pure white birds from a trio of black & blue only

[Guest]

Last year I hatched out some blue chicks from a pen of a black rooster, a black hen and a blue hen.

They hatched blue, but they feathered out pure white!
At first I thought they were splash, but there isn\'t one feather on them that is not white!

I ended up with 1 rooster and 1 hen.  

This year, again, I\'m getting blue chicks that feather out white, but all the birds in the pen are black!

The white rooster is producing a yellow chick with chipmonk backs and a smudge of brown on the heads. This is with 2 wheaten hens.

I think the white birds are recessive? Is this normal or a fluke?
Will they produce anything else?  I\'m tempted to put the rooster on his black sisters to see what happens.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Suzanne

[Guest]

There is a recessive white.  I would guess that\'s what you have discovered in your birds.

[Jean]

Suzanne,

Can I ask why are you breeding a white rooster to wheaten hens?

I agree that you may have a recessive white in there somewhere.  Maybe the rooster or the hens came from the cross of a white and a black bird.  They would probably then all be carrying the white gene.

There are others on the forum who are experts at genetics, maybe they will chime in.

I am currently discussing a similar subject on BYC as to why you should keep your color lines seperate.

Jean

PS I imagine if you put your white rooster back over the black hens, if they have recessive white, the chicks will all be white.

[John]

I imagine if you put your white rooster back over the black hens, if they have recessive white, the chicks will all be white

The majority would be, but you would still get some black looking birds that will be carrying the recessive white.
Using blacks to improve whites is a good way to go, but it is best to not keep the black offspring after you are finished breeding from them.  

[Mike Gilbert]

Recessive means just that.   Colored birds can be carriers, just like rose comb birds can be carriers of single comb.  For a recessive trait to manifest itself, it has to be inherited from both parents, not just one.    In this case, the gene for recessive white was inherited from both the rooster and the hen(s).    May I suggest you start a new line of whites?   They will breed true, as all your white birds carry two copies of the necessary gene.   If they carry extended black or birchen underneath, all the better - they will be better whites than if they carried wheaten or wild type underneath.

[Guest]

That is what I plan to do, breed for whites.

I had the white rooster with the wheaten because I no other place to put him..

Sue

[Guest]

Your white roo and wheaten offspring chick down color sounds like it is brown and not wheaten. Wheaten should be dominant over the brown but this does not seem to be the case. It is not unusual for chicks to be recessive white and have gray or reddish down.  

As Mike and John stated, extended black makes for a better recessive white bird. If the birds are silver, it would be even better.

Tim