Splash, Birchen, Black Copper, Marans breeding question

[kathyinmo]

Holy cow, I have a lot of education ahead of me! How long is it gonna take me to figure this all out, I ask myself!

Hey, thanks so much for all the information!

 

[amazondoc]

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So there is no birchen? I was told that the blue were birchen.

Those youngsters aren't old enough to tell for sure whether they will have birchen patterning, or not.

 

[amazondoc]

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I ask myself the same question nearly every day.

 

[Krys109uk]

Extended black (E) without melanisers is very similar to birchen (ER) with melanisers.

I have both E & ER in my birds. If my theory is correct, I'd say those birds are at least heterozygous E.

When I brought back copper blacks from France (to UK).They always feathered up with copper hackles. They were correctly ER.

Since being here in US & having to start again with Marans. I find some feather up with copper hackles (or whatever colour they're going to be); I think they're ER. Some of these lack melanisers & have the typical ER lacing. I also find a certain proportion of birds which initially feather up with dark hackles & as they mature, colour comes into their hackles; I think these are E without melanisers.

 

[kathyinmo]

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After I figure out what you are talkin' about, I will comment on it! LOL
Honest, I WILL learn this stuff!

 

[Krys109uk]

They're just abbreviations to save writing the words out all the time. E = extended black & ER = birchen. Both are what are known as e-alleles (allele means alternative genes for a position on chromosome).
There are 5 e-alleles extended black (E), birchen (ER), Wheaten (eWh), Duckwing aka wild type (e+), & brown aka Asian partridge (eb).

 

[Dustin Biery]

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I've trying to understand the lingo for a very least a year now and still get confused and have to have Krys and others smack me back into line...

 

[kathyinmo]

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I've trying to understand the lingo for a very least a year now and still get confused and have to have Krys and others smack me back into line...

I'm takin' notes here!

 

[bibliophile birds]

could krys or amazon perhaps recommend a book those of us who have no idea what's going on with poultry color genetics could purchase? i've been looking at books but, knowing so little, i can't make a decision. thanks!

 

[kathyinmo]

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Maybe this will help:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=247503