Any know the color genetics of the Redcap?

[tadkerson]

I took a look at the standard for the red cap.

So, the birds are not a modified typical spangle. I did not pay any attention to the male- and as Henk said he is not restricted- dark brown is needed to produce a spangle. Dark brown(Db) removes the black from the breast of male wheaten birds. No Db in the red cap.

If the birds were just Ml-Pg that would give you double lacing on wheaten. (barnevelder- brown at the E locus and dark cornish- e^y at the E locus are double laced breeds)

The female and male ( on certain areas of the body) should have a black half moon on the end of the brown feather- there has to be some kind of restrictor in the female to cause the half moon to form but the male shows no signs of restriction.

The chick down is most like recessive wheaten.

I would say the birds are recessive wheaten and carry the pattern and melanotic genes.

There is or are some undocumented gene(s) also working in the bird- there has to be some kind of a restrictor. The standard calls for a brown feather ending in a half moon spangle. A restrictor would be needed to remove black from the feather producing the brown feather ending in a half moon.

It is possible that the restrictor is sex influenced. That would be the one explanation for color the pattern.

I do not think the birds carry mahogany- if this were so the males would have some red in the breast producing a spangled look ( brown feathers with black on the end).



Tim

 

[Redcap Farm]

I want to thank everyone for all the color genetics information.

 

[Henk69]

Tim,

What if double lacing on wheaten base (indian game) would require charcoal to counteract wheaten's restrictor action?

 

[tadkerson]

Henk,

Smyth has produced birds with double lacing on dominant wheaten.

The melanotic gene combined with pattern gene provides enough black pigment to produce a lace on wheaten birds. Charcoal would do the same. The pattern gene not only organizes the black pigment but also adds black pigment to a bird. The pattern gene and melanotic can make a black bird; I have produced barnevelder that were almost self black. I was not interested in producing a black barnevelder so I did not continue breeding for the phenotype. I worked with charcoal some in a cross with indian game-from my experience it works like melanotic. Researchers (Carefoot and Smyth) had to do linkage tests in order to differentiate charcoal from melanotic.


Heterozygous melanotic by itself is very weak on wheaten and does not exhibit complete expression until the females approach three years of age (personal experience). I do not have any wheaten females that are homozygous melanotic. Down color indicates the female birds were dominant wheaten.

All of the secondary color patterns that have pattern (Pg) as a part of the genetic mechanism use a restrictor- something has to be turning on the eumelanin pathway and then turning off eumelanin after the feather has grown for a short period of time.

Tim

 

[Redcap Farm]

Quote:
Hi Tim
Could the Redcaps have the Heterozygous melanotic gene. The reason I am asking is The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy gives some information on the Redcap breed. " When culling this breed, one should keep in mind that the adult color pattern is not fully revealed until the second or third year."

 

[Henk69]

Melanotic by itself, without Pg, could produce the halfmoon spangles.

 

[tadkerson]

Quote:
Hi Tim
Could the Redcaps have the Heterozygous melanotic gene. The reason I am asking is The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy gives some information on the Redcap breed. " When culling this breed, one should keep in mind that the adult color pattern is not fully revealed until the second or third year."

I have seen the same thing in lakenvelder- my females, as they became older, developed spangling in the white areas of their bodies. After each molt, they become more spangled.

The only way to really determine their genotype would be to do test crosses with a brown tester line and see what segregates in an F1 cross. I still believe there are some undocumented genes in the bird. The other option would to produce birds that are heterozygous for melanotic ( Ml/ml+) and pattern (Pg/pg+) on wheaten- this would produce a false spangled pattern and on wheaten it may be concaved-like the half moon spangle.

Tim