The Legbar Thread!

[1muttsfan]

 

[dretd]

Got my first ever recessive white this morning- I was beginning to think I didn't have it. I think it's a girl. I've hatched about a dozen cream legbar eggs almost every week so far this year and hadn't come across it until now. Has anyone done any test breeding with the white gene? It is possible only one of my hens carry the white gene and I can find her by elimination, or do you think my rooster has it, too? They are lovely birds of their own, but I'd rather not have the white gene in my flock. Not really sure yet what I'm going to do.

If the white gene is recessive, then there must be two copies for it to express, one from the male and one from the female. Unless it is sexlinked which I do not believe it is. Hopefully the chicken genetics gurus will elaborate for you.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Sounds like a question for a math and genetics test:

Given X number of hens, Y number of roosters, Z number of hatched chicks, and W being the number of chicks that are white, calculate the likelihood of the probable number of hens with that gene, the probability of the rooster being the carrier, the percentage of chicks that carry one white gene, and precisely why one stubborn 34-week-old pullet (not in the above flock) has not yet laid an egg.

That last bit about the pullet is for extra credit.

LOL!!!! You know why that tickles me so much? My bachelors degree is in mathematics!!! Love it!

My husband said he heard from a friend who swears by this method: for a chicken that ought to be laying, feed a high protein dog food exclusively for 5 days. Sometimes kicks them into gear!


RE: recessive white gene being carried by the rooster as well- I know that's exactly what I was afraid of. But I have some good friends who love their chickens and have layers only, I will probably pass this chick and any other white females on to her and cull the males.

BUT as this is the very first one I have come across in about 150-200 chicks, I am hoping that means only one of my hens has the recessive white gene and probably my rooster. Not sure if it's worth the work to weed it out just won't be creating a white flock for myself.

 

[1muttsfan]

Recessive White is not sex-linked. Recessive genes that are present in only a small percentage of a group are difficult to remove completely, as you have to track all the hens, identifying each chick that hatches from from each individual hen, a difficult task for most of us. Clearly the rooster must be carrying recessive white, so 50% of his offspring are also going to carry the gene.

 

[dretd]

LOL!!!! You know why that tickles me so much? My bachelors degree is in mathematics!!! Love it!

My husband said he heard from a friend who swears by this method: for a chicken that ought to be laying, feed a high protein dog food exclusively for 5 days. Sometimes kicks them into gear!


RE: recessive white gene being carried by the rooster as well- I know that's exactly what I was afraid of. But I have some good friends who love their chickens and have layers only, I will probably pass this chick and any other white females on to her and cull the males.

BUT as this is the very first one I have come across in about 150-200 chicks, I am hoping that means only one of my hens has the recessive white gene and probably my rooster. Not sure if it's worth the work to weed it out just won't be creating a white flock for myself.

I like cat food better myself

I personally wouldn't get freaked out about the recessive white, but then again I haven't been working so long and hard with this breed so that's easy for me to say. It must be very frustrating for you.

I could see culling the roo maybe to start, unless he's awesome.

Reminds me of (here we go again with the hoofed stock, sorry) Overo Paint horses coming from purebred Quarter horses. This recessive white color is not allowed in AQHA and it was well known that if you breed along certain lines you may get an Overo patterned (unregisterable) foal crop up. The horses were in all other ways quality so the Paint registry took them in but their value was not as high as if they were registered Quarter Horses. Most breeders just out-crossed to other lines to avoid the recessive white on the foals.

It seems to me that just eliminating your roo to start is the easiest road and then if it happens again regroup from there. Theoretically it should turn up 1/4 of the time if all of your hens carried it so it may well be one hen out of ??. You could probably even do the math!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Yes i have 6 laying hens. With not seeing it until now I'm guessing only one or two have the recessive gene.

Not interested in culling my male. He is the best I have ever had and one of the best I have seen in the US. Will just deal with the recessives that hatch out I guess.

 

[dretd]

Yes i have 6 laying hens. With not seeing it until now I'm guessing only one or two have the recessive gene.

Not interested in culling my male. He is the best I have ever had and one of the best I have seen in the US. Will just deal with the recessives that hatch out I guess.

He is Awesome! I wouldn't cull him either, but as I've said I am not as worried about the recessive white. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!

 

[KPenley]

Marvin, anxiously awaiting your results...my best guess is all golden crele babies, though the cockerals should look alot like pure Cream Legbars!

 

[normanack]

Yes i have 6 laying hens.  With not seeing it until now I'm guessing only one or two have the recessive gene.

Not interested in culling my male.  He is the best I have ever had and one of the best I have seen in the US.  Will just deal with the recessives that hatch out I guess.

Okay, so if we assume the roo has one recessive white gene, and of six hens, let's say (for argument's sake) that two of them have it. You hatched out how many babies? And one was white. So the white gene isn't passed on every single time, right? Or there would be (doing the math in my head) um, lots more of them.

Sounds like not a significant problem, though it's all still theoretical to me. Is this reasoning correct?

 

[KPenley]

Okay, so if we assume the roo has one recessive white gene, and of six hens, let's say (for argument's sake) that two of them have it. You hatched out how many babies? And one was white. So the white gene isn't passed on every single time, right? Or there would be (doing the math in my head) um, lots more of them.

Sounds like not a significant problem, though it's all still theoretical to me. Is this reasoning correct?

WW- no recessive white, look regular
Ww - carry recessive white and will pass on the trait, look regular
ww - two copies of recessive white, look white

If you have one white baby...then both of the parents have to be Ww, since ww results in offspring that look white. Using a Punnett's square, Ww x Ww should result in 25% offspring WW (no recessive white), 50% Ww (look regular but carry recessive white), 25% ww (look white). This could be a problem quickly since one Ww parent passes the recessive white trait to 75% of their offspring.

If you want to get rid of recessive white: The only way I know to test quickly is to use a ww white parent to cross with your birds. If the other bird is Ww, then 75% of the offspring should be white. If they are WW, then non of the offspring will be white, but will carry the recessive gene. The WW parent is then a keeper.