Chicken feather genetics

[SubliminalD]

I have been doing a lot of research in an effort to understand chicken feather genetics, partly because I'm curious what my buff orpington roo x blue copper marans hen chicks will look like when they mature.
There is a lot of information on feather genetics but I haven't found anything about buff x blue genetics.

Does anyone have any information or anecdotes about this color combo?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Yardmom]

Going to tag a couple people who might know @nicalandia and @NatJ

 

[nicalandia]

I have been doing a lot of research in an effort to understand chicken feather genetics, partly because I'm curious what my buff orpington roo x blue copper marans hen chicks will look like when they mature.
There is a lot of information on feather genetics but I haven't found anything about buff x blue genetics.

Does anyone have any information or anecdotes about this color combo?

Thanks for any help!

There are plenty of Buff x Black cross results here, its the same premesis but with blue

 

[NatJ]

I'm curious what my buff orpington roo x blue copper marans hen chicks will look like when they mature.
There is a lot of information on feather genetics but I haven't found anything about buff x blue genetics.

Does anyone have any information or anecdotes about this color combo?

If you can imagine a Blue Copper Marans with more copper and less blue, I think about half your chicks should look like that. The other half of the chicks would have the same basic pattern but with black instead of the blue.

 

[SubliminalD]

There are plenty of Buff x Black cross results here, its the same premesis but with blue

Is blue dominant like black is?

 

[NatJ]

Is blue dominant like black is?

Blue is a gene that modifies any black on the chicken. For a chicken that would be all black, a blue gene changes the whole chicken to blue. If a chicken would normally be buff with a black tail, the blue gene would just change the color of the tail.

In your case, using a Blue Copper Marans will give exactly the same results as using a Black Copper Marans, except that half the chicks will have their black parts turned into blue.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/black-copper-maran-x-buff-orpington.1319533/
Here is a thread with some pictures of Black Copper Marans x Buff Orpington chickens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As NatJ said, the BBS gene (Blue Black Splash) gene modifies the feathers that are normally black. It does not affect other colored feathers. The BBS gene is not a fully dominant gene but is a partially dominant gene. It is kind of weird but there are other partially dominant genes like it. If both genes at that gene pair are the BBS gene, then the chicken is a splash. If only one gene at that gene pair is the BBS gene, then the chicken is blue. Remember this only affects feathers that would normally be black. In neither of the genes at that gene pair are BBS, then the default color is black.

Since your hen is a blue, only one of her genes at that gene pair is BBS. Those genes are passed down to all of her offspring randomly so about half of her offspring will be black, about half will be blue.

Nice photos on that link. I really like that orange. Buff can have some strange effects when mixed with black. In theory black should be dominant but it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes you get something like that orange, either in a big area or a small. I've seen yellow. Sometimes some individual feathers can have both yellow and black or maybe orange and black. I always like to see when buff is bred to black, you sometimes get some really striking appearances. They don't all look the same.

 

[Speedyfth]

Hey this is off topic a little but still about genes. I’m looking for some hatching eggs with the Scaless gene can anyone point me in the right direction.

 

[NatJ]

Hey this is off topic a little but still about genes. I’m looking for some hatching eggs with the Scaless gene can anyone point me in the right direction.

I suggest you post that question in this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-ask-anything-to-nicalandia-thread.1509343/
That thread is read by a number of people who are quite knowledgeable about genetics, so maybe one of them would know someone who is working with that gene.

Normally I would suggest the buy/sell/trade section if you want to buy eggs, but this question probably does fit better in a genetics thread since you are looking for a specific rare gene.

 

[Speedyfth]

I suggest you post that question in this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-ask-anything-to-nicalandia-thread.1509343/
That thread is read by a number of people who are quite knowledgeable about genetics, so maybe one of them would know someone who is working with that gene.

Normally I would suggest the buy/sell/trade section if you want to buy eggs, but this question probably does fit better in a genetics thread since you are looking for a specific rare gene.

Thank you