Thanks Geebs for your response to my question about Mahogany.
I'll ask again maybe in a simpler way, and see if this makes sense.
What if the "ideal" copper genetic combination worked the same way as BBS "blue", and the "too mahogany" was like Black and "straw" or gold was like Splash, and you only get perfect copper with the heterozygous "Black+Splash=Blue"? The problem being Blue+Blue does not = all Blue.
I'm sure it's not as simple as that, as there are red enhancers and melanizers that are still not completely understood. But it would at least be a start.
My question is also whether a "perfect" BCM roo and "perfect" BCM hen have been test mated to show whether or not they are homozygous (2 copies) or heterozygous (only one copy) for Mahogany? A simple test mating to a non-mahogany variety would show this in whether all the offspring show mahogany or only half.
Because if either of these ideals (hen or roo) proves to be heterozygous for Mahogany, then this "ideal" will never breed true. It seems that breeders on this thread have been stating that the right copper is elusive and doesn't seem to breed true. Could this be why?
If the standard (French or any other) was written many years ago before an understanding of how the color genetics work, then it could be written in a way that would require separate breeding strategies for roosters and hens, as with some other breeds. I am pretty sure that any strains that must be developed this way lose there productive qualities very quickly.
So while the American standards are still being finalized, I'm wondering if anyone has asked this question. I don't think folks want a standard like the Araucana US standard where breeding is a crapshoot to get the right combination of color/tufts/rumplessness.
I'm going to look up one of the genetics guys on this thread and ask if he knows whether or not Mahogany acts as barred and blue and is incompletely dominant. That will answer my question in part.
Curiosity and science are driving this question, not because I have a huge breeding project going on.