Genetics for Dummies?

[Pipsnchicks]

Thank you so much! Pictures is what helps me out in understanding genetics. Just words will not suffice.

I'm the same way! It's so hard to figure it out from the description alone. Photos helped me sooo much. I've been working with a few different genetics professors on it and come a long way!

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

You could probably do it either way. I would think it's on-topic for this thread, but you might get more responses if you make a new thread with a title telling what you want to know.

All right! I will put my question here, then.

I mostly do words, which work well for me, but sounds like it's not as good a fit for you. I'm very glad that someone else has created and linked a source that has pictures!

That is totally fine! I just like to have examples of things in pictures so I can better visualize how the genes work. Like the Chicken Calculator you suggested, it shows what the outcome would be.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I know this is kind of ironic because I just mentioned how pictures help me visualize, but unfortunately I do not have any pictures at the moment to show my chickens in question, and the feather in question. I will get those later when I am on my phone, where my pictures are. Anyway, my question regards my chickens like I said.

I bred my Rhode Island Red Bantam hen, Ruby, to my Old English Game Bantam/Dutch Bantam hybrid rooster, Jasper. I got three pullets and one cockerel from them. The cockerel's name is Odie (who I love so much but that is besides the point). Odie has mainly red plumage, but not dark mahogany like Ruby, it is more of a bright, slightly darkish red. His saddle feathers are a fiery orange like Jasper's, and his hackles have some flecks of orange as well, which he also got from his sire. Odie has black spots too that shine blue, but not too many of them.

I have a collection of feathers from almost all of my chickens, and Ruby's fluff on her feathers is a dark brown, as it should be. I forgot the fluff color on Jasper's feathers but I think it is reddish. A few days ago I had Odie to give him some foraging time, and I was watching him. He flapped and one of his loose feathers fell on the ground. I picked it up and the feather was red of course, but the lower part of the fluffy was black and the upper part of the fluff was white. I am confused. Why would Odie have black-and-white on his feather's fluff?

 

[NatJ]

Why would Odie have black-and-white on his feather's fluff?

Given what you said of his appearance and background, I do not know why the underfluff would be that color. I haven't managed to learn much about that part of chicken coloring.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Given what you said of his appearance and background, I do not know why the underfluff would be that color. I haven't managed to learn much about that part of chicken coloring.

Well, thank you for answering anyway! I just found it strange. Would Jasper or Ruby have any white or black in their genetics at all? Like recessive or something?

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm working on adding all of the genes here, for both feathers and other things like comb types, the extra toe, etc. I find that pictures help so much, so I've slowly but surely been adding more to it as it grows.

https://www.pipsnchicks.com/chicken-genetics

I love it! I found out we're neighbors, lol. We live in Shawano County, 35 miles to where you live.

 

[NatJ]

Well, thank you for answering anyway! I just found it strange. Would Jasper or Ruby have any white or black in their genetics at all? Like recessive or something?

I have seen chickens with red or gold feathers and various colors of underfluff: some had white, some had dark gray or maybe black, some had underfluff that matched the top color of their feathers.

I just don't know enough about what causes the differences, or what could cause your rooster to have both white and black in his.

It does not seem to have anything to do with solid white or solid black ancestors.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I have seen chickens with red or gold feathers and various colors of underfluff: some had white, some had dark gray or maybe black, some had underfluff that matched the top color of their feathers.

I just don't know enough about what causes the differences, or what could cause your rooster to have both white and black in his.

It does not seem to have anything to do with solid white or solid black ancestors.

It seems we still have a mystery, then! I am not sure where I put Odie's feather but I will try to find it when I can.

Just to show them, this is Odie.

This is Odie's dam, Ruby. (Yes, she goes inside the house.)

This is Odie's sire, Jasper.

The only white fluff I see on Jasper is at the base of his tail, but that is not where Odie's feather came from.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Ignore the rounded comb points on Jasper, he got frostbite last winter.

 

[NatJ]

The only white fluff I see on Jasper is at the base of his tail, but that is not where Odie's feather came from.

You could pick up each one, spread the feathers apart, and look at the color down near the skin. It is very common for chicken feathers to be a different color down there, but you never see it when the feathers are laying neatly in place on the chicken. Sometimes you will find different colors on different parts of the chicken.

If you want examples on other people's chickens, look for threads about hens with bare backs (usually from overmating). They often have that under layer exposed. Sometimes it is similar to the color of the outer feathers, but sometimes it is very different, like the white fluff on Jasper.