The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding
A tinsel blue?
John:
--- Quote ---Would silver leakage show up as white on a bird?
--- End quote ---
Yes.
This may be one of those areas where a word has more than one meaning for us.
Silver is a variety (color/pattern) that is mostly black and silver (aka white).
Silver is also a gene (S) that shows as a silver/white color and is the opposite of gold (s+). Gold may appear as some reddish color. When talking about leakage of silver or gold they are referring to the genes, not the variety.
DeWayne Edgin:
Are you saying the black and blues carry the Silver gene then John?
John:
--- Quote ---Are you saying the black and blues carry the Silver gene then John?
--- End quote ---
Yes...sometimes. Either silver (S), gold (s+) or both (S/s+) for some males since it is sex linked. It is discussed in different topics, but here is a good one to start with.
http://ameraucana.org/forum/index.php?topic=1733.0
The confusion with "silver" being the name for both a variety and gene is not the only title that can lead to confusion with chickens. I've mentioned before about "wheaten" and "birchen". Both are also names for varieties, but also both are names for e-locus genes.
DeWayne Edgin:
I never knew that. Thanks.
John:
It is not just the black and blue chickens that carry either silver or gold, but all chickens to my knowledge. Just like all the other genes they have a locus (location on a chromosome - in this case the S-locus) for the "S" gene. Sometimes it is silver (white), sometimes gold and sometimes a male may carry/have both.
This is what makes the difference between a silver Sebright and a golden Sebright. It is the difference between the birchen (silver) and brown red (gold) varieties.
Black and blue chickens based on the Extended black gene (E), at the E-locus, cover leakage of silver and/or gold better than those based on Birchen (E^R, the gene here...not the birchen variety).
The parent stock in the flock this thread is about are probably mostly E/E birds with some that are E/E^R (like most in my opinion). It is more likely to "leak" or show on males, so don't use those guys as breeders. When a female inherits birchen from both sides (E^R/E^R) she will likely show silver or gold too. I ended up with a beautiful brown red hen that way years ago.
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