Some hidden genes.

[Mike Gilbert]

Jensen, I don\'t think you could get a splash from a black to black mating, so if you got a white both parents were carriers of the recessive white gene.   You could breed it to another recessive white and get all whites.   But if you bred it to a hetero dominant white you would get colored birds.

[John]

The top chick is one that hatched today from the black pair that produced the other chicks of mine on this topic.
The other photo is of the same one that I posted back in February.  It is feathering out white.
This new one today just looks different to me than the other.  Maybe not much, but the overall color reminds me of the ones I had several years ago that I thought may be smoky (aka smokey).  I\'m quite sure that isn\'t what they were after more research.
Anyway the wing feathers aren\'t showing much yet, but they don\'t look white at this point...more gray.  I\'ll take another photo in a few days.

[greeneggsandham]

I love that chick down color!  Very pretty.

[Guest]

John, any news on the color development?

I thought you might be interested; my first two white Ameraucanas  hatched Saturday, one the color of your first two pictured, the other the same color and pattern [with the white dot on the head quite defined] as the second ones you posted. Their first wing feathers are coming in white, as expected.

PS I alredy knew to expect some that would be  indestinguishable from blues; and another from this same group of eggs, hatched by somone I sold them to, produced a chick you would have trouble seperating from a group of blue chicks. This line has a history of this, but always feather white.

[John]

Update...here is one of the chicks that looked \"blue\" when hatched.  If it is recessive white at work here it is not alone.  

[Jean]

Got a recessive white out of my silver split X silver split pen a couple of weeks ago....... looks just like that one.

[Mike Gilbert]

What is interesting with this guy is all the melanin/gray in his feathers.   I don\'t think this is recessive white unless some unknown modifier is at work with it.

[Jean]

Here are a couple shots of mine.





This is out of my silver split over silver split pen.  It was a very nice color egg, so I hatched it to see what I would get.  I will probably end up using it in my white pen if it is of decent size.  I bet it will be a very nice color white with the silver genes it is carrying.

I will probably hatch a few more of these eggs to see if I can get any more.

[John]

Jean,
The ones with the lighter gray chick down seem to feather out white like yours, but the last one I posted was one with the darker gray (blue looking) down.  It is white for the most part, but with gray.
   
Everyone,
I knew these didn\'t look like standard recessive white chick down and that\'s why I posted the photos in February.  I\'m willing to consider they are recessive white, but if so it \"it is not alone\" (some other gene(s) is also at work).  I think it would be nice to know what I\'m dealing with, but may never know.  
I do believe once you know what the day-old chick phenotype should look like for any variety you can do your heaviest culling then.  

[Guest]

That\'s a very interestingly colored chick. I\'ve read of another type of recessive white, only theorized to exist, that does not always fully dilute colors, working more like lav in some instances.

[Guest]

John, sombody asked if I would post a picture of another sport out of a B/B/S pen, supposedly no chance of a pen jumper. I have not figured out the picture posting here yet, so here\'s a link to the other forum page [if that\'s all right].
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6366805#p6366805

ETA: Poat #8794

[John]

another type of recessive white

I\'ve also heard tell of another type of blue that is so light it looks white.  Standard recessive white Ameraucana chicks should look like the one posted on our ABC photos page though.
http://ameraucana.org/scrapbook_files/whitelf.jpg

sport out of a B/B/S pen

I don\'t recall ever seeing any like it.  The owner did say \"One splash hen is unknown breeder, small, scrawny compared to the others\", so maybe that is the key to the mystery.

have not figured out the picture posting here yet

It\'s easier than some forums and not as easy as others.  If you can reduce your pics to under 50KB, it is as easy as any.  The instructions are here...
http://ameraucana.org/abcforum/index.php?a=topic&t=208

[Mike Gilbert]

John, sombody asked if I would post a picture of another sport out of a B/B/S pen, supposedly no chance of a pen jumper. I have not figured out the picture posting here yet, so here\'s a link to the other forum page [if that\'s all right].
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6366805#p6366805

ETA: Poat #8794

That is clearly a crossbred rooster.   White shanks don\'t come out of nowhere in pure Ameraucana stock, and his comb appears to be half single, half pea.   Either that or he is out of easter eggers.  That red leakage would not come out of pure Ameraucana blacks and blues either.

[Guest]

It\'s easier than some forums and not as easy as others.  If you can reduce your pics to under 50KB, it is as easy as any.  The instructions are here...

Thank you John, I need to play with my computer to learn to downsize the pics.

That is clearly a crossbred rooster.  White shanks don\'t come out of nowhere in pure Ameraucana stock, and his comb appears to be half single, half pea.  Either that or he is out of easter eggers.  That red leakage would not come out of pure Ameraucana blacks and blues either.

Thanks for the input Mike, those were my thoughts also [though those may be pale slate rather than white shanks], and would suspect the splash hen was an EE. [I\'ve experienced that  :p] I had to wonder why that hen, as she described her, was in the breeding pen anyway; but everybody has different ways of doing things I guess.  

[jerryse]

John I wonder if these will grow up to be the smokey whites similar to what I showed you in Ky.I thought at that time that it was the work of the lavender gene but now I think no.I will be saving a pair of these for further study.