Random color name question

[black_cat]

Why does this color pattern have so many different names? (these pics are all from the MPC website)

'Speckled' Sussex ^

'Jubilee' Orpington^

'Mille Fleur' D'Uccle ^
I understand that the D'Uccle is a bit different, but it seems to be a very similar pattern. Why does this have so many different names? Is it different
genetically in each one? I know that the D'Uccle is a bit different with the lighter coloring, so would be a bit genetically different, but are the other two just the same? Booted bantams also have a 'mille fleur' coloring that looks very similar to the D'Uccle.

 

[NatJ]

Why does this color pattern have so many different names?

Because people raising one breed called it one thing, and people raising another breed called it something different. They did develop in different places at different times, before everyone was communicating over the internet.

Speckled--it looks speckled
Jubilee--I've heard the same as Jenwisp:

I read somewhere that the jubilee orpington was just named after queen victoria's diamond jubilee. It was presented as a gift to her.

Mille Fleur--French for "Thousand Flowers" (yes, "mille" is thousand in both Latin and French, even though it sounds like our word million. A million is a thousand thousands).

All three of those have the mottling gene making the white and black dots.
Other names for chickens with similar mottled patterns:
Swedish Flower Hen
Tolbunt
Spangled (Old English Game Bantam, Cornish, Russian Orloff)

Overlapping names:
"Jubilee" Cornish are presumably named for Queen Victoria's Jubilee too, but are white double-lacing on red, with no mottling.
Spangled in Hamburgs and Spitzhaubens and Brabanters has a different genetic cause.


When a chicken would be brown (any shade) plus black, then mottling makes a white feather tip, with a black marking behind that, and then the rest of the feather is colored normally (according to the other genetics the chicken has.)

When a chicken would be all black, mottling makes a white tip and then the rest of the feather is just black. (Examples: Ancona, Houdan, any chicken variety actually called "mottled.")

Any gene that affects how the brown or black looks can affect those colors:
--Mille Fleur d'Uccle has a gold-toned brown
--Speckled Sussex has Mahogany and maybe other modifiers making the brown darker
--Porcelain d'Uccle has lavender lightening both the black and the gold
--Pearl Old English Game is black with mottling, then lavender lightening the black
--Golden Neck Old English Game had Dominant White changing all black to white, so it's got white dots on a gold bird
--Silver Mille Fleur has the gold turned to white, so the birds is white with little black v's near the tips of the feathers. (Photo on this page: http://www.belgianduccle.org/silver-genetics )
--Blue would turn the black to blue, although I cannot think of a variety that has this.

Given how many different appearances there can be, it took a while before people figured out that the mottling gene was involved in all of them. (I think there are technically multiple alleles of the mottling gene, but since they are all at the same locus, and are all recessive to not-mottled, and seem to give similar results, I'm being a little bit lazy by referring to "the mottling gene.")

 

[MysteryChicken]

@MysteryChicken and @The Moonshiner you guys know genetics and breeds....any idea why these colors are named differently? Are they different genetically?

Columbian color pattern is caused by the genes for the color pattern. The birds you have pictured is Silver Columbian.

Columbian: Co/Co, or Co/co+
Silver: S/S

Light Brahmas are Partridge based, so I'm not sure if the Sussex, & the Wyandotte are also, or not.

 

[NatJ]

Columbian Wyandotte:
"The name Columbian comes from the Columbian Exposition/World’s Fair or Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893." source: https://www.wyandotte-nation.org/culture/special-interests/wyandotte-chickens/

"it was named for Columbian Exposition and World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois in 1893."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyandotte_chicken

It has always seemed obvious to me why the Sussex and Brahma were called "Light"

But once the color was called Columbian, then other versions popped up:
Columbian Rock, Buff Columbian Wyandotte, and so forth.
Lakevelders are also columbian colored, but with extra black.
Rhode Island Reds are columbian with less black, and with dark red instead of white or gold.
Red Sexlinks are usually gold columbian with Dominant White. (So the white of a Columbian bird is turned gold, and then the black is turned white.)

And just to link the two--Mille Fleur d'Uccle are Buff Columbian with mottling!

 

[black_cat]

I honestly never thought about it. Following cause I'm curious.

If there are other breeds with similar coloring that I'm missing, please tell me so I can add them to the post. I don't *need* to know but I'm very curious about why they're all differently named.

 

[black_cat]

I think that's just the name of the breeds

I was wondering because you can have a 'light' sussex and a 'buff' and 'lavender' orpington, and a 'porcelain' D'Uccle, so I was thinking that 'jubilee' or 'speckled' or 'mille fleur' was a color as well. Are they entirely different breeds, not different colors?

 

[black_cat]

The booted bantam can have similar coloring to this.

I looked it up and that one is also called 'Mille Fleur' thanks for pointing it out!

 

[black_cat]

They are different colors!

That's what I thought! That's how the question came up in the first place: Why is it called 'jubilee' for orpingtons, 'speckled' for sussex, and 'mille fleur' for D'Uccles and booted bantams?

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

T

That's what I thought! That's how the question came up in the first place: Why is it called 'jubilee' for orpingtons, 'speckled' for sussex, and 'mille fleur' for D'Uccles and booted bantams?

That’s a good question.

 

[black_cat]

The colombian wyandottes have rose combs

I know the difference between breeds, I'm wondering why the color is named differently when it appears to be the same color pattern.