A Beginners Guide to
Poultry Colour Genetics
There are 100's, if not 1000's of colour combinations of chickens. If you're breeding poultry or are just interested in the topic then read on! Compiled into a way for anyone to understand!
How it All Works
Chickens plumage can range from iridescent black to pure white. Some are just one colour while other have many colours in throughout their feathers. Each colour has some genetic makeup behind it, and this page will go through it at a level most can understand!
Dominant and Recessive
A gene can either be dominant or recessive. A dominant gene means it will show no matter what and a recessive gene will need two doses to be able to show. If a dominant gene is crossed with a recessive gene then the offspring will show as the dominant gene but will be split for the recessive, meaning the recessive gene is still there but not visible (in some cases it is possible to tell the recessive gene is there, sometimes it is not). If two dominant genes are crossed together then in some cases the more powerful dominant will sit on top of the lesser dominant gene, and in others the offspring will come out differently depending on what gene they inherited from the parents. We can use the terms heterozygous and homozygous here, meaning that if a bird is carrying two copies of the same gene it is homozygous and if it carrying one of each it is heterozygous.
Base Alleles
All colours of chickens are based off five different alleles. These are wild type duckwing, extended black, birchen, brown and wheaten. In most instances certain colours can only be created on certain alleles however white and black can be made on all, and several other colours can look exactly the same even though they’re based on different alleles (such as black breasted red/red wheaten). Most colours however can only be created using an exact makeup.
Eumelanin & Phenomelanin
As well as the base alleles all birds sit on either Eumelanin (black) or Phenomelanin (Red).
THE BASE COLOURS
White
White
White
White is the absence of colour in a birds feathering. White acts a bit like bleach, washing out some colours or completely blocking them out. White can come in dominant or recessive. Dominant white will sit on top of any colour.
Black
White
White
Black is the opposite of white, it is too much colour. Black can come in different dilutes such as blue and lavender. Black itself is dominant. Black tends to mix in with red and if black sits under white then flecks of colour may come through.
Red
White
Red
Red is color. Red can come in a range of shades from a light buff to a dark mahogany brown. Red is usually a base to birds with patterns, such as lacing.