My Breeding Project and Help with the Genetics

How would I "stabilize" the "incomplete Quail?
What would the easiest color to get them to breed true as be? That is a very confusing sentence, sorry.

The thing with 'incomplete' patterns is that they often come from heterozygous gene pairs. Basically because they are from a mix of patterns and may only have one 'correct' gene out of each possible plumage gene pair that would make up a specific pattern. In this case rather than having Co/Co and Ml/Ml to make a quail pattern, they might have Co/co+ and Ml/ml+, as an example. When you then breed birds with incomplete patterns, they might pass some of the correct genes and some of the incorrect genes on, with a huge number of different combinations possible. So, in the example I gave with Co/co+ and Ml/ml+, the offspring could be Co/co+ Ml/ml+ like the parents, but they could also be Co/Co Ml/Ml, Co/co+ Ml/Ml, co+/co+ Ml/Ml, Co/Co Ml/ml+, Co/Co ml+/ml+, Co/co+ ml+/ml+, co+/co+ Ml/ml+, or co+co+ ml+/ml+. As you can see, that's far from breeding true--and I only considered two genes here, not the numerous others that might be at play! A lot of these pairings would look similar to your birds because of the dominance of the genes, but you would still have the issue of them not breeding true for future generations. I think if you want a pattern similar to those birds that does breed true, your best bet is to just go for quail patterning.

As for blending in, it really depends on your environmental conditions, like U_Stormcrow pointed out. There's always the classic wildtype partridge (the pattern that Light Brown Leghorns have, for example) as the standby for a color that blends in well, though. It worked for camouflage for wild junglefowl after all!
 
Where did you come up with that name?

Since I can't have Clay Ranger, how does everyone like "Sampetran" or "Sampetra"? Or maybe a family name.
Well {blah} Ranger was all the rage, and I have clay soils I'm trying to select birds to forage on, so...

(also, i checked the trademarks, and its not taken!) So I'm putting it in use, in the community, until I register it.
 
All you smart genetic people,
what would the easiest color to get my mutts to breed true as be?
It partly depends on what you already have.
It also depends on whether you want them to be a color that is recognized in other breeds of chickens, or whether you just want them to look alike other.

One possible path: look at what color they are when they hatch, pick the most common appearance, and track how those chicks look when they grow up. Decide whether that appearance will suit you. Chick appearance is controlled by some of the same genes that control the adult color (some, not all), so picking ones that look alike as chicks can give you a head start on having them look alike as adults. And of course it's much easier to hatch a large number of chicks and pick through them than to hatch the same number and raise them all the way to adulthood before you can make your choices!

Or if you're going to use the Pyncheon rooster, you could decide to match his color. After you have some daughters from him, breed them back to him and select the ones most like him in color. The disadvantage I see is that will also give chicks with more of his other genes, rather than the genes you like best from your mutts, so maybe not the best way to do it. I have seen some chickens with white mottling that were very well camouflaged, and some that were not, so I don't know whether that trait will be one you want in your birds or not.

Edit to add another idea: you could ignore color for now, and stabilize the other traits you want. Then see what colors you have at that point. There will probably be some color that is most common, and a few ones that are obviously different. So you could work with the ones that look most alike, and not the oddballs. As an example of how this works, flocks of Easter Eggers in the US are typically not bred for any specific feather color, just egg production, but the flock from a given hatchery will often produce many birds that look similar, and the flock from another hatchery will look different from the first but similar to each other. It's not exact, but there definitely are resemblances.


How would I "stabilize" the "incomplete Quail?
As @pipdzipdnreadytogo already explained, you can't stabilize the incomplete form. But you might be able to stabilize a complete quail color pattern, or one that is pure for a slightly different set of genes even if it's a color that has no name.
 
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Edit to add another idea: you could ignore color for now, and stabilize the other traits you want. Then see what colors you have at that point. T
This is a good idea, as compared to selecting for chick down color. If you cull at birth for chick down color, you have no idea what you are throwing away as far as size of bird at maturity, time to reach maturity, egg production, health of birds, etc.

With this type of project, there is no way to avoid raising a lot of birds to maturity and then selecting the best ones for your purposes. You can, however, be keeping notes on which chick down colors grow to be which adult colors, and use that information when it comes time to weigh which birds you will continue to breed from.

Sounds like a fun project. Good luck!
 
Here are two I didn't get a picture of yesterday
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Another thing I really like about them is that they are plump little things. Still a bantam, but they feel like they have quite a bit of meat.

I do think they would be best crossed with a Pyncheon, but I think that will decrease size which I don't really like.

I would very much like to add in Spitzhauben. Spitz are almost perfectly suited for my climate, and I think they would increase size and foraging abilities.

The Spitz and Pynch crosses would also be able to fly better, which I would love.

So, I think cross my hens with a Spitz (silver spangled or gold spangled?) then cross hens from that mix to a Pynch roo and roos from that mix to; a Spitz? A Pynch? Back to the parents?
 

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