Yellow Leg persistence?

[SourRoses]

Hi, I've been looking everywhere for a chart I had saved on leg color inheritance, but since my old laptop bit the dust I just can't find it.

I have this mottled chick with yellow legs. His mom is a chocolate with leghorn ancestry who doesn't appear to be yellow legged, but maybe it's hidden by the chocolate effect on legs?
The father has white legs. I thought the white legs are dominant?

Backstory: I'm trying to work some of these leghorn genes into my project, for eggs sake, without any leghorn appearance remaining. I don't mind the leg color sticking around for now, but I don't want it to be permanent. If this chick is a cockerel and I use him for breeding, will it just spread yellow shanks all around?

Thanks!

 

[Amer]

Yellow skin is recessive.
The Leghorn ancestry has already spread the gene around, though this chick will certainly spread it further.
It just must be bred out at some point. Whatever did you need the Leghorn for, I might ask?

 

[Amer]

While Leghorns can advance egg production egg production can be increased in any strain without Leghorn ancestry, as proven by the egg laying contests in the past.

 

[Amer]

Certainly I would understand the utility of Leghorn genes if you are trying to introduce other genes that aren’t found in whatever breed you have (for example, dominant white is uncommon) but for a quantitative trait like egg production, Leghorn genes are unnecessary.

 

[SourRoses]

Yellow skin is recessive.
The Leghorn ancestry has already spread the gene around, though this chick will certainly spread it further.
It just must be bred out at some point. Whatever did you need the Leghorn for, I might ask?

Thanks! So, a hen can carry the recessive yellow shanks? I thought it was on the Z chromosome... would that make the chick male?

I understand what you're saying about the leghorn, lol. There is only the one hen in my flock carrying those genes (and now this one chick).
She (KitKat) was from my Lego project where I crossed English Orpington with a Leghorn hen. The purpose was for larger egg size. Based on the fact that Leghorns lay large eggs relative to their body size... and the English Orpington was a big, heavy chicken.
So I thought a big bird carrying the leghorn egg size traits could potentially lay Jumbo eggs. And I have gotten very big eggs from some of them! KitKat is an F2, her father was the biggest of 20 cockerels.
KitKat also came out Chocolate, so I thought we kinda won the chick lottery getting rid of the white, lol.

Now the rooster I crossed her with is from my main project, which is Ameraucana X English Orpington. He's an F2 from that.
The other chicks in this batch are from him and F1 and F2 hens of that mix.
The goal here is blue eggs, pea combs, muffs and beards, with English Orpington size, floofyness, and sweetness. And Mottled.

The hope with crossing KitKat in is to get the Blue eggs up to Jumbo size. I know it's an ambitious project, and will take a lot of time. We're 2 years in now.

So do you have any thoughts about using Leghorn for egg size genes? Do you vote I should discontinue using KitKat in the project? Or any other thoughts on egg size increases?
I've just been following my imagined picture of my perfect chicken, and made some guesses along the way, but I'm always open to feedback!

 

[skeeeter]

Minorcas are also known for size and eggsize.

 

[Amer]

Thanks! So, a hen can carry the recessive yellow shanks? I thought it was on the Z chromosome... would that make the chick male?

I understand what you're saying about the leghorn, lol. There is only the one hen in my flock carrying those genes (and now this one chick).
She (KitKat) was from my Lego project where I crossed English Orpington with a Leghorn hen. The purpose was for larger egg size. Based on the fact that Leghorns lay large eggs relative to their body size... and the English Orpington was a big, heavy chicken.
So I thought a big bird carrying the leghorn egg size traits could potentially lay Jumbo eggs. And I have gotten very big eggs from some of them! KitKat is an F2, her father was the biggest of 20 cockerels.
KitKat also came out Chocolate, so I thought we kinda won the chick lottery getting rid of the white, lol.

Now the rooster I crossed her with is from my main project, which is Ameraucana X English Orpington. He's an F2 from that.
The other chicks in this batch are from him and F1 and F2 hens of that mix.
The goal here is blue eggs, pea combs, muffs and beards, with English Orpington size, floofyness, and sweetness. And Mottled.

The hope with crossing KitKat in is to get the Blue eggs up to Jumbo size. I know it's an ambitious project, and will take a lot of time. We're 2 years in now.

So do you have any thoughts about using Leghorn for egg size genes? Do you vote I should discontinue using KitKat in the project? Or any other thoughts on egg size increases?
I've just been following my imagined picture of my perfect chicken, and made some guesses along the way, but I'm always open to feedback!

Yellow legs are autosomal recessive, not sexlinked recessive.
I also believe good egg size can be selected for but Minorcas are a good shortcut (if you get good Standard Bred ones with body and egg size.)

 

[Amer]

Thank you for the suggestion, Skeeter!

 

[Amer]

But I think AmeraucanaXOrpington is just fine, Ameraucanas are known for their large eggs and eggs can get even larger through selection!

 

[SourRoses]

Yellow legs are autosomal recessive, not sexlinked recessive.
I also believe good egg size can be selected for but Minorcas are a good shortcut (if you get good Standard Bred ones with body and egg size.)

Thank you both

I did consider Minorca at one point, but finding a good breeder was very difficult.

Might KitKat yield chicks without recessive yellow, or will they all carry it?


The F1 Am x Orp hens do lay XL. But I really want Jumbo blues, preferably in their first year. I'd rather they laid less frequently if it meant bigger, cooler eggs, lol.
But they also have a delayed onset of lay from the English Orpington genes. I'm comfortable waiting until 6 months old, but some of them have waited until 9 or 10 months