Muffs

[Shnookie]

Are muffs and beards dominant over no muff or beard?

[windwalkingwolf]

Incompletely dominant, I believe, hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong...which means that the result of a pair in which one has full beards and muffs, and the other has none, is that some will have beards/muffs, some will not, and some will look like they have the worst 5 O'Clock shadow ever

[Shnookie]

I have some Ameraucana pullets I hatched last year that fit the last category. I'm wondering if I breed them to a rooster (unrelated) with a good muff and beard, whether I would still get the ones with the poor muff and beard.

[WLLady]

Yep incomplete dominant and autosomal (not sex linked). Likely if you take the 5 oclock shadows and breed back to great mufs you will get great muffs in about half and so-so in about half. Then if you take the great and breed back again to great you will get 100% great muffs. The so-so ones likely will have only 1 copy of the gene so half their kids will get the gene for none and only get 1 copy from the great muffed parent. So you will have to select out your crappy muffs eventually or you will keep getting 50% crappy 50% great

[Shnookie]

Thanks. That's what I thought. I think I'll just sell them as layers.