FINCHforum

Reading from my notes "http://www.finchinfo.com/genetics/lady_ ... colors.php"
it says: No hen can ever be split for black head.
Does this mean you can't have YH/BH or RH/BH
but you can have BH/YH or BH/RH ??????????

You can have a RH/YH and a BH/YH
No RH/BH or YH/BH also no BH/RH or YH/RH

finchandlovebird wrote: Reading from my notes "http://www.finchinfo.com/genetics/lady_ ... colors.php"
it says: No hen can ever be split for black head.
Does this mean you can't have YH/BH or RH/BH
but you can have BH/YH or BH/RH ??????????

Hi Dolly,

RH and BH are sex linked traits. This means that the male carries two copies and the female carries just one. RH is Dominant to BH. A hen is either RH or BH and can't be split to the other color.

YH is an autosomal recessive trait. (I like to think of it as a modifier of red). So - because it's recessive, it takes two copies to express. Because it's autosomal, both males and females carry two.

Any RH or BH hen could be split to YH.

Because YH is modifying red color, a black headed hen can also be genetically a yellow head, but because her head is black the YH gene will not express there. It does, however, express in the beak tip, which is normally red in a BH hen. This is the "BH with YTB" you sometimes see.

I hope that helps?

Thanks Debbie & Martie: But then that statement is basically wrong, isn't it? (no hen can ever be split to BH)
You did clear things up for me however. I was taking that statement too literally I guess. A hen CAN be BH/YH or RH/YH.

I had Stubby YH/BH.PC/WB.GB/Bb and
Grace BH.WB.GB/Bb produce 2 clutches for me (got all hens) and they were RH/YH.PB/WB.Gb(maybe also /Bb)
and BH/YH.PB/WB.Gb(maybe also /Bb)
and BH/YH.WB.BB and BH/YH.WB.GB (maybe also /Bb).

Whoever said genetics was EASY

Debbie and I together: