Noticed a few het questions lately so I thought it might be a good idea to review a bit on recessive genetics and the het percentages that come from those breedings. It's also good for Mike and I to review so we know we have this basics of genetics down pat going into our first breeding season. So let me know if this is correct please.

I'll use our 100% het for albino male BP, Malachi, as my example here.

If we bred Malachi to a normal female we would get 50% possible het for albino offspring (no chance for albino offspring). The possible hets would have to be raised and bred to prove them out as 100% hets or normals.

If we bred Malachi to a 100% het for albino female we would get 66% possible het for albino offspring (with a 1 in 4 chance for a homozygous aka visible albino offspring). Again only raising them up and breeding them would prove which did or did not get the genetics for albino.

If we bred Malachi to an albino female we would get a 2 in 4 chance for albino's and all normal appearing offspring would be 100% het for albino. No need to wait, you know they are hets.

We do not have one but just to round out the recessive thing. A homozygous albino bred to a normal produces all 100% het for albino offspring (the breeding that in fact produced Malachi). Same as above, they are 100% hets without question.

Of course all estimates on the number of homozygous offspring in any given clutch are just that...estimates. It's always a roll of the genetic dice. We fully realize that nothing is guaranteed that way unless both male and female homozygous.

My last question is when it comes to how one properly refers to 50% and 66% hets. I've seen them called just that as well as "66% possible hets". Does it matter which term is used or is one preferred over the other?