Old English Breeding Patterns

[Pat Mcaffee]

I have a fawn duckwing cockerel and a pullet and a black old English rooster. I had two fawns hatch today but I was wondering if I could breed my fawn pullet to my black rooster and make a sport and breed that sport back to the black rooster to get some more pure blacks. And can I make any other varieties with these two varieties? I’m not too familiar with the breeding patterns of old englishes so I’m looking for help. I also have access to a silver duckwing pullet that is the cousin of my fawns, if it helps. Please give advise!

 

[Sneebsey]

Extended black is dominant over wildtype (duckwing), so you will likely see mostly black birds in your first generation, but all will be hiding wildtype. Though the cockerels will likely have gold or silver leakage, the pullets will have little to none. This will be tricky when you breed back to the black father, as you may not be able to tell which of the second generation offspring are pure for extended black, and which are hiding wildtype.

I believe that Fawn in OEGB is a double-dose of the Dun gene, and if so all of your first generation will be dun, rather than black. Bred back to a black, half would be black, half dun. If you are particularly worried about your chances of hatching birds which are both pure for extended black and clear of the dun gene, the silver pullet would be best, but using fawn is perfectly do-able. It would be easier to go out and get a solid-coloured pullet (black, blue or dun would be best) for your black cockerel, though, due to the e-series conundrum.