OK, that makes sense. I could see that recessive white with silver could give a cleaner white than recessive white with gold. I know that when recessive white is not present, silver needs some other genes to give a clean-looking silver (that shows up when people cross gold x silver, and the...
Silver turns gold/red shades into white (although it sometimes missed a bit.)
Recessive white turns EVERYTHING into white. It is less likely to leak colors than other forms of white.
So I think recessive white is most likely to be the one involved here. The chick certainly could have Silver as...
There is a sex-linked gene that allows dark skin, and is recessive. So the rooster could be carrying that gene, and it would be visible in about half of his daughters. Why he would be carrying that gene is a good question-- maybe a cross with Silkie in the distant past? The dominant traits from...
Possible explanations:
--Recessive White chickens can show various colors in their down when they hatch.
Example, White Jersey Giants
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/white_giants.html
If it grows completely white feathers, this is probably the correct explanation.
--Hens could have mated with...
That is about what I would expect if someone crossed a Silver Laced Polish with a Buff Laced Polish. Or maybe a Buff Laced Polish with a Black Crested White Polish.
I think he has the Silver gene (turns gold into white), and probably carries one gold gene as well (causing the yellowish color)...
If you used a Buff Laced Polish rooster and Silver Laced Polish hens, then yes the daughters will show gold (buff) and the sons will show silver (all white.)
But if you cross a Silver Laced Polish rooster with a Buff Laced hen, you will typically get all white chicks in both genders.
And if...
In most white chickens, pretty much yes.
In chickens that show several colors on each bird: silver turns gold/red into white. It makes a big difference there (example: Gold Laced Polish vs. Silver Laced Polish.)
To make a white chicken, genetically, there are several ways to do it:
--recessive...
Yes, I think you have a flaw in how you think of recessive genes.
The genes are located (in a physical sense) on the chicken's chromosomes.
The chromosomes come in pairs.
Each gene has a particular spot on the chromosome. Since chickens have pairs of chromosomes, that means their genes are in...
Blue and splash are caused by the same gene as each other. One blue gene dilutes black to a gray shade, two blue genes dilute black to splash. Blue is considered incompletely dominant because one copy of the gene has a visible effect (blue) and two copies have a stronger effect (splash).
For...
Probably yes.
That is what I would expect. But I'll be curious to see how it looks as it grows, since we've already seen some unexpected things from this set of matings :)
Yes, the chicks should be split for mottling.
If you want visible mottling (chicks with two copies of the gene), use that rooster with a hen that also shows mottling (100% of chicks will show mottling), or use him with a hen that is split for mottling (50% of chicks will show mottling, 50% will...
Probably all chicks from that pair will look about the same as the one you are holding.
I think it will grow up to be red, but with some black in the tail and hackles (not as much black as the father has, but more than the mother has.)
The white speckles on the father are caused by the...
I agree, those breeding ideas would work to get a recessive white rooster (pure for the recessive white gene), and breeding him with the recessive white hens would produce only recessive white chicks. (White, white, white: always white.)
Yes, that would work equally well.
If you have hens and...
Yes, those numbers are definitely big enough to tell something. That's close to a 50/50 split of two colors, plus one other.
If these are all coming from White Cochins, one possible genetic explanation:
--one parent is pure for recessive white, the other is split for Dominant White and...
Definitely confusing.
At this point, I'm inclined to wait for them to feather out before guessing any more. It is good to have the photos to show what they look like at various ages, so then we can put all the clues together and (hopefully) figure out what is really going on.
Yes, I do agree...