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- #31
Now I think you are confused. Recessive genes are recessive and incapable of repressing a truly dominant trait. If a recessive trait presents it is because there are 2 recessive genes in the genetic makeup of that individual (1 from each parent) and any related dominant gene is not there (it is not being repressed, it is missing!). If the individual had 1 dominant gene and 1 recessive, the dominant trait would appear (because it is dominant). There are also genes with incomplete dominance. An example of this is green and brown eye color. If a person gets a gene for green eye color from 1 parent and a gene for brown eye color from the other, that individual will have eyes that are mixed green and brown. Blue eye color, on the other hand is recessive to brown, and a person with 1 gene for blue and 1 for brown will always have brown eyes because it is dominant. However, if 2 parents both have a blue recessive gene they can have a child with blue eyes even if their eyes are brown. That blue eyed child cannot pass on a brown eyed gene because he/she doesn't have it. This is how things work in simple dominant/recessive traits. However most color traits can have gene modifiers (another separate gene that can effect the presentation of color, like a dilution factor), incomplete dominance (where both traits are expressed more or less equally as in the brown and green eyed trait). Color is very complex, especially in birds, if you have been breeding your birds for a long time, I am sure you do know what to expect. But, mutations can happen at any time, so sometimes even you might be surprised. And, if you bring some new birds into the mix that might have something unexpected hiding in their genetic makeup in the form of a recessive, you might be surprised again. Wish you well!
