Pied zebra hen question

[ali.munir]

Will a Pied Zebra hen always produce pied babies or split to pieds if its been paired with a visually non pied cock??

[lovezebs]

ali.munir

Not an expert on genetics at all.

However, I do believe that pied always comes back, if not in one generation, than in the next.

[Sally]

I'm not a genetics expert either, but I've been told that the pied gene is dominant, and it is next to impossible to get rid of it. It will always show up again, even if just a tiny patch of white in a future generation.

[xz_zebs]

Pied is recessive. So if your male is not split to pied you will produce all split to pied chicks that will show minimal white if at all. If your male is split to pied you will produce 50% pied and 50% split to pied.

Here is more info about pied:
http://www.efinch.com/species/piedzeb.htm

Some important parts of the above:
Identifying Splits
Male and Female: Birds that are split for Pied can show varying amounts of white. It will usually show on the primary wing feathers and the chin. Some birds show no white feathers at all.

When breeding Pieds, it is important to keep track of your bloodlines. This recessive mutation can remain hidden and later show up when you least expect or want it to. Many breeders consider Pieds a plague that can ruin the appearance of their other Zebra colors since even one white feather is considered a fault on the show bench.

[ali.munir]

Thanks all, so in a clutch of four 50% wud be full pied and 50% wud be split to pied...no 100 percent normal?? I had once had a pair the male was OBBB and the female was CFW fawn pied...they had one offspring who was a fawn OB...he had no white feather...does this mean that he had pied gene in him just not showing it??

[xz_zebs]

All chicks would be at least split to pied. You will get no chicks that are without the pied gene at all.

However what you get visually depends on your male. Your hen has 2 copies of the pied gene. So 100% of her offspring will inherit the pied gene from her. If your male has one copy of the pied gene (split to pied) then chances are that 50% of the chicks will get a pied gene from him. If he does not carry pied then 0% of the chicks can get a pied gene from him. It takes 2 pied genes to be visually pied. With a single pied gene a bird may look normal or may have small amounts of white, but if bred to another normal looking carrier will produce pied.

If your male is split to pied your odds of getting visually pied chicks are 50%. The non-visual pied chicks will be split to pied and may or may not show small amounts of white: [tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]cock/hen[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]pied[/td][/tr] [tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal/pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal/pied[/td][/tr] [tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]pied/pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]pied/pied[/td][/tr] If your male is normal your odds of getting visually pied chicks are 0%. The chicks will all be split to pied and may or may not show small amounts of white: [tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]cock/hen[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]pied[/td][/tr] [tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal/pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal/pied[/td][/tr] [tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal/pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc;]normal/pied[/td][/tr]

[ali.munir]

Hmmmm thnx xz_zebs for this detailed explanation. Actually im working on to increase the physical size of my flock. I got this hen frm the markt(she is quite large, maybe the largest cmprd to my existing hens) so i want to get gud size frm her. I dnt like pieds as i find them not so visually attractive. So, i was hoping tht i wud breed her to non pied males and sell all the pieds and keep all gud size non pieds for further working. Wht wud u suggest, keeping in mind my goals? Shall i let her go?

[xz_zebs]

If you don't like pieds, I would let her go. Since it is recessive, you will have pieds cropping up in your lines in the future. Here is what will happen if you cross 2 split for pied birds (that may look completely normal):
[tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]cock/hen[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]normal[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]pied[/td][/tr] [tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]normal[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]normal/normal[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]normal/pied[/td][/tr] [tr=text-align:center;][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]normal/pied[/td][td=border:1px solid #cccccc]pied/pied[/td][/tr] You will not be able to tell with any certainty between the normal/normals and the normal/pieds, so you can continue to have pieds come up down the line despite every effort to remove it from your lines.