiding (invisible) in the white parent.

That's why some people do not cross colors of chickens. Genes that have no effect when you breed two of the same color (white to white) can become visible when you cross to a different color. So if you want to produce chicks of specific colors, you either breed colors that are known to have compatible genetics, or you study the genetics of the particular chickens you have and learn what they will produce, or you get surprises.

(Crossing chicken colors is not bad, it just provides the opportunity for unexpected results.)

So interesting. So essentially she could have bred 10 generation's of white to white but when crossing the color of 11 generation's comes out?

 

[NatJ]

So interesting. So essentially she could have bred 10 generation's of white to white but when crossing the color of 11 generation's comes out?

Exactly.

Breeding white to white will never allow any color to show, because every chicken always has two copies of the recessive white gene.

But no matter how many generations of pure white chickens you're had, as soon as you cross to a chicken that is not white, you start seeing other things.

(I keep saying "recessive white" because there are several other genes that can also cause white in chickens, but they behave differently.)

 

[Jag1415]

Exactly.

Breeding white to white will never allow any color to show, because every chicken always has two copies of the recessive white gene.

But no matter how many generations of pure white chickens you're had, as soon as you cross to a chicken that is not white, you start seeing other things.

(I keep saying "recessive white" because there are several other genes that can also cause white in chickens, but they behave differently.)

I finally understand. Thanks you guys!