Black crested White Polish

[I Like Turkeys]

These are BCW X Silver laced. The type is much better than the BCW. The color was lost so it could take many years to get back to where the BCW was unless you line breed. One or two generations bred back to the parents could get the original BCW color with better type. But the color was bad to start with. That is why the Orpington cross is needed to correct the color. That cross will be focused on getting a Polish type bird with solid buff or white color. With or without black crest. Then I can start to work on a BCW with color and type.

I like your thinking, to be honest. The silver laced cross does bring physical improvements, but color-wise, doesn’t help much. Although they’ve got Columbia restriction, the Db-Pg-Ml linkage makes it hard to get the solid tails without also bringing along patterning with it. I bought a silver laced polish pair a bit back to make the cross should I need to, but I’ve held off because I didn’t want to go through and mess the color up even more this early on.

Yes silver chicks are correct. Stripes are not the desired down, but they are what we have to work with.

Most of these look ok. They will not have clean bodies. But if you get a pullet that is clean bodied that had silver down that is the most valuable chicken you could hope for.

You’re right that they did not have clean bodies. Lots of messy coloring in the males and females. 2/11 came out with coloring that looked relatively similar to the black-crested white pattern. Not perfect, but better than the other 9. These are some of the messy birds now.

Cleanest-bodied pullet I have is this girl. She isn’t perfect though, a few breast spangles, and some on the underside of her wings. She also has little blue spangles on her tail coverts.

In the case of tracking her back to chick stage, I’m fairly certain she was one of the lightest. Back to pure down, I can’t exactly gauge based on color, but in her semi-feathered, semi-down stage, she still had fairly light down.

 

[ElPaso]

Because Db-Pg-Ml are linked if you have a +-+-+ bird the lack of those genes is also linked and easier to bred out. I think charcoal (cha) is the gene for black crest. So Ml may not be needed. Based on 30 years ago I had not trouble cleaning the hackles and breast with a buff cross.

 

[ElPaso]

I'm surprised that no one has ever pursued a solid buff polish. Probably because buff laced is thought to be the same but is totally different genetically.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

I'm surprised that no one has ever pursued a solid buff polish. Probably because buff laced is thought to be the same but is totally different genetically.

WC Buffs exist in other countries- The Netherlands, namely, and for some time Ideal sold solid red polish. They discontinued them at the same time as BCW though.

I have images saved of each. Not my own birds though.

 

[NagemTX]

Could a buff Ameraucana be used instead of the buff Orpington?

 

[NagemTX]

Someone in the states is working on blue crested buffs.

 

[ElPaso]

Could a buff Ameraucana be used instead of the buff Orpington?

Any true buff. There are many unwanted genes in any cross. I used buff silky once because they had crest.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Could a buff Ameraucana be used instead of the buff Orpington?

I personally don't see why not. Only things differing between the Orpington and Ameraucana would be comb and leg color, and at least the Ameraucanas would already have the correct slate shank color that Polish require.

edit: and egg color. Orpingtons have brown eggs, but Ameraucanas have Blue- so usually lack the brown tint- I suppose if you were wanting to avoid breeding out the tint Orpingtons may produce, Ameraucanas would be a good second choice.

 

[NagemTX]

If Polish are white layers to cream layers it's not as hard to get the blue/green color out of the eggs.

 

[NagemTX]

You guys make me want take this task on.