SLW genetic question

[everyday_farmlife]

So we have straight silver laced wyandottes and they seem to be throwing a couple of pure white chicks who grow up white.
Would both parents have to have the recessive white gene to throw white chicks? Along coz it's happening white often so if I changed my rooster would that change things?
I'm not very experienced with colour genetics so please explain to this simpleton

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Ooh interesting as I’ve never heard of SLW doing this. @NatJ

 

[AinaWGSD]

If it's recessive white then yes, both parents would have to carry the gene in order to produce white chicks. You could try a different rooster. Although if it is recessive white then at least one of your hens is still going to produce chicks carrying the white gene so it's likely to pop up again in future generations.

 

[NatJ]

If it's recessive white then yes, both parents would have to carry the gene in order to produce white chicks. You could try a different rooster. Although if it is recessive white then at least one of your hens is still going to produce chicks carrying the white gene so it's likely to pop up again in future generations.

Yes, I agree on all points.

If the eggs/chicks are tracked according to which hen they come from, any hen that produces a white chick must be a carrier of the gene.

If you want to test which other birds may be carrying it, it would be useful to raise up some of the white offspring to use in test mating: white x carrier will give about a 50/50 split of white chicks and carrier chicks. White x non-carrier will not give any white chicks (but all the chicks will be carriers, so not welcome in the Silver Laced Wyandotte breeding program.) Breeding two carriers together will give about 1/4 of chicks showing white, 1/4 that do not carry it or show it, and 1/2 that carry it without showing it.

The white birds could probably be used to start a line of White Wyandottes, or could become layers (females) and meat birds (males).

All of that applies if the white birds are recessive white. If the "white" is caused by some other recessive gene, all of that would still be true as long as there is just one recessive gene involved and it is not the sex chromosome. (I do not know of any other recessive gene that would cause this, but one could easily exist without my knowing it.)