Bantam Whites

[Temple DaSilva]

I am just starting out in Ameraucanas and was lucky enough to get some bantam silver and lavender chicks earlier this year that are growing out nicely.  I now have the opportunity to pick up a few bantam whites.  Would there possibly be a reason or value to using these with the lavenders at some point?  I had understood that you could breed back to black if feather quality were an issue in the lavs.  I hadn't planned on adding whites so I've done no reading on white genetics yet. I thought would pick the collective brain of this experienced group to maybe boil all that E/e stuff down for me before I dug into it from the white perspective this time.

[Cesar Villegas]

Well see the thing is, bantam whites are recessive white. And what recessive white does, it hides their true color. So you have have no idea what color can is hidden. If you cross white and lavender you are introducing two recessive traits into the gene pool, and you will have a hard time breeding true.

[John W Blehm]

I now have the opportunity to pick up a few bantam whites.  Would there possibly be a reason or value to using these with the lavenders at some point?  I had understood that you could breed back to black if feather quality were an issue in the lavs.

Also the feather quality issues I see with LF lavenders either doesn't exist in most bantam lavenders of is generally not noticeable, so I don't know that an outcross will be needed for that purpose.

[Mike Gilbert]

I would not make that cross.   The whites could be carrying autosomal red, and even by backcrossing to lavenders you could end up with yellow patches in your lavenders. 

[Temple DaSilva]

Thanks, Cesar, John and Mike!  I really appreciate the clear advice and guidance.  I'm still getting the whites but, like the other colors,  I'll plan to keep them unto themselves rather than making genetic alphabet soup. 

[Mike Gilbert]

Speaking of making crosses, did you hear about this?   (Well, it's raining here this morning)