the blue gene

[Kev]

Julie, that cross will be the same as any blue x black cross.. with the exception that all of them will be "carrying the self blue gene".

Crossing the offspring or back to a self blue will get you some self blues, along with self blue plus Andalusian blue(as I understand it, those birds with both blues tend to be very pale)

 

[SusanJoM]

Could someone explain to me what "self blue" means?

Is there "self white" or "self red" or ????

Okay, stop laughing....

Thank you

Susan

 

[Kanchii]

Quote:
Self Blue (aka lavender) is a recessive gene. Therefore, if you breed a black to a lavender you get all blacks that carry lavender, and you breed those offspring together you'll get 25% lavender, 50% black that carry lavender, and 25% black. If you breed a lavender to a lavender you get 100% lavender.

self white/self red doesn't exist.

 

[Kev]

Quote:
No laughs. Questions are always good imo.

Self blue is just another name for lavender. It's a different gene from the more common (Andalusian)"blue"- the version that also produces splashes, so there needs to be a separate name to identify which "blue gene" someone is talking about. Lavender is occasionally also called "true breeding" or "pure breeding blues" as lavender x lavender always= 100% lavender unlike the common blue which always produces "blacks, blues or splashes".

One reason lavender gets called "self blue" is because it strongly tends to give a more even shade throughout the bird. Andalusian blue tends to produce birds having varying shades of blue such as much darker blue on hackles and saddles than on the body on roosters and darker blue "lacing" on hens. Lavender roosters tend to have hackles and body nearly or identical in shade and hens rarely show any lacing.

Something not everyone appreciates right away: self blue/lavender and blue chickens are actually a solid black chicken with the addition of self blue/lavender for the lavenders, and blue for the blue and splashes(which are simply birds "pure" for the Andalusian blue gene).

As for white, there are two common genes for white chickens: Dominant White and Recessive White. Recessive White could easily be called self white- actually it has better claim to the usage of "self" than lavender.. Recessive Whites tend to be solid white irregardless of color base the chicken is, while for lavender to express as "self blue" it absolutely has to be on a solid black chicken. For example, "Porcelain" is merely lavender on a mille fleur pattern. (just playing with Kanchii's "there are no self whites". It's true that the term self white is never used, just pointing out the irony of wildly inconsistent terminology found in the poultry world..)

As for solid red chickens, AFAIK there is no gene for that.. actually, solid red and solid buff chickens are not as easy to create as they require several "unrelated" genes, and the more genes desired in a single bird, the harder it is to accomplish, generally.

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

Wow didn't know there was so much complication to chicken genetics. Thanks for answering my question guys.

 

[Bec]

OK, so where do the blacks with the blue genes come from in order to produce all blues when crossed with a splash???

And is a splash always going to produce blues?

What makes it a splash??

 

[SusanJoM]

Quote:
This is EXCELLENT. I am going to print it out and save it. I will never remember it, but I know I will want to come back and refer to it as I get farther along....Thank you, Kev !!!

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

Quote:
Well from what everyone has told me, if you cross a black to a splash, the splash and black genes get delt out to their offspring. So the splash has two blue genes, and the black has none so the offspring only get one blue gene making them blue. Someone correct me if I am wrong, I still don't fully understand.

 

[naturespace]

A fellow BYCer, ChestnutRidge, put together a nice article explaining the blue gene. I found it very helpful.

http://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/gms4-incomplete-dominance-of-blue-feathering/

 

[draye]

Marking so I can read later.