Thank you for the response! So the blue gene is probably why she has the dark head and the lighter tail feathers?
Probably yes. She would have black on the head and tail, but blue is diluting the black. It's fairly common for blue to dilute the tail more than the head. (This is often obvious in photos of Blue Sexlinks or Sapphire Gemes.)
I have a decent understanding of genetics, but mostly from horses which generally have aot less going on lol.
A very basic overview of chicken color genetics:
--black and red are the two basic pigment colors
--some genes affect which pigment goes where (e-locus genes, pattern gene, columbian)
--some genes affect one of the pigments (blue, chocolate, dominant white, silver, cream, mahogany)
--some genes affect both pigments (lavender)
--some genes add white in a particular way, no matter what other pigment color is present (barring, recessive white)
That is not a complete list of genes in any category, just some examples of each.
What would she (likely) look like if she lacked either the gold or silver gene?
Short answer: that is not possible.
Longer answer: there is one spot on the Z chromosome where some gene exists. One form is named gold, the other form is named silver, but every chicken has exactly one of those on each Z chromosome she or he has.
The gold gene is the original form found in the wild Red Junglefowl. It lets the chicken have some red pigment. The silver gene is a mutation. It prevents red pigment.* Or you could say it turns all the red to white. A hen can have one or the other, while a rooster can have two gold, two silver, or one of each.
Some chickens show their gold or silver. Some do not, because they have other genes that cause them to be black all over, or black-turned-blue all over, or completely white, or something of the sort. They still have the gene(s) for gold or silver, and that will be inherited by their chicks (who may or may not have a pattern that allows it to be visible.)
*red pigment can still appear in some parts of chickens that are genetically silver. Examples are the salmon-colored breast on Silver Duckwing hens, and the red shoulders of many silver-based cockerels (that is especially common in mixed breeds, because most pure breeds with silver have been carefully selected for other genes that prevent that red.)
What does the dark skin do with yellow leg genes? Cause I definitely prefer white or grey skin. I know some people love the yellow legs, but it's not my cup of tea.
There are two genes interacting there.
Dark vs. light skin is controlled by a gene on the Z sex chromosome. Light is dominant over dark.
White vs. yellow skin is controlled by a gene on some other chromosome (no sex-specific inheritance to care about.) White is dominant over yellow.
So a chicken can have light skin that is yellow, or light skin that is white.
For a chicken with dark skin, the yellow becomes greenish, and is sometimes called "willow."
And the dark version of white is a grayish-blue color, sometimes called "slate."
The dark color usually skips the soles of the feet, so that is a common place to check for white vs. yellow. A chicken showing yellow is pure for yellow (because yellow is recessive.) A chicken showing white can still carry the gene for yellow.
A chicken with yellow skin can have it brighter or paler depending on what the chicken eats. Green plants, yellow corn, and some other things make it brighter. Yellow skin on a hen will become gradually more pale as she lays eggs, because her body puts the yellow pigment into the egg yolks instead of into her skin. The yellow returns when she takes a break from laying. This can be used to pick through a flock of chickens and sort them by laying ability. I have seen charts listing which parts bleach how fast, and return how fast. (From memory, I think the vent is fastest, legs slowest, and beak does it in a pattern from the base out to the tip over several months, so an intermittent layer might actually have stripes in her beak with light for when she was laying and yellow when she was not.)
I know if I breed her to another blue, she could have blue or splash from that aspect, any idea what gold or silver would do?
Yes, breeding blue to blue can give chicks with black, blue, or splash. That applies only to the parts of the chicken that would be black. So on a solid black chicken, it applies to the whole bird. On a black tailed red chicken, they would become blue tailed red or splash tailed red. On a Silver Laced chicken, the black lacing would become blue or splash while the silver would stay silver. And so forth for other color patterns.
The chicks could show gold, or silver, or neither one, depending on which male she is bred to. If the chicks are mostly black, they could have some leakage of gold or silver as they grow up. Whether the leakage is gold, or whether it is silver, is determined by the gold/silver genes.
I haven't gotten last black/blue/lavender/dominant white in learning about all the colors.
All of those are based on Extended Black, which makes the chicken black all over, or at least mostly black. A few other genes are usually present to help cover any little bits that would otherwise show gold or silver. Then the black is diluted to blue, or lavender, or white.
Extended Black is one of the genes at the e-locus. "Locus" just means a place on a chromosome. The e-locus has at least 5 possible genes, but each individual chicken only has two (that may match or not.) Each of them has an abbreviation that begins with E or e, and they are the first dropdown box on the chicken calculator. They have a large effect on how the black and red pigments are distributed on the chicken.
Extended Black (E) does "extend" the black to cover most or all of the chicken. It is the most dominant of the genes at the e-locus. Your Easter Egger hen does not have this gene.
Birchen (E^R) causes a lot of black too-- often hens will be almost entirely black, maybe with a bit of gold or silver at the base of their neck. It is the second most dominant gene at the e-locus. Your Easter Egger hen does not have this gene either.
The other e-locus genes seem to not be simple dominant/recessive as regards each other. A chick or a hen can show aspects of two at once. And the roosters for the next three look alike, all showing the wild Black Breasted Red pattern.
Wheaten (E^Wh) causes the least black and the most red. Your Easter Egger hen might have Wheaten.
Wild-type, also called Duckwing and a few other names, has the abbreviation e+ The + means it is the original form that came from the wild Red Jungle Fowl. Hens with this gene often have an obvious salmon color in the breast, but that can be modified by various other genes. It is common in Easter Eggers. Your hen might have this gene.
Partridge (e^b) is also a possibility for your hen. I don't know as much about this one, because I got fascinated by a few of the others when I was first studying them, and haven't gotten back to it.
I think your hen probably has wheaten, wild-type, and/or partridge, either two of one or one each of two. But I don't know for sure which one(s).
The e-locus genes have a big effect on chick down color too. Chicks that look black are usually Birchen, chicks that look like penguins (black with white or yellow bellies) are usually Extended Black, chicks with chipmunk stripes are usually Wild-type, chicks that are a solid gold/buff/red color are usually Wheaten, and Partridge chicks tend to have a lot of dark brown on them. Chicks with mixed e-locus genes can show mixed traits. All of those are affected by various modifier genes, but the underlying patterns are often (not always) still visible.
But what I'm *really* hearing is I should breed her and then let some of those chicks have babies with her or each other and see what happens.
Yes, trying it out sounds like a great idea
If you do that, please post photos!
