He looks like a silver partridge or gray bird, no blue or splash that I can see.., but silver will look very much like splash in a young bird only with a bit of pattern instead of random splashes of color.
Autosomal red is responible for the red in your bird, and is NOT a pattern gene but a color gene that will always concentrate in certain places in the bird depending on the sex of the bird
.from my understanding It was originally worked into gold partridge to brighten and intensifie the red color. But was tranfured over to silver partridge when breeder crossed the two in hopes of inproveing silvers partridge patterned gene.
Silver and gold are completely sex related and shouldn't lose or change it's color or tone when mix together, in other words you either have a gold bird or a silver bird, depending on what color each of the parent are. Silver dads will pass silver to the daughters and gold moms will pass gold to the sons or switch the mom and dads colors and the offpring colors will also switch. Thats what sex link means
But autosomal red is not Sex related and is present in both boys and girls depending on the sex of the bird it will be consecrated in differnt locations. And some birds have very little autosomal red and some like yours have brilliant bright red and lots of it. So far I've had two roosters that are considered torties one looks similar to yours with lots of color and the other is all most all silver with the smallest red patch on each wing.
But that doesnt mean your bird dosent have a patterned gene we call it partridge, or technically pencilled pattern but that's not entirely what it makes it tortioushell. Geneticly your looking for a silver partridge with autosomal red. The more the better in my opinion.
If your looking to start a calico project you would need the same autosomal red, only on a splash bird. splash being two copy's of the blue gene.
But no mottled gene, I would love to see a silkie mottled though! That would be fabulous!!!
I'll have to read over the rest of this more later. Thanks for all the info!
Interesting. After looking at more pictures, I agree. He looks more gray than splash. So totally different than I was told, but still pretty.
After looking at pictures (then replying above) I went out and looked him over again and made myself more confused. It's hard just looking at pictures and trying to compare b/c the colors in the pictures vary so much. I also read some articles on the ASBC site, and I'm still not certain. When I look closely at the feathers on his hackles, it looks more like white with random black streaks and splotches, not silvery like it did in the other picture, and there are actually some red streaks in the streamers of his top fluff.
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You are missing something vital in the sex linked gold/silver discussion. The fact that the males carry TWO genes and the females carry only one. Here is a chart for Gold/Silver crossings - and you can get Golden (Gold/Silver) boys. So reversing directions makes a BIG difference on the breedings.
So you see - mixed together it WILL change the males - making Golden. A Golden boy can throw both Gold and Silver hens - and Gold, Silver or Golden boys (depending on the hen).
Also - I have found 90% of the time if a bird shows Autosomnal Red in patches on the wings early on - its a boy. I have yet to have a female with red patches on the wings. Females with Autosomnal Red show an all over reddish blush - not patches. I have only seen one possible Torti female though. I have never seen a "Calico" (Splash based) female.
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You are missing something vital in the sex linked gold/silver discussion. The fact that the males carry TWO genes and the females carry only one. Here is a chart for Gold/Silver crossings - and you can get Golden (Gold/Silver) boys. So reversing directions makes a BIG difference on the breedings.
So you see - mixed together it WILL change the males - making Golden. A Golden boy can throw both Gold and Silver hens - and Gold, Silver or Golden boys (depending on the hen).
Also - I have found 90% of the time if a bird shows Autosomnal Red in patches on the wings early on - its a boy. I have yet to have a female with red patches on the wings. Females with Autosomnal Red show an all over reddish blush - not patches. I have only seen one possible Torti female though. I have never seen a "Calico" (Splash based) female.
Just to clarify, the pairing between a silver male and a gold female is still a sex-linked pairing as the genders are predictable can EVENTUALLY be told apart based upon colour, However, like with some other sex-linked genes that are not obvious at hatch, it isn't a good way to identify at or near hatching.
Also, silver and golden do not look alike. Silver is a very clean WHITE colouring; golden is more creamy/pale yellow coloured. There ARE other genes that can dilute gold to cream, but unless you know that is present, suspect golden.
Girls with autosomal red show it on their breasts. This is what causes the salmon breast in BBR females.
tadkerson recently posted photos of some girls with spots of autosomal red on their backs, sides, etc. These are several generations into a breeding project/trial. If it had been almost anyone else that posted it, I wouldn't have believed them. Sadly, I don't recall which thread.
Realize that chicken genetics are extremely complicated. Many other animals are much easier.
. I have learned that my white hens with the exception of one are silver based white so that means they are dominant white correct? By silver based I mean they had a silver look to them as chicks not yellow. If that's incorrect please let me know. @
