Teaching a lesson on Genetics, would like some advice...

[Sonoran Silkies]

True, but NN is incompletely dominant, meaning that a bird who in Nn has a phenotype (appearance)intermediate between NN and nn.

 

[Kev]

Quote:
I really love the method your friend uses!

Sex link is good one. Do it both ways- rooster with sex linked trait mated with non-sex linked trait hens & hen(s) having the trait paired with ones lacking it.

I also like the idea of crossing two birds both having dominant/incomplete dominant but different traits such as naked neck x cochin or silkie. Silkie would also be good for other traits such as Fibromelanosis(dark skin), polydactyly(extra toes) and hookless(silky & recessive).

The tricky part(?) may be using breeder birds pure for the traits being studied. Birds not pure for the naked neck trait is extremely common and could skew the results(50% naked necked chicks when it was taught they would be 100% naked necked...) Or unexpected results- Fm is dominant but can be affected by other genes- sex linked barring, dominant white or Id(skin pigment repressor) can prevent the skin from showing the color.

On the other hand if the genetics of parents are known, it can be a wonderful way of teaching ratios such as 1:2:1 such as two parents not pure for the naked neck gene will give a ratio of one pure 2 not pures and 1 non-naked necked.

 

[amazondoc]

How about mating two blue birds together? In a large clutch you'd come up with black, blue, AND splash offspring -- a nice rainbow.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If you did do something like Naked Neck, you could have the kids then respond, based upon hte resulting chicks as to whether the NN parent was NN or Nn.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
If Naked Neck is incompletely dominant, won't it be apparent by sight whether the parent is NN or Nn?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I gather it can be iffy in some cases--there was a discussion earlier today on NN vs Nn on another thread. But yes, if you understand the gene, it ought to be an pretty easy guess--its good to have some questions that are easier than others.

 

[Kev]

Yep. The immediate visual difference is the bow tie size(tiny vs large- have picture examples in the other thread posted earlier today).

However it can be affected by other genes- a Nn bird with pea comb can look as naked as a single combed NN bird for example.

 

[hoppy]

when does your school year end, you might be cutting this pretty close!

 

[McSpin]

I second the suggestion on using birds to produce blacks, splash and blue. Simple genetics, can be immediately seen on the chicks and you get to use blue eggs if you use ameraucanas, and the kids will love that.

You can then cross the blue eggers with a white egg bird and show the genetics of shell color (blue being dominant).

 

[picklezoet]

My school year ends Jun22. So, yeah, I need to get some eggs in the incubator within the next week. I will probably have to go with mixing two breeds and they can see the difference in the chicks coloring. I like the idea of getting birds with blacks, blues, and splashes.

I'll see what I can get this weekend.

Thanks again everyone!