White Flight Feathers...

[MeepBeep]

It's my understanding that the white flight feathers indicates split white or dark pied...

But, my question is do the split to whites always have white flight feathers, or is there possibly another gene that will mask it? I ask because I have hatched 19 chicks this season (so far) from my local egg supplier I know for a fact they have two hens a white and regular blue, as well as I believe three (possibly two) regular blue cocks and a white cock... So I would expect there to be a high percentage of split whites and even the possibility of a white in the bunch as they are all communally housed... But, so far out of those 19 hatches only one has white flights, one is black shoulder, one has very minimal pied and one is only a few days old and is either another black shoulder or the first white... So it's clear that there are other genes in the breading stock... Personally I would have expected to see more split to white, as I know I'm getting eggs from both hens as I have been I'm getting an average of 1.5 eggs a day, and I have a 95%+ hatch rate on the pea eggs so it's not like the white hen is laying all duds to skew the numbers...

Just seems statistically odd that I'm not seeing more of the white gene, and thus the question... But, then again I fully understand that genetic statistical percentages are just a numerical guess...

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Don't know much about whites, but in order for you to get BS chicks both parents have to be at least split to BS...
Maybe you can post pictures of your chicks?

 

[casportpony]

My hens with white flights produce about 50% with white. Disclaimer: I know nothing about genetics!

-Kathy

 

[MeepBeep]

Don't know much about whites, but in order for you to get BS chicks both parents have to be at least split to BS...

Understand that, thus I know there are other genes 'hidden' in the parents and thus the question if any of them will hide the split to white, that I'm seeing a shortage of in the hatchings...

This is my black shoulder possibly even black shoulder silver pied? They were born pure white...




This is the the minimally pied chick, more so just a pied spot on the head...

 

[Arbor]

If your not getting many whites, or split to white, chances are that the white male is not contributing. Occasionally, I've had males that have no trace of white in any feather, but have fathered white birds.

 

[MeepBeep]

If your not getting many whites, or split to white, chances are that the white male is not contributing. Occasionally,

That still doesn't account for the split to whites I should be getting from the white hen, that should account for roughly be 50% of my eggs/hatchings...

Quote:
That is what I'm curious about, if this is indeed true then we are back to my question, and possibly an answer that not all split to whites have white flights?

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Sorry to jump in here with my half-baked knowledge of genetics, but as I understand it, just because the hen is phenotypically white doesn't mean she's genotypically white, right? So she might just be contributing something else to the mix?

 

[MeepBeep]

Sorry to jump in here with my half-baked knowledge of genetics, but as I understand it, just because the hen is phenotypically white doesn't mean she's genotypically white, right? So she might just be contributing something else to the mix?

For her to be white she needs the double white gene, but those white genes can/might hide other color mutations she is carrying from what I understand...

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

I have a splading bronze peacock split white and he don't have any white flight feathers, he only has a small white spot on his throat.

 

[zazouse]

For the past two seasons i have gotten solid IB chicks out of pieds, whites and split white and the father was an IB split to white

This year one of my white hens gave me eggs that hatched out pied,white split white and solid IB chicks so my findings are that not all chicks will express white flights.
Some of my first pieds came from a pair that expressed no white at all.