Something was mentioned on the Rare Poultry Breeders email list about Welsumers in the United States having a problem with leg feathers appearing every so often. I was wondering if there is a recessive leg feathering gene, because I thought that the two leg feathering genes were dominant. It didn't sound like it was just a question of a split gene in the lines. Could you explain the leg feathering genes and how they work? Thank you.
There are two dominant leg feathering genes and one recessive gene that is known at this time. I hope this is some information that helps....The following excerpt from online genetics pages:
I vote for modifiers that inhibit leg feathering. Clean leg birds seem to have them. Stubs are a problem in some breeds. It is hard to breed them out because they just keep popping up. Stubs are when a scale starts turning into a feather, but does a poor job of it. The literature does indicate that there are three major leg feathering genes with one of them recessive, but I'd bet that some Welsummers just have stubs due to the Langshan ancestry.
I wasn't aware that Welsumers had Langshans ancestry. That's very interesting.
After this post, I will stay out of this. Like I said before, the literature provides evidence for two dominant and one recessive feather-leg genes. I believe it is accepted by most professional poultry geneticists that Cochin-type leg/foot feathering is due to the presence of BOTH dominant leg feathering genes, Pti-1 and Pti-2. Varying degrees of of leg fethering are explained in a number of ways by invoking modifying factors and/or the numerous combinations of the two dominant leg feathering genes and the recessive one. Dose effects do apply.
As the above poster says we know of two dominant genes that affect feathers on the shanks and toes. Both are required to get the Cochin type feather feet, but only one is required to get the Langshan feather type. There was also a recessive feather leg gene characterized in Russia. I don't know what the genetics of Brahma feather feet is, but it seems to be intermediate between Langshan and Cochin.
i donot know how many genes r controlloing the color of the feathers
By Anonymous on Saturday, November 10, 2001 - 11:38 am:
Feathered legs, dominant: Pti-1, Pti-2 Two different feathered leg genes. When both are present, heavy feathering as in Cochin, Sultan, Belgian d’Uccle. If only one is present, the feathering is weaker as in Langshan, Faverolle, Breda.
Recessive feathered legs, pti-3.
There may be modifying factors (suppressing genes) as well, since some reports exist of waning leg feather density as successive generations are bred to clean legged varieties, but I believe, this has not been shown conclusively.
By Rokimoto on Saturday, November 10, 2001 - 01:34 pm:
I get stubs in some complete outcrosses between lines that do not seem to have the trait, so it could be dominant with incomplete penetrance due to background genetics. I have two females in a pen, right now, that are Australorp and Brown line hybrids that have quite a bit of leg feathering on them. I get some stubs in the Brown line, but I never get this much leg feathering. These two females have complete feathering down one side of their shanks and not just a couple of feathers here and there, but they aren't as feathered as the Langshan hybrids that I've produced in crosses. It looks like these females inherited a pretty potent leg feathering gene from somewhere, that is expressed in the hybrid for some strange reason.
By Anonymous on Saturday, November 10, 2001 - 02:57 pm:
Rokimoto, it sounds like what you've seen in Langshans hybrids is different than the one of two dominant feathering genes described in the post above yours. How much feathering comes through in the first cross between a Langshan and some clean-legged breed?
Are the clean-legged inhibiters you mention recessives that only show up in the second, third or fouth generation from a Langshans cross? And do you think, based on what you've seen, that there are actually two or three separate genes that put feathers in different places on the foot, or is it just a single gene with enhancers and inhibiters that restrict feathering to just a bit like on Langshans, or more like a Cochin up to a full boot? Thanks.
By Anonymous on Saturday, November 10, 2001 - 04:22 pm:
When we breed feather-legged birds to clean legs, we see what appears to be a monotonic decrease in the amount of leg feathering. Eventually the feather-legs seem to disappear only to pop up from time to time as sparse pin feathers along the shank, but do not really make much of a feathering appearance. We have not done any breeding experiments to see if this is due to inhibiting factors.
By Rokimoto on Saturday, November 10, 2001 - 06:10 pm:
Langshan hybrids are not as well feathered as Pure Langshans, but you can't mistake the feathering.
It takes longer to breed out the leg feathering than if it were just due to two dominant genes. You have stubs segregating for a very long time in such lines. We don't know if stubs are related to any of the known feather Pit genes.
By atia_bashir on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 12:38 am: