What color?

[NatJ]

I’ll have to get one of him in the morning. But here’s GFF picture. He looks like this hen but much bigger.

In that case, I can answer this question:

He’s a turkey head. I’m not sure if his coloring would be considered barred but he looks barred

He definitely has the barring gene.

I would say he is "barred" because he has that gene. Some other people distinguish "barred" and "cuckoo" based on how tidy the barring it, and I don't know which one they would say.

But either way, if he looks like that pictures, he definitely has the barring gene, so his chicks should have white barring, and he definitely has the genes to produce chicks that are black all over (dominant over most other chicken color genes) with the white barring over the black.

So with most hens, I would expect him to sire chicks that look like himself: black with white barring.

You have several chicks matching the light color of the mother, and no dark chicks from that pairing, right? That definitely shows the mother has a dominant gene of some sort. Dominant White can certainly do that, and so can Blue. But they aren't looking as white as Dominant White should be, and they are looking too light for what Blue usually is, so I agree with you in being puzzled about what is going on genetically (basically, for your question in the first post, I don't know the answer either.)

The rooster could have one copy of the barring gene (gives it to half his chicks) or two copies (gives it to all his chicks), and we won't know that until we see a photo of him. The appearance is usually a little different for chickens with one vs. two copies of that gene. But either way he should be producing black-based chicks, not lavender or recessive white (because both of those are caused by recessive genes, which he is not showing and should not be carrying either.)

 

[Amer]

In that case, I can answer this question:

He definitely has the barring gene.

I would say he is "barred" because he has that gene. Some other people distinguish "barred" and "cuckoo" based on how tidy the barring it, and I don't know which one they would say.

But either way, if he looks like that pictures, he definitely has the barring gene, so his chicks should have white barring, and he definitely has the genes to produce chicks that are black all over (dominant over most other chicken color genes) with the white barring over the black.

So with most hens, I would expect him to sire chicks that look like himself: black with white barring.

You have several chicks matching the light color of the mother, and no dark chicks from that pairing, right? That definitely shows the mother has a dominant gene of some sort. Dominant White can certainly do that, and so can Blue. But they aren't looking as white as Dominant White should be, and they are looking too light for what Blue usually is, so I agree with you in being puzzled about what is going on genetically (basically, for your question in the first post, I don't know the answer either.)

The rooster could have one copy of the barring gene (gives it to half his chicks) or two copies (gives it to all his chicks), and we won't know that until we see a photo of him. The appearance is usually a little different for chickens with one vs. two copies of that gene. But either way he should be producing black-based chicks, not lavender or recessive white (because both of those are caused by recessive genes, which he is not showing and should not be carrying either.)

I would think he has two copies of barring since the breed only comes in that color.
But I am also puzzled by the chicks. The only thing I can think of is that they are a very light blue.
Blue does sometimes make it hard for barring to express but I still would have expected head spots on chicks.

 

[MysteryChicken]

In that case, I can answer this question:

He definitely has the barring gene.

I would say he is "barred" because he has that gene. Some other people distinguish "barred" and "cuckoo" based on how tidy the barring it, and I don't know which one they would say.

But either way, if he looks like that pictures, he definitely has the barring gene, so his chicks should have white barring, and he definitely has the genes to produce chicks that are black all over (dominant over most other chicken color genes) with the white barring over the black.

So with most hens, I would expect him to sire chicks that look like himself: black with white barring.

You have several chicks matching the light color of the mother, and no dark chicks from that pairing, right? That definitely shows the mother has a dominant gene of some sort. Dominant White can certainly do that, and so can Blue. But they aren't looking as white as Dominant White should be, and they are looking too light for what Blue usually is, so I agree with you in being puzzled about what is going on genetically (basically, for your question in the first post, I don't know the answer either.)

The rooster could have one copy of the barring gene (gives it to half his chicks) or two copies (gives it to all his chicks), and we won't know that until we see a photo of him. The appearance is usually a little different for chickens with one vs. two copies of that gene. But either way he should be producing black-based chicks, not lavender or recessive white (because both of those are caused by recessive genes, which he is not showing and should not be carrying either.)

This is just as fun as 2 of my project PBA in pullets are laying Teal, & Blue. No mixing, just boom surprise.

I wonder if the bird in question has a mutation similar to Khaki.

 

[NagemTX]

"But either way he should be producing black-based chicks, not lavender or recessive white (because both of those are caused by recessive genes, which he is not showing and should not be carrying either.)"

If he was carrying either lavender or recessive white you wouldn't know because they are recessive.

 

[Smileybans]

In that case, I can answer this question:

He definitely has the barring gene.

I would say he is "barred" because he has that gene. Some other people distinguish "barred" and "cuckoo" based on how tidy the barring it, and I don't know which one they would say.

But either way, if he looks like that pictures, he definitely has the barring gene, so his chicks should have white barring, and he definitely has the genes to produce chicks that are black all over (dominant over most other chicken color genes) with the white barring over the black.

So with most hens, I would expect him to sire chicks that look like himself: black with white barring.

You have several chicks matching the light color of the mother, and no dark chicks from that pairing, right? That definitely shows the mother has a dominant gene of some sort. Dominant White can certainly do that, and so can Blue. But they aren't looking as white as Dominant White should be, and they are looking too light for what Blue usually is, so I agree with you in being puzzled about what is going on genetically (basically, for your question in the first post, I don't know the answer either.)

The rooster could have one copy of the barring gene (gives it to half his chicks) or two copies (gives it to all his chicks), and we won't know that until we see a photo of him. The appearance is usually a little different for chickens with one vs. two copies of that gene. But either way he should be producing black-based chicks, not lavender or recessive white (because both of those are caused by recessive genes, which he is not showing and should not be carrying either.)

This was very informative. Thank you. Heres an actual picture of him. He escaped his run yesterday and got into the deeper part of the mud. So he’s pretty dirty.

I have been seeing some of my chicks come out with spots their heads. But I thought it was from my Easter egger pen. I have a barred female that I’m crossing with a frizzled Easter egger. The female already lays blue eggs so I’m pretty sure that would make her mixed. But she does look barred.

 

[Amer]

"But either way he should be producing black-based chicks, not lavender or recessive white (because both of those are caused by recessive genes, which he is not showing and should not be carrying either.)"

If he was carrying either lavender or recessive white you wouldn't know because they are recessive.

I doubt that breed has the lavender gene because it has to be introduced to show up and it originated in the Belgian bantams. This Turkey Head breed is a variant of the Malines breed.

 

[NagemTX]

I doubt that breed has the lavender gene because it has to be introduced to show up and it originated in the Belgian bantams. This Turkey Head breed is a variant of the Malines breed.

True, but the logic in that sentence would be incorrect and misleading. They are recessive and wouldn't show up unless there are two copies. Just trying to keep it precise.

 

[NatJ]

"But either way he should be producing black-based chicks, not lavender or recessive white (because both of those are caused by recessive genes, which he is not showing and should not be carrying either.)"

If he was carrying either lavender or recessive white you wouldn't know because they are recessive.

About lavender and recessive white, I said he was not showing those genes (obviously correct) and I said he "should not be carrying" them because his breed is not supposed to be carrying them.

I agree that you cannot tell if he carries the genes by looking at his appearance. But I can tell that he SHOULD not have them, by knowing that he is a particular breed and reading the Greenfire Farms writeup about the breed.

Of course a chicken CAN have genes that are wrong for their breed, but at the moment I think it is more likely for the hen to have some dominant gene, than for the hen to have a recessive gene and the rooster to have the same recessive gene (when he is unrelated to the hen, and is a breed that is not supposed to have that gene.)

 

[NatJ]

This was very informative. Thank you. Heres an actual picture of him. He escaped his run yesterday and got into the deeper part of the mud. So he’s pretty dirty.

I have been seeing some of my chicks come out with spots their heads. But I thought it was from my Easter egger pen. I have a barred female that I’m crossing with a frizzled Easter egger. The female already lays blue eggs so I’m pretty sure that would make her mixed. But she does look barred.

Yes, probably two copies of the barring gene (normal for a rooster of a barred breed.)

As regards the Easter Egger pen, if you cross a female who shows barring with a male who has no barring, you get sexlink chicks: sons have barring (light spot on the top of the head at hatch) and daughters who have no barring. (For this cross, the male needs to have no barring gene, which is easy to check on some colors of chickens and hard or impossible with others. White barring is much more obvious on a black chicken than on a white or buff one!)

 

[NagemTX]

The sentence just made it sound that way to me.

Like trying to see mottled on a lavender. I have an Orpington from Cackle that came out lavender mottled and it's very hard to see the mottleing.