New Brahma Group: Blue Partridge x Partridge, Plus Dark

[speckledhen]

Question: If I have a choice between the dark partridge male with vulture hocks (if he has them) and a blue partridge with no vulture hocks but too much red in the chest, what would be my best choice? I am new to the partridge variety so I was not aware that the partridge/blue partridge should not have red in the chest as all mine seem to have.

Here is the big partridge guy and couple of other ones.

 

[junebuggena]

Question: If I have a choice between the dark partridge male with vulture hocks (if he has them) and a blue partridge with no vulture hocks but too much red in the chest, what would be my best choice? I am new to the partridge variety so I was not aware that the partridge/blue partridge should not have red in the chest as all mine seem to have.

Here is the big partridge guy and couple of other ones.

The dark boy doesn't have vulture hocks, he's just got properly feathered legs. The blue boy has other faults besides coloring, most noticeably, the sparse leg feathering.

 

[speckledhen]

The dark boy doesn't have vulture hocks, he's just got properly feathered legs. The blue boy has other faults besides coloring, most noticeably, the sparse leg feathering.

First, thank you for answering my questions. I appreciate the help in learning about partridge color variety as well as choosing proper traits in the Brahma. Actually, I believe there may be two or three blue Partridge males but I'm just not sure yet. One has really profuse foot feathering, others less so, but all have some red. The blue Partridge pullet seems to have proper coloring, as far as I know.

The feathers on the hocks of all of them seem soft so far, but really, my question was more a hypothetical one than anything else. If the choice is between less than perfect coloring or vulture hocks, which is the one to keep? I have to keep all the pullets since I have so few but I have several choices in the males. So far, I am impressed with the big partridge one the most as far as his development and coloring.

 

[junebuggena]

The male coloring is something that will only express in males, so choosing a male with the proper coloring is kind of important. You have no way of knowing if the hens' genes will be able to compensate for an improperly colored male. Sort of like when breeding B/B/S Ameraucana. Only the males express red leakage, but hens can carry the genes for it and pass it on to their male chicks. Starting off with a properly colored male is pretty darn important. Vulture hocks, being recessive, is less of an issue. The dominant gene is for normal feathered hocks. Simply select for that dominant feature. It's only one gene. Coloring/pattern is much more complicated. Color/pattern genes usually look like some sort of equation, and they are, in a sense. Change just one component, and the results will be altered.

 

[speckledhen]

The male coloring is something that will only express in males, so choosing a male with the proper coloring is kind of important. You have no way of knowing if the hens' genes will be able to compensate for an improperly colored male. Sort of like when breeding B/B/S Ameraucana. Only the males express red leakage, but hens can carry the genes for it and pass it on to their male chicks. Starting off with a properly colored male is pretty darn important. Vulture hocks, being recessive, is less of an issue. The dominant gene is for normal feathered hocks. Simply select for that dominant feature. It's only one gene. Coloring/pattern is much more complicated. Color/pattern genes usually look like some sort of equation, and they are, in a sense. Change just one component, and the results will be altered.

Ah, yes, that I can relate to! I had that happen with a stunning black Ameraucana rooster. He had silver and gold in his hackles but otherwise was gorgeous. His sons, both black and blue, on occasion would show that, starting in the wing bows first, usually. So, that makes perfect sense to me. I still have one of his daughters who is almost 9 years old, not a hint of leakage in her, or any other of the daughters that I can recall.

If I keep the big partridge guy and the blue Pt pullet, I should have more blue pt in the future progeny so if I get a good replacement/backup blue partridge male from him later on, maybe he'd have more acceptable coloring in the chest area. @brahmapapa what do you think of these boys?

 

[1muttsfan]

I'm not familiar with the color issues, but that dark male is a good looking bird over all.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm not familiar with the color issues, but that dark male is a good looking bird over all.

I think so, too. He developed faster than the others, nice pea comb, beautiful foot feathering, very friendly (but all are that).



ETA: I do see that a couple of the Partridge males and one of the Blue Partridge chicks (not sure male or female just yet, ack!) have spectacular foot feathering. The Dark pullet has less than the other Dark that looks boy-ish, but no pink comb yet. They'll be 6 wks this next Wednesday so surely by then, all the males will be pretty obvious, at least by the pink combs. Right?

The darkest and largest Partridge male. He showed himself way before any others did in his comb development.

 

[speckledhen]

Another question for you folks who know more than I. Dark is a silver pattern and partridge is gold, right? My two Dark Brahmas are very different. B.J. already is getting her silvery hackles while the one we have been going back and forth about seems not to have silver, but gold.

This is B.J., definite pullet, of course.



Here they are side by side, then close ups of the #2 Brahma I'm asking about. I expected less gold, more silver, but again, maybe a sex difference? I have no idea. Enlighten me.













And more pics from today's outside romp.












This Blue Partridge male has decent foot feathering.

My blue Pt pullet.

My only partridge pullet top left.

 

[junebuggena]

Correct. Dark is partridge pattern with silver base color. Partridge is the same pattern but with gold/red base color. And yes, that chick is Partridge, not Dark.

 

[speckledhen]

Correct. Dark is partridge pattern with silver base color. Partridge is the same pattern but with gold/red base color. And yes, that chick is Partridge, not Dark.

Okay, all along I was thinking it was a Dark until it just didn't seem to be silver at all. I saw from the start that the down color was a different shade, but both were different from all the other chicks in the brooder so I had no reason to think it wasn't a Dark until just the last few days.

Two from eggs marked "Dark Brahma" hatched and this one did seem to have slightly different coloring than the other partridge chicks, closer to the Dark pullet chick, but as it has grown and become more and more different than B.J. (21st chick of all the chicks on both batches to hatch, therefore "BlackJack", lol), I began to wonder. Here I was trying to sex it and it's even a different color than what I had originally thought. So, is it male, then, with all the darker feathers? It is, right? I don't see any orange shoulder feathers, though. Now that I know it's partridge, I'd want to see those in a male, huh?