Can someone give me some advice. I have 3 HUGE white Wyandotte, 2 cockerels and 1 pullet. My question is would there be enough benefit to cross them with my chocolates to improve size? Are most WW dom white or rec white? (guessing recessive) I know I would have to do ons of test mating to remove recessive white.
Would you do it or not?
You must love love challenges. You would be brave to take on such a project.
This is just my opinion and take it with a grain of salt.
This information was gathered off the web:
Solid white varieties of Wyandotties and other breeds are regarded as
recessive whites because their white is completely recessive to any other color. Both kinds of white plumage, "dominant white" and "recessive white" are phenotypically identical in adult phase, and can only be distinguished from each other by means of a progeny test. In 1906 and 1908 Bateson and Punnet
] demonstrated that White Dorkings are homozygous for an auto recessive mutation which prevents appearance of color. They assigned to this mutation the symbol
c, as being recessive from the normal allele (
C+, chromogen) which allows normal plumage color development. This same kind of white plumage color was found by Bateson and Punnet in Rose Comb Bantam and in White Wyandotties. It was also found in White Cochins by Davenport in 1906, in White Lanshins by Goodale in 1910, in White Plymouth Rocks by Hadley in 1914,and in other breeds.
"Recessive white" chickens may be potentially black barred or of some other color pattern, but does not reveal this, unless they are submitted to a progeny test. White Plymouth Rock chickens carry a considerable mixture of genes taken from other breeds different to the original Bared Rock from which the white variety originates.
I would not for several reasons. (1 and 2)
I would shop around for a huge black/chocolate. Would be cheaper in the long run even if you paid top dollar for an exceptional roo.
(1)The feed cost alone to grow out and cull the generations would be big bucks. However, the satisfaction of completing that project would be double blessed. Only you could say it was(2) worth the money, time, emotional energy, patience, and endurance it would take.
LF chocolate Wyandottes are available even if they are rare.
