So can you translate the mille fleur gentics into a recipe similar to the tollbunte? I like the idea of using some colors already found in aracaunas rather than just crossing in another bread with that pattern.
Tollbunte Recipe
Year 1: (red)mille fleur x gold laced, sex doesnt matter because these patterns are autosomal, the same on both sexes. Amount of animals: see for yourself, they are all carrying motteled but the other genes are impure. Red mille fleur on Wyandottes is random, which means its only the action of motteled which causes the flower (red, black, white). Its possible they carry columbian, but thats only usefull. The F1 will be impure of e-allele, because you are crossing wheaten (eWh) x Asiatic partridge (eb). Chickens will have different down, document this.
Year 2: F1 (offspring year 1) cross to eachother (inbreeding), at the end of the Summer, select the ones with the best mottles, e.g. a cockerel and a pullet. Because of impurity of e-allele, the chicks will look different (pure wheatens, pure asiac partridges, mixes). The wheaten chicks will be yellow with a vague shade of red on the back, the asiatic partridges will have chipmunk stripes and the mixes vague stripes and some can have a black head spot (columbian).
Attention: impure (Mo+/mo) mottleds can show mottling in their youth feathers, esp. the cockerels. Therefore wait till the end of the Summer, when they,ve moulted fully. After thourough moult the white feathertips may disappear. The amount of animals: quite some, statistically 50% carries mottled. In reality this can be zero out of ten chicks.
Year 3: F1 from year 2 with mottling x gold laced. Offspring wont be mottled, but does carry it. See Attention above.
The other way in year 3: Inbreed F1 from year 2, this can result in a pretty nice single lace. This F2 has variable mottling. Sometimes you can create something Tollbunt. This F2 is mottled in a certain way, it can vary in intensity and distribution. Sometimes with a bit of selection its possible to have a Tollbunte but remind the basis is very narrow. You can breed two lines from the start and mix them at this point.
Year 4: F1 from year 3, inbreeding, at the end of the Summer select birds with the best mottling and lacing. Technically, laced should be pure now as well as mottled. The Tollbunte Wyandotte could be a fact.
PS.
For the ground colour: in red millefleur theres mahogany, this is persistent. When you want a golden ground colour, youve to breed a lot and cull hard, it will take some time before you can get rid of Mh. Another way is breed back to gold laced every time, and not selecting them sooner than the age of 1,5 years, when their hormons are in full blow. Hormons influence colour.
