The previous posters make the common mistake we see here every day. Its a simple misapplication of genetic probabilities.

Breeding a het to a het does not give you a 1 out of 4 visuals, or even 25% visuals and 75% possible hets, as the other posted suggested.

What genetics does tell us is this: In a simple recessive trait, a breeding involving a het to a het will give each INDIVIDUAL OFFSPRING a 25% chance of inheriting the hozygous (visual) condition.

Here's the difference in the two points of view. Lets say you subscribe to the 1 outa 4 thought process. In that case, lets say you have an 4 egg clutch. The first 3 pip and all appear normal. You might think then you have a high probability of the 4th egg being the visual, when in actuality you still have the same 25% chance. Its just like flipping a coin. If you flip heads the first 9 times, you still have a 50-50 shot of flipping heads on the 10th.

You could have an 8 egg clutch with all visuals or all possible hets, and any combination thereof. Even assuming very large sample sizes will not necessarily get you your 25-75 ration.

Just remember the percentages you read are PER EGG, not to be extended to ____ out of ____ for the clutch....

[ Hide Replies ]

• breeding hets - pheonix, Mon Jul 9 14:31:58 2007
• RE: breeding hets - alpharoyals, Mon Jul 9 14:36:38 2007
• RE: breeding hets - pheonix, Mon Jul 9 14:40:13 2007
• check out my little page on genetics... - JP, Mon Jul 9 14:54:29 2007
• RE: breeding hets - rsherman79, Mon Jul 9 14:38:21 2007
• To clarify what the others have said.... - JP, Mon Jul 9 14:49:35 2007
• Geezy, that had a lot of typos...lol. np - JP, Mon Jul 9 14:51:16 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - pheonix, Mon Jul 9 14:54:48 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - jimmyeo3, Mon Jul 9 15:01:34 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - pheonix, Mon Jul 9 15:06:01 2007
• not really... - JP, Mon Jul 9 15:09:19 2007
• "to clarify"..... - alpharoyals, Mon Jul 9 17:04:14 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - jimmyeo3, Tue Jul 10 08:46:18 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - JoshHutto, Tue Jul 10 09:42:14 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - alpharoyals, Tue Jul 10 12:21:43 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - jimmyeo3, Tue Jul 10 12:39:06 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - alpharoyals, Tue Jul 10 13:01:28 2007
• RE: To clarify what the others have said - alpharoyals, Tue Jul 10 13:06:49 2007
• Further clarification... - JP, Tue Jul 10 13:08:45 2007
• quick correction - "law of segregation" - JP, Tue Jul 10 13:15:10 2007
• RE: Further clarification... - vcane, Tue Jul 10 13:46:19 2007
• yep... - JP, Tue Jul 10 14:53:58 2007
• RE: Further clarification... - jpman78, Tue Jul 10 16:56:31 2007
• RE: Further clarification... - jpman78, Tue Jul 10 17:15:50 2007
• 100% confused! Lol n/p - alpharoyals, Tue Jul 10 17:43:14 2007
• RE: breeding hets - pheonix, Mon Jul 9 15:20:09 2007
• RE: breeding hets - pfan151, Tue Jul 10 13:44:08 2007
• Good stuff... - JP, Tue Jul 10 15:06:18 2007
• RE: breeding hets - Paul Hollander, Tue Jul 10 17:07:35 2007