white from black-blue mating?

[Guest]

I bred a trio of a black rooster, with light tips on hackles to an all black hen and a blue hen.

The chicks hatched out blue, but feathered out pure white.
about half also have short tails, or hardly any. They are about 12 weeks old.

Any suggestions as to what happened?

Sterling

[Guest]

Firstly, I wouldn\'t worry about the tails, at that age they are probably just getting ready for their adult tail feathers.
On the white, the most obvious response would be that all birds carry recessive white although I do not know how down is affected.
I\'ve heard of an autoimmune problem where the feathers gradually lose pigment but I believe you are saying the juvenile fethers came in all white. Are you sure they are not splashes with no ticking? Sometimes an apparently black bird is actually a very dark blue. It is not mottling as that works the other way with most white on down progressing to just the tips at adult feather.

[Guest]

No, I\'ve examined them and they are pure white, no other color.  I\'m assuming they came from 2 birds with one recessive white gene each,, so they are totally white.
I don\'t see that I have any males, they all still look like girls.

I would like some splash.  All the other chicks from these matings are black.  I wonder what would result from breeding the whites back to a black half brother?

Sterling

[Guest]

A splash results from 2 blue genes. Your white & black matings will produce either black (either no recessive white or 1 recessive white gene) or white (2 recessive white gene).