Which one???and WHAT Kind....

[k0n0ha-easy]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if I should breed my Mealy bar(Female) with a checker(male) or a white one(male)?

But if I do breed them, what kind of babies will they produce?


Mealy Bar+Checker=?
Mealy Bar+White=?


Thanks
-John-

[MaryOfExeter]

I'm guessing the check is a red check also, right?
I'm gonna try to guess here although I'm sure someone else knows more of what they're talking about than me :P

Well I guess if the white bird was white because it's a homozygous grizzle, then putting it with the red bar could give you grizzled birds. I believe the other kind of white is recessive white, which will have bull eyes. It's like recessive red in that it's just a 'cover-up' color. In that case, the underlying color would effect what the babies look like.
From my experience putting a bar with a check normally results in checks and bars.

That's about all I can say right now without confusing myself :P

[bluecheck]

Becky is pretty much right on.

Now - let's assume your checker male is a blue check male. Then if you mate him to your Mealy hen, you will have a sex-linked mating. ALL the ash-red birds will be cocks; ALL the blue birds will be hens. Pattern is immaterial. If the check carries bar, then you can get ash-red bar & Check males (all carrying blue) and blue check and bar hens.

I'll get to white later - got an appointment right now.

[k0n0ha-easy]

Oh thanks a lot guys. But im still not sure which male i should breed it with.

maybe you should let her decide

[jbangelfish]

What is it that you are hoping to come up with? I don't think that there is any reason to believe that one of these combinations is any better than the other. It's all a matter of what you are trying to produce.

Without seeing the birds or having complete descriptions, it sounds as if you may have all birds that are ash red or mealy, including the white. Recessive white is present in homers though and it could be that. Then you have to know what color is hidden under the white and unless you know the heritage of the bird, you can only test mate to find out what it's hiding. White birds all hide a genetic color and patterns and things like grizzle and pied. Test matings will reveal what they have in their genetic make up. Most white birds are actually ash red grizzles but in the case of recessive white, they can be just about anything.

Bill