Crele Chick Down Coloration

[centrarchid]

I have been working on my Missouri Dominique project for 8 years now with only about 22 expected to go. The parentage is just a little over half American Dominique with the balance being American Game. Until recently chick phenotype has been extended black with a small number wild-type chipmunks. A recent brood had something different pop up that I may want to run with. A small percentage of the chicks are dark brown with the white spot on head and will be barred. The barred over the wild-type base coloration is hard to sex when using the head spot but this dark brown variant might be easier. I know the game side very well and never seen such a brown color so either the brown has been hiddin by the black coming from American Dominique all along or we have a mutation. Either way I want to know what the genetic basis is for the brown coloration.

 

[The Moonshiner]

The barred over the wild-type base coloration is hard to sex when using the head spot

Isn't that basically the same (without the cream) as a legbar?

 

[centrarchid]

I am not familiar with what legbar chicks look like.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I am not familiar with what legbar chicks look like.

Legbars are wildtype (gold duckwing) with cream and the barring gene added.
Of course the male has two barring genes and the females only one. You can sex them like barred rocks by the head spot but the cockerels two barring genes also lightens the duckwing chipmunk pattern.
That's how they're auto sexing.
Same has worked for me crossing cuckoo on gold duckwing.

Legbar chicks pic.......

 

[centrarchid]

Your examples and those I can find differ from mine, thankfully. I will post pics of mine once camera charged.

 

[centrarchid]

Chick with brown base color below is a good representative of what I am concerned with. As adults they are hard to distinguish from those with typical black base color. The dark gray of barring is replaced by dark brown in the adults. The light color areas then based on diluted brown rather than diluted dark gray. The brown I think involves a different locus relative to extended black.