Quote: I think its good to be a gentle reminder for everyone so that we don't drift from the history. So broken record is ok with me.
It seems like many folks state they prefer a bit of color in the roosters (me included) although many times folks have stated that the consensus is toward the pure silver color (I am not sure this is really the case). I think part of the problem is that there are some roosters that are obviously Gold (no cream) with or without AR (Autosomal Red), there are some that are obviously Cream (like the one just posted by Nicalandia) then there is this in between gray area. Sometimes I look at a roo and wonder if he is a dark barred Cream based bird with tons of AR or if he is a Gold based bird (no cream) with less AR. How can we be sure on this middle band of ambiguous birds? I have not run across any studies regarding how Cream (ig/ig) and AR interact. Please share them if anyone knows of any!
For me, I have 3 pullets, all gold (one with a lot of melanizers and another that I suspect has a lot of AR). The only way I can test their underlying genetics is to breed them to a very cream rooster (known ig/ig) with little color so that I can help to understand their underlying genetics. My goal is to have a flock of known Cream birds and have some color in the males as I think a little chestnut is more attractive. I also prefer not to have a straight-up crele rooster. Since I'm not the smartest person here and can't strip out colors in my head, the only way I can be assured of the ig/ig dilutor being present is to have that silver-y boy. He's not my end goal ideal (though I do think he is very pretty) but I do covet him as a tool to achieve my goals of a Cream Legbar with some Chestnut.