If you want to breed winning blacks of both sexes,
then double mating is required (or a different set of breeding
pens for show quality cockerels and pullets). This is true with
any breed of yellow legged blacks. The problem being that yellow
pigment and black pigment are not really compatible with each
other in the sense that if you require total black plumage right
down to the skin, the yellow pigment wont allow this to happen
in cockerels, even more so in cock birds. There will always be
a little bit of white in the under colour particularly near the
base of the tail. Or if you do breed a bird with sound undercolour
he won’t have red eyes and yellow feet.
The problem with pullets is a little different
in that it’s relatively easy to get the sound undercolour
but not so the lovely yellow feet, that is of course unless
you’re using a male bird in the breeding pen that
has a lot of white in the undercolour. This is also how
you get that beautiful green sheen. Without the white undercolour
you don’t get a lot of sheen. Instead your pullets
will have a purple hue to them, as well as dark or brown
coloured eyes.
That is why to be successful at the big shows
with your blacks you really need to double mate if you want
to show both cockerels and pullets. Alternatively if you
don’t have much space or want to keep your number
of birds to a minimum you could concentrate on one line
only, which is what most people would have anyway, and that
is a pullet breeding line.
So if you’re after top line pullets,
only use a male that has a good deal of white in his undercolour
and has plenty of green sheen. Also this cock should have
as red an eye as possible.
Section of solid black cushion
undercolour in exhibition male Pekin with no white.
Male would be used to breed exhibition cockerels.
The hens to put with such a cock would have very
yellow feet, a good red eye and as much sheen as you’ve
got. I don’t believe in this old saying of putting a dull
female with a green sheened male. I think the best way to get
sheen is to use it on both sides. I’ve also come to the
conclusion that it’s a waste of time using brown reds to
cross into your blacks for extra sheen. In my experience the offspring
have no more and sometimes less sheen than the pairing of black
to black. I don’t think there is any benefit of putting
any other colour into your black line other than black. I think
you can end up loosing the intensity of black, and this shows
up in places like the wing feathers which when opened will look
a shade of black that is not as dark as it could be. Perhaps the
Mottle would be an exception to this, if used in a pullet breeding
line.
Typical; White undercolour showing in a male that would
be used to breed pullets
The difficulty is in arriving at that happy
medium of jet black plumage, yellow legs and feet, green
sheen and a red eye. Some people do achieve this on a regular
basis, but they are specialist. Hec McKenzie is one who
springs to mind. Hec has a pullet line of black Pekins and
a cockerel line of Black leghorn bantams. The leghorn being
another yellow legged black, hence the breeding principles
are the same as regards colour.
Last year I saw a black Leghorn cockerel
Hec was showing and I thought it was near the perfect bird
as regards colour (it also happened to be an exceptionally
good type of bird) although Hec thought its eye colour was
perhaps not as red as he would prefer. This is the trade-off
you have to make when breeding a cockerel line, you see
to improve the eye colour to a more blood red colour you
would have to sacrifice the perfect undercolour, for one
that has some white in it, and also some white at the base
of the tail. Hec told me he occasionally uses a pullet breeding
male (that is a male with lots of white undercolour) to
cross into his cockerel line to improve eye colour, maintain
sheen and leg colour etc.
This is a balancing act that the successful
breeder must undertake otherwise his cockerels will eventually
start showing dark patches on there legs and very dark brown
eyes. This is the result of too much black pigment.
Pullets on the other hand seem to be much easier
to approach perfection with, you often see pullets with red eyes,
yellow legs, green sheen and black to the roots. The brothers
to these birds however will be very lucky if they ever see the
show bench. I know in Pekins you can sometimes get away with showing
them as cockerels if there is no white undercolour showing through
the top, once the birds moult out into cock birds though you can
forget it, they will have so much white undercolour that almost
nothing will stop it from showing through. So although they might
never see the show bench, these are the birds that will breed
you the pullets that will win consistently.
One other point with regards to colour is purple
barring, not to be confused with purple sheen or plum coloured
sheen. I think the purple barring which you find on both cockerel
and pullet breeding lines comes from checks in growth. These can
be the result of parasites or a change of surroundings or even
a sudden change in the weather. I’ve seen yards where the
husbandry was very poor and the birds suffered from a range of
ailments, all the growing stock that had black feathers were covered
in purple bars. So while I believe the condition is primarily
triggered by a bird’s environment, I also think that certain
birds are more predisposed to barring than others. That means
that while the barring itself is not inherited, the ability to
be susceptible to barring is. In other words some birds will tend
to show bars after a sudden change in the weather, while other
will tolerate much harsher conditions.
A purple hue or sheen on the bird however
is I think linked to something else again, probably more
to do with cockerel breeding lines. I think it might be
connected to the amount of pigment the bird is carrying,
however I do recall a hen from a pullet line which also
had a plum coloured hue. So until I have more of an opinion
on the topic of purple hue I best leave it alone.
One thing you will notice in your females
is different shades of black in the undercolour, some almost
a grey colour, while your true cockerel breeding hens are
very dark. The hens with the lighter colour should not be
used in your cockerel line, and this brings me to my last
point. The hardest thing I’ve found is to stick to
your cockerel and pullet breeding lines, time and time again
I’ve been guilty of mixing the two lines up because
of a particular mating that I wanted to put together. Even
though they were from different lines I knew that a certain
hen would benefit maybe not colour wise, but definitely
type-wise, from being mated to a particular cock that had
the exact carriage that was required to enhance her shape.
The slow and painful lesson that I’m learning is not
to mix them up un-necessarily.
Desired rich lustred green feathering in a typical female
that would be used to produce pullets
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