Rhode Island red Exhibition color breeding

[carrollj]

I have some exhibition line of Rhode Island reds that I did get from a hatchery.
I am hatching chicks off of them and they look and perform great except for one issue.

as they get older about 30-40% develop some white feathering. this only exists in my offspring as my parent stock look perfect

my question is, what would be the best approach to breed this out as both of my hens and roosters will have this hidden genetic

 

[AprilWC]

I would hatch from specific pairs or trios. Keep careful records and use a more or less permanent identification on chicks to indicate the parentage. Grow out as many chicks as you can from each pair and determine which birds are producing your white feathers. If you can narrow it down, cull those parent birds and only breed from the ones not throwing white.

 

[carrollj]

Thanks i have been hatching from 3 separate trios. they all had this occurrence but there is one with a lower percentage. I was wondering if line breeding or even taking a crossing breeding approach with the offspring might help.

 

[GlicksChicks]

Thanks i have been hatching from 3 separate trios. they all had this occurrence but there is one with a lower percentage. I was wondering if line breeding or even taking a crossing breeding approach with the offspring might help.

I don't know much about the crossing approach, but a breed that might help make it darker is a Buckeye.

Line breeding may also work, take the less white ones and breed until the white is gone. But it may be helpful to buy RIR stock from somewhere else and see if you can get some better genetics.

 

[AprilWC]

Thanks i have been hatching from 3 separate trios. they all had this occurrence but there is one with a lower percentage. I was wondering if line breeding or even taking a crossing breeding approach with the offspring might help.

If I were in your position and didn't want to start over, I would focus on breeding the trio that has a lower incidence of white. I would separate the females into individual pens and move your male between the pens to service them. Then grow out and look for white. Hopefully that will allow you to narrow down who is throwing the white feathers.