Improving partridge - Crossing to white.
So after my first attempt to improve partridge by crossing to black, i culled 18 chicks that hatched and kept one pullet. This was the only female who shows patterning gene in her juvenile feathers and displayed the heterozygous e locus i was looking for (E/e^b). Unfortunately she was eaten by a Genet.
My second attempt at improving my partridge will be a cross to white. This is largely to the fact that i want to see if my white birds are dominant or recessive white.
There are a few other reasons, i do not want any melanisers from my black birds, and they are hiding recessive mottling which i dont want in my birds, and my white display better type.
Assuming dominant white.
So the plan is to use my Partridge male split for mottling, over both my White hens. Keeping the best 3 (learnt my lesson from the predator) pullets from this f1 cross, and back crossing to the partridge male.
The key here will be identifying the f1 pullets that carry Pg, as these would be the only ones viable in future crossings. I could see clearly the heterozygous eb chicks from the cross to black as all display pattern leakage in juvenile feathering before being covered up by black. I also know that a single copy of Dominant white will allow red pigment to leak through into the white birds, but have no idea about how Pg will show, if at all.
In the f2 from this cross, there will be 25 % white and 25% black, and will be split on their e locus EE/e^b
The rest will be e^b/e^b segregates, only birds that display pure e^b chick down will be kept in the f2.
The f2 remaining e^b segregates should all show colour, as we have bred out extended black on the e-locus, and there will be quite a few colours arising from that breeding. The split between the birds carrying the e-locus and the pure
e^b birds should be 50%. In fact, you can be sure that ANY bird that carries colour in the f2 will be pure on the e locus again.
Some of the possible phenotypes include
- Partridge (pure (Pg/Pg) and impure (Pg/pg+)) 25%
- White patterned Partridge (Here the black is hidden by a single copy of dominant white) 25%
- Black (with leakage) 25%
- White (with leakage) 25%
My second attempt at improving my partridge will be a cross to white. This is largely to the fact that i want to see if my white birds are dominant or recessive white.
There are a few other reasons, i do not want any melanisers from my black birds, and they are hiding recessive mottling which i dont want in my birds, and my white display better type.
Assuming dominant white.
So the plan is to use my Partridge male split for mottling, over both my White hens. Keeping the best 3 (learnt my lesson from the predator) pullets from this f1 cross, and back crossing to the partridge male.
The key here will be identifying the f1 pullets that carry Pg, as these would be the only ones viable in future crossings. I could see clearly the heterozygous eb chicks from the cross to black as all display pattern leakage in juvenile feathering before being covered up by black. I also know that a single copy of Dominant white will allow red pigment to leak through into the white birds, but have no idea about how Pg will show, if at all.
In the f2 from this cross, there will be 25 % white and 25% black, and will be split on their e locus EE/e^b
The rest will be e^b/e^b segregates, only birds that display pure e^b chick down will be kept in the f2.
The f2 remaining e^b segregates should all show colour, as we have bred out extended black on the e-locus, and there will be quite a few colours arising from that breeding. The split between the birds carrying the e-locus and the pure
e^b birds should be 50%. In fact, you can be sure that ANY bird that carries colour in the f2 will be pure on the e locus again.
Some of the possible phenotypes include
- Partridge (pure (Pg/Pg) and impure (Pg/pg+)) 25%
- White patterned Partridge (Here the black is hidden by a single copy of dominant white) 25%
- Black (with leakage) 25%
- White (with leakage) 25%
While White patterned Partridge is a rather interesting prospect, it should give some very handsome males, with a gold neck and wing area, and a white tail, females should carry white pencilling and a white tail. Images to the below are from the Chicken Genetics calculator (http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html) and are reproduced with permission.