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This is interesting. Glad to see your posts again.
By Birchen you mean the silver hackle/saddle instead of the copper in the BC right? The unusual thing is that the technically BC and Silver Birchen are both genetically Birchen. It's just the silver gene that differentiates them (well that's the major gene). But it sounds like the Mahogany gene covers up the silver gene when a bird has only a single copy, even though the silver is supposed to be sex-linked and dominant (though not completely dominant). In most breeds, an S/s+ bird that has one copy of silver presents with a straw colored hackle /saddle.
This silver would have to hide in a hen since the silver is sex-linked, and a rooster carrying silver would create ~50% silver birchen hens when crossed to a BC hen. How interesting it would be if the Mahogany gene rendered the silver gene unable to present, and the genetically silver genes would present as regular black coppers.
I know you're not a big fan straw hackle and you most certainly would have spotted it if it popped up in your flock. A bird that has two copies of the silver gene and still has the Mahogany, would present like the Salmon Faverolles, with white/cream hackle/saddle and red/brown shoulders (just without the wheaten wing triangle).
So it's really interesting how the silver gene could hide in a flock and not present. Must be the Mh gene that darkened things up enough to hide the silver. I could see this more likely happening in a flock of Blue Coppers, since many have lighter hackle color already, though I've seen yours, and they've got the nice intense color.
This is interesting. Glad to see your posts again.
By Birchen you mean the silver hackle/saddle instead of the copper in the BC right? The unusual thing is that the technically BC and Silver Birchen are both genetically Birchen. It's just the silver gene that differentiates them (well that's the major gene). But it sounds like the Mahogany gene covers up the silver gene when a bird has only a single copy, even though the silver is supposed to be sex-linked and dominant (though not completely dominant). In most breeds, an S/s+ bird that has one copy of silver presents with a straw colored hackle /saddle.
This silver would have to hide in a hen since the silver is sex-linked, and a rooster carrying silver would create ~50% silver birchen hens when crossed to a BC hen. How interesting it would be if the Mahogany gene rendered the silver gene unable to present, and the genetically silver genes would present as regular black coppers.
I know you're not a big fan straw hackle and you most certainly would have spotted it if it popped up in your flock. A bird that has two copies of the silver gene and still has the Mahogany, would present like the Salmon Faverolles, with white/cream hackle/saddle and red/brown shoulders (just without the wheaten wing triangle).
So it's really interesting how the silver gene could hide in a flock and not present. Must be the Mh gene that darkened things up enough to hide the silver. I could see this more likely happening in a flock of Blue Coppers, since many have lighter hackle color already, though I've seen yours, and they've got the nice intense color.
