- Nov 9, 2010
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Quote:
Rachel,
You could run all three together, but the distinctive pattern of each would get a bit messy as they intermingle. One of the reasons for allowing only these three specific feather patterns is that they are all closely related. The laced variety is basically ER/ER, Pg/Pg, Db/Db, Hf/Hf, ML/Ml, and Co/Co. The spangled variety lacks the columbian, and the penciled variety lacks that both the columbian and the melanotic. So, they can all be interbred without too much fuss, but subsequent selection for proper pattern will be necessary to restore the distinctiveness of each variety.
Yes, they are henny feathered. I feel the hackle and sickle feathering detracts from the clean silhouette of the males and messes up the pattern overall.
The comb has not been as difficult to accomplish as I had imagined it would be. Each of the comb genes have certain other tag along traits that make them easier to select for. The issue when I started was trying to identify each comb genes contribution to the composite comb. Fortunately, the pea comb gene is associated with the breast ridge and the duplex V comb gene is associated with cavernous nostrils. When combined the pea and the rose produce fuzzy comb and nares in my birds.
So:
The bird has fuzzy nares if it has both pea and rose comb present. The bird has cavernous nostrils if it is homozygous for duplex comb. The bird has small or no wattles upon maturity if it is homozygous for pea comb. The bird has a breast ridge if it is at least heterozygous for pea comb. The hen that lays blue eggs is most likely to also be pea combed. In short, selection involves a bit of sleuthing, a lot of record keeping, and a magnifying glass - but based on the above loose set of rules the comb genes have proved to be rather orderly. Tedious yes, but from a genetic perspective it is all very interesting stuff really.
Dan
I like how those genes interact with one another. What is a "Breast Ridge"? Breeds with Dv like Polish, are they r+ and Dv?
Rachel,
You could run all three together, but the distinctive pattern of each would get a bit messy as they intermingle. One of the reasons for allowing only these three specific feather patterns is that they are all closely related. The laced variety is basically ER/ER, Pg/Pg, Db/Db, Hf/Hf, ML/Ml, and Co/Co. The spangled variety lacks the columbian, and the penciled variety lacks that both the columbian and the melanotic. So, they can all be interbred without too much fuss, but subsequent selection for proper pattern will be necessary to restore the distinctiveness of each variety.
Yes, they are henny feathered. I feel the hackle and sickle feathering detracts from the clean silhouette of the males and messes up the pattern overall.
The comb has not been as difficult to accomplish as I had imagined it would be. Each of the comb genes have certain other tag along traits that make them easier to select for. The issue when I started was trying to identify each comb genes contribution to the composite comb. Fortunately, the pea comb gene is associated with the breast ridge and the duplex V comb gene is associated with cavernous nostrils. When combined the pea and the rose produce fuzzy comb and nares in my birds.
So:
The bird has fuzzy nares if it has both pea and rose comb present. The bird has cavernous nostrils if it is homozygous for duplex comb. The bird has small or no wattles upon maturity if it is homozygous for pea comb. The bird has a breast ridge if it is at least heterozygous for pea comb. The hen that lays blue eggs is most likely to also be pea combed. In short, selection involves a bit of sleuthing, a lot of record keeping, and a magnifying glass - but based on the above loose set of rules the comb genes have proved to be rather orderly. Tedious yes, but from a genetic perspective it is all very interesting stuff really.
Dan
I like how those genes interact with one another. What is a "Breast Ridge"? Breeds with Dv like Polish, are they r+ and Dv?
