The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding
Genetic discussion of slow Feather (K) and tardy feather (t)
crystalcreek:
--- Quote from: jerryse ---You can sex chicks by the growth rate of the tail feathers.The pullets tail will grow faster if I remember correctly.That may not be what you have.Was this the only cockerel with this condition?Just thought I would put this out as a possibilty.
--- End quote ---
It was not the only one. From talking with others working on the variety, I believe it is pretty common. I know several breeds were used to introduce the color in bantams, and subsequent to that, to improve size, so is it possible those were the source, and it is, indeed, slow feather? Or tardy feather? That\'s why I want a description of the gene so I can figure this out, even when Ameraucana typically don\'t exhibit either.
Jean:
From what I have browsed in the Genetics of the Fowl book, tardy feathering does not differ in the male and female birds, so they would both be showing very slow feather growth.
So, in my opinion, what we have is the slow feathering gene.
http://chla.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=chla&cc=chla&idno=2837819&q1=Genetics+of+the+Fowl&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=146
Mike Gilbert:
Sellers website lists a total of four possible alleles at the K locus. The first, k+ is wild type and rapid feathering. Then there are three others that cause varying degrees of slow feathering. The link is listed below. All are sex linked, which explains why males feather slower than females; the males inherit two of the K series genes while the female only inherits one. Also, k+ is recessive to all the other three, and that explains why you can have a rooster that throws both fast feathering and slow feathering progeny. Such a male is split for k+ and one of the three K slower feathering genes.
Thanks for the link to the Hutt reference. Though I own the book, I have never read it from cover to cover - too boring to spend that much time on it. He does seem to document a good case for an autosomal (not sex linked) recessive gene (t) that acts similarly to the dominant K series.
http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page3.html
crystalcreek:
Is it something that \"needs\" to be eliminated? If it is, how does one go about doing that since it would be a sex-linked trait and possibly present as a recessive? I keep going back to fast feathering blacks but perhaps I am not on the right track. I hate to start all over again, at this point, because the birds are getting better, in my opinion, however slow the rate of improvement may be (pun, intended)..... Will the daughters of the slow male above crossed on Smith blacks be \"carriers\"? Please pardon all my questions, I\'m just really trying to understand this.
Mike Gilbert:
The answers to your questions depend on whether you are dealing with K or t. Apparently K is dominant and sex linked while t is neither. So the best course of action is to find out which it is. So get a female from a known fast feathering line and cross it with your slow feathering rooster. If half or all the pullet offspring from that mating are slow feathering, you know you have K. If they are all fast feathering you have t.
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