Post by gayle on Jun 20, 2012 12:31:22 GMT -5
here is an article on Mottled poultry
pekinsaustralia.webs.com/articles.htm
The Mottle Colour An article from The Pekin Handbook of Australia
Written by Bruce Treloar
The Mottle variety is one of the most attractive of all the Pekin Family and has queit a large following in overseas countries.
unfortunately many breeders in this country have started the breed than got into trouble producing colour which was completely lost.
I have heard reports that some fair specimens have been here but no one has really fixed the Mottle colour. Now and than we see a Black Pekin showing various amounts of white in the footings and wings but this is a long way from Mottle.
If anyone takes the trouble to read the British Poultry standards they will see that the colour should be "evenly mottled all over". This leaves alot to the imagination as do many things appearing in that particular publication. There is no suggestion of what shape the White tip should be so we can take in any shape is ok providing they are evenly marked from head to feet.
The size of marking and shape is once again to the discretion of the breeders and judges.
This chould not affect this variety in shw competition as it gives the breeders and judges more chance of getting a mottle up for top awards.
This will no doubt suit myself and anyone else who wishes to take on this variety. First and foremost the variety will not suffur from divided opinions abou colour. I repeat once again, the standard requires them just to be evenly mottled.
The V-shape white tip as seen in Anconas is okay and so would be the round moon shaped markings as seen in the spangled varieties.
However, when breeding Mottles some come through with V-tips and some approaching te moon shaped tip.
The white tip should be clear enough in so as to appear quiet white from outside the pen. When examined however some small black marks will be een in ths white area. This Can not be avoided and will be present in the very best marked specimens. From outside the pen they should look contrasty in black and white and not show heavy white markings which would make the bird look white wih black markings. They should be gay enough to show a fair sized white tip on a black( green sheened) ground colour. To create the effect of the white tip could be like on Anconca or even going further than the size of a three-penny peice.
Personaly i like the medium sized markings which are a little gayer than the Ancona.
before anyone sets out to produce thi variety some knowledge of the variety is necessary. To produce the Mottle feather pattern there are three colours, Black, White, and just enough red to make the Black and White seregate.
Mottling is alos recessive to black or recessive White.
In other words if we mate a Black or a White Pekin to Mottle the results will be all Blacks. These Black birds carrying the mottle factor are potential Mottle breeders and when mated amongst themselves can be relied upon to produe some mottled chickens.
To illsutrate how this takes place we first start with a Mottle and a Black, and from these we have chickens whose genetical makeup will be Black and Mottle. I will apply the symbol N to denote Black mo for Mottle. N is capital as Black is dominant. mo is written in lowercase for Mottle which is recessive.
Note that in the second generation we have three different genotypes and only two different phenotypes.
if say 100 chickens were hatched we would end up with about 25 mottles. These mottles when mated among themselves will, in most cases, breed true to colour.
Probably a better way to illustrate the F2 results as expectations with chickens reared.
Notice the combination and segregation which is practicaly a complete illustration of Mendel's theory.
As previously mentioned Mottle relies on the presence of Black, White and enough red to segregate. I originaly mated a black and a buff together and produced a form of Black Reds over which a White male was mated. I hoped to get Mottle in this way but apparently the amount of red was incorrect. If anyone wishes to have ago at this than always use the Black red female and White male. black red over White will not produce Mottle, white male must always be used. As I did not get any mottle chickens after several tries i procured a mottle sport from a pen of Black Leghorns. This female was the basis of my present mottles which have been produced over the last seven years using White, Black White and Blue bred Blacks. During this time the usual colours ahve appeared such as Black, White, Mottle, Reddish looking spangles with a black tip on each feather and greyish blue splashed wheatons.
at present the Mottle are breeding quiet true though Blacks are being used to improve type when colours will allow.
These red spangle females i feel would produce Mottle from a white male.
These white males will produce a small number of mottles if mated to black females. ideal birds to start this experiment of mottle breeding would be as follows:
male: BLACK PEKIN - low set extensive abundance of losse soft wide feather, small comb, being white in undercolour, extra good footings and centre te feathering, high tail carriage and short backed, the softness and looseness of feather is essential an if you can find a maleor female with wings so loose that the wing hangs open well all the better. By this i mean that when walking around the bird can not hold its wing closed i.e the primaries are well up where the wing should be. This will give the impression of the wings held like a half open fan. in other words the looser and softer the bird, the better. If you can, try to select a male that is preponent, in other words, amale that has a proven breeding record when mated to a variety of females and produced good quality young stock.
Female: ANCONA - The Ancona used in the first cross should be as soft as possible and quiet gay in colour, legs as short as available, comb straight and as low as you can find.
From time to time we find ourselves hatching a few crossbreds for broody replacements but i have found that mottles fill their place as broodies admirably.
When pullets start to lay than put a couple of settings down straight away and you will find it is possible to rear three generations in two years. With this excersize you will get a greater concentration of Pekin characteristics in a shorter time. It is remarkable how the ancona type disapears so quickly.After five backmatings to the Black have been made than the mottles are really starting to look like class.
This pof course will take you ten years, breeding one generation per year.
If you breed cuckoos, Buffs, or Whites, than this article would help you alot to upgrade these colours. All the colours we have in Pekins help one another and while we have excellent Blacks than the whites will be improved.
The whites and the blacks improve the blues. The whites improve the buffs. The blacks and whites improe the cuckoos and so on.
Colour is extremely interesting and there are many attractive varieties yet to be produced. Silver pencilled, Silver spangled gold laced and many others would make worthy contributions to the Pekin family. Mr Warren Dickson is well on the way with Partridge which are very attractive.
If i have started anoyone on breeding a new variety I wll fell rewarded for the effort writing the article.
pekinsaustralia.webs.com/articles.htm
The Mottle Colour An article from The Pekin Handbook of Australia
Written by Bruce Treloar
The Mottle variety is one of the most attractive of all the Pekin Family and has queit a large following in overseas countries.
unfortunately many breeders in this country have started the breed than got into trouble producing colour which was completely lost.
I have heard reports that some fair specimens have been here but no one has really fixed the Mottle colour. Now and than we see a Black Pekin showing various amounts of white in the footings and wings but this is a long way from Mottle.
If anyone takes the trouble to read the British Poultry standards they will see that the colour should be "evenly mottled all over". This leaves alot to the imagination as do many things appearing in that particular publication. There is no suggestion of what shape the White tip should be so we can take in any shape is ok providing they are evenly marked from head to feet.
The size of marking and shape is once again to the discretion of the breeders and judges.
This chould not affect this variety in shw competition as it gives the breeders and judges more chance of getting a mottle up for top awards.
This will no doubt suit myself and anyone else who wishes to take on this variety. First and foremost the variety will not suffur from divided opinions abou colour. I repeat once again, the standard requires them just to be evenly mottled.
The V-shape white tip as seen in Anconas is okay and so would be the round moon shaped markings as seen in the spangled varieties.
However, when breeding Mottles some come through with V-tips and some approaching te moon shaped tip.
The white tip should be clear enough in so as to appear quiet white from outside the pen. When examined however some small black marks will be een in ths white area. This Can not be avoided and will be present in the very best marked specimens. From outside the pen they should look contrasty in black and white and not show heavy white markings which would make the bird look white wih black markings. They should be gay enough to show a fair sized white tip on a black( green sheened) ground colour. To create the effect of the white tip could be like on Anconca or even going further than the size of a three-penny peice.
Personaly i like the medium sized markings which are a little gayer than the Ancona.
before anyone sets out to produce thi variety some knowledge of the variety is necessary. To produce the Mottle feather pattern there are three colours, Black, White, and just enough red to make the Black and White seregate.
Mottling is alos recessive to black or recessive White.
In other words if we mate a Black or a White Pekin to Mottle the results will be all Blacks. These Black birds carrying the mottle factor are potential Mottle breeders and when mated amongst themselves can be relied upon to produe some mottled chickens.
To illsutrate how this takes place we first start with a Mottle and a Black, and from these we have chickens whose genetical makeup will be Black and Mottle. I will apply the symbol N to denote Black mo for Mottle. N is capital as Black is dominant. mo is written in lowercase for Mottle which is recessive.
Note that in the second generation we have three different genotypes and only two different phenotypes.
if say 100 chickens were hatched we would end up with about 25 mottles. These mottles when mated among themselves will, in most cases, breed true to colour.
Probably a better way to illustrate the F2 results as expectations with chickens reared.
Notice the combination and segregation which is practicaly a complete illustration of Mendel's theory.
As previously mentioned Mottle relies on the presence of Black, White and enough red to segregate. I originaly mated a black and a buff together and produced a form of Black Reds over which a White male was mated. I hoped to get Mottle in this way but apparently the amount of red was incorrect. If anyone wishes to have ago at this than always use the Black red female and White male. black red over White will not produce Mottle, white male must always be used. As I did not get any mottle chickens after several tries i procured a mottle sport from a pen of Black Leghorns. This female was the basis of my present mottles which have been produced over the last seven years using White, Black White and Blue bred Blacks. During this time the usual colours ahve appeared such as Black, White, Mottle, Reddish looking spangles with a black tip on each feather and greyish blue splashed wheatons.
at present the Mottle are breeding quiet true though Blacks are being used to improve type when colours will allow.
These red spangle females i feel would produce Mottle from a white male.
These white males will produce a small number of mottles if mated to black females. ideal birds to start this experiment of mottle breeding would be as follows:
male: BLACK PEKIN - low set extensive abundance of losse soft wide feather, small comb, being white in undercolour, extra good footings and centre te feathering, high tail carriage and short backed, the softness and looseness of feather is essential an if you can find a maleor female with wings so loose that the wing hangs open well all the better. By this i mean that when walking around the bird can not hold its wing closed i.e the primaries are well up where the wing should be. This will give the impression of the wings held like a half open fan. in other words the looser and softer the bird, the better. If you can, try to select a male that is preponent, in other words, amale that has a proven breeding record when mated to a variety of females and produced good quality young stock.
Female: ANCONA - The Ancona used in the first cross should be as soft as possible and quiet gay in colour, legs as short as available, comb straight and as low as you can find.
From time to time we find ourselves hatching a few crossbreds for broody replacements but i have found that mottles fill their place as broodies admirably.
When pullets start to lay than put a couple of settings down straight away and you will find it is possible to rear three generations in two years. With this excersize you will get a greater concentration of Pekin characteristics in a shorter time. It is remarkable how the ancona type disapears so quickly.After five backmatings to the Black have been made than the mottles are really starting to look like class.
This pof course will take you ten years, breeding one generation per year.
If you breed cuckoos, Buffs, or Whites, than this article would help you alot to upgrade these colours. All the colours we have in Pekins help one another and while we have excellent Blacks than the whites will be improved.
The whites and the blacks improve the blues. The whites improve the buffs. The blacks and whites improe the cuckoos and so on.
Colour is extremely interesting and there are many attractive varieties yet to be produced. Silver pencilled, Silver spangled gold laced and many others would make worthy contributions to the Pekin family. Mr Warren Dickson is well on the way with Partridge which are very attractive.
If i have started anoyone on breeding a new variety I wll fell rewarded for the effort writing the article.