- Nov 22, 2011
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Okay, here is the down and dirty as I understand it thus far. Still working on fine tuning the phenotype/genotypes; for example, when there is red leakage does it indicate incomplete dominance of the silver gene (S/s) or an effect of autosomal red (AR/?) At this point, I cannot yet look at a bird and provide the genotype.
Anyway, feel free to correct:
First thing to remember, there are ONLY two pigments that make up color, Black (E-group) and Red (s and AR) White is the absence of pigment.
There are only five base colors in the black (the E group.) In order of dominance – E(black) = full extension of black, masks most patterning genes that may be present, ER (Birchen) = black with restriction i.e. allows patterning to show up including silver/gold leakage in hackle and saddle, fine lacing present in breast feathers, usually dark legs; eWh (Wheaten) = same as Duckwing (e) except no black lines in rooster hackle or saddle feathers and lighter down, secondary wing feathers remain black, females very different from (e) & (eb) with salmon of breast extending over all or most of body, chick down white or cream; Duckwing aka partridge or wild type (e) = salmon color breast on hens, black lines in hackle and saddle feathers of roosters; and last, Brown (eb) is same in appearance as (e) and (eWh) but will always have black shaft in hackle feathers, hens do not have the salmon breast of the wild type (e).
Red comes in a sex linked trait as gold (s) versus silver (S). Red also appears apart from silver/gold as autosomal red (Ar) which is dominant and not sex linked.
White comes in two masks – albino or “recessive” white masks the expression of ALL other colors and patterns which sometimes causes confusion because it acts dominant in this respect; however it is recessive because it only can express in a double dose (c/c). The “dominant” white (I) masks only the expression of black which is how you get white lacing instead of black or why you might want to breed to a black bird. You also only need one dose, hence the name dominant white.
Also at the locus for dominant white is the dun modifier (ID) which acts the same way as blue. When homozygous (ID/ID) it is khaki/dun, when heterozygous it is a chocolate color (ID/id) which is different than a true chocolate (choc), a homozygous recessive. Everything else is ‘not dun’ i.e. (id/id).
The rest of the alphabet soup affects the distribution of the two pigments (black and red) and sometimes the lack of all pigment (white), to various parts of the bird and the individual feathers. Some affect only black pigment like chocolate (choc), Melanotic (Ml) while others affect only red pigment like Mahogany (Mh) and dark brown (Db). Others yet affect all color pigments like Perlgray/Lavender (lav) which dilutes both pigments; the black to pale gray and red to straw gold or the sex linked barring (B) which turns expression of a pigment off and on over the length of a feather.
This is as much as I've got firm in my head. Still working out all the modifiers and how they interact. If you don't already have Sigrid's book, I have to say it is well worth the cost. And if you are breeding partridge and patterned birds, Grant Brereton's 21st Century Poultry Breeding is pretty good. I never knew you needed two breeding pens - 1 for exhibition male color and 1 for exhibition female color - until I read his book.
Anyway, feel free to correct:
First thing to remember, there are ONLY two pigments that make up color, Black (E-group) and Red (s and AR) White is the absence of pigment.
There are only five base colors in the black (the E group.) In order of dominance – E(black) = full extension of black, masks most patterning genes that may be present, ER (Birchen) = black with restriction i.e. allows patterning to show up including silver/gold leakage in hackle and saddle, fine lacing present in breast feathers, usually dark legs; eWh (Wheaten) = same as Duckwing (e) except no black lines in rooster hackle or saddle feathers and lighter down, secondary wing feathers remain black, females very different from (e) & (eb) with salmon of breast extending over all or most of body, chick down white or cream; Duckwing aka partridge or wild type (e) = salmon color breast on hens, black lines in hackle and saddle feathers of roosters; and last, Brown (eb) is same in appearance as (e) and (eWh) but will always have black shaft in hackle feathers, hens do not have the salmon breast of the wild type (e).
Red comes in a sex linked trait as gold (s) versus silver (S). Red also appears apart from silver/gold as autosomal red (Ar) which is dominant and not sex linked.
White comes in two masks – albino or “recessive” white masks the expression of ALL other colors and patterns which sometimes causes confusion because it acts dominant in this respect; however it is recessive because it only can express in a double dose (c/c). The “dominant” white (I) masks only the expression of black which is how you get white lacing instead of black or why you might want to breed to a black bird. You also only need one dose, hence the name dominant white.
Also at the locus for dominant white is the dun modifier (ID) which acts the same way as blue. When homozygous (ID/ID) it is khaki/dun, when heterozygous it is a chocolate color (ID/id) which is different than a true chocolate (choc), a homozygous recessive. Everything else is ‘not dun’ i.e. (id/id).
The rest of the alphabet soup affects the distribution of the two pigments (black and red) and sometimes the lack of all pigment (white), to various parts of the bird and the individual feathers. Some affect only black pigment like chocolate (choc), Melanotic (Ml) while others affect only red pigment like Mahogany (Mh) and dark brown (Db). Others yet affect all color pigments like Perlgray/Lavender (lav) which dilutes both pigments; the black to pale gray and red to straw gold or the sex linked barring (B) which turns expression of a pigment off and on over the length of a feather.
This is as much as I've got firm in my head. Still working out all the modifiers and how they interact. If you don't already have Sigrid's book, I have to say it is well worth the cost. And if you are breeding partridge and patterned birds, Grant Brereton's 21st Century Poultry Breeding is pretty good. I never knew you needed two breeding pens - 1 for exhibition male color and 1 for exhibition female color - until I read his book.
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