DEPTH & SHADE OF BLACK

Breeders need to be diligent in their selection of birds for ground colour which must be glossy greenish black for a Brown red breeding pen and one of the most important factors to avoid ids the use of dull-black feathered birds with no Green sheen to the feathers. The Australian brown has always carried the genes for brilliant beetle green sheen and this strong trait should always be sought when selecting to mate to breed winners and also to keep the trait within the line you have

MATING TO WIN FOR COLOUR

Experience has shown that it is not as easy as it looks to obtain the finely laced black breast feathers required ,coupled with the correct straw neck and top colour that is required in the males.

I am sure breeders struggle each year with this difficulty as I do. I have often found that by choosing two laced breasted birds for mating in most cases produces over laced offspring and often Brown reds with mealy or streaky breast feathers and some even begin to show gold edging to primaries in the wing feathers.

I have found however that by mating with fine & distinctly laced chest on only one side of the breeding pen I can usually predict offspring of a better chest colour than by using two laced chested birds. At this stage it has not seemed to matter if it is the male or the female who carries the distinct chest lacing as long as one of the two has it

It would be necessary when using the male as the laced breeder, to choose one with the correct lemon-neck and top colour and if using the female as the laced component, choose the one with the closest to the lemon striped with black neck, & lemon chest lacing as opposed to the mahogany colour

BREED-COLOUR FAULTS POPPING UP

I have discovered by continually using brown red males with an abundance of top colour and females with the required chest lacing over a period of breeding seasons, some colour faults begin creeping in. Often the lemon or gold colour will start appearing on the edges of the primary wing feathers(where they should be clear. crow-winged),chest colour will become less distinct for lacing and eventually run into solid gold feathers and the neck hackles in both sexes will begin to lose the required black striping

It is interesting to note that the laced gene appears to be present in the birds that seemingly to not show it visually. I have had brown reds and birchins that may be 3 years old and have shown clear black chests yet have produced laced chested birds, then remarkably on their 3rd or 4th moult they exhibit distinct lacing on the chest which previously had not been displayed

This became quite evident this season when a seemingly clear black breasted Birchin male accidentally mated with a pure black langshan and produced a cross bred Birchin male with very distinct chest lacing. dark legs, red eye and green sheen. The cross bred full brother was a glossy green-black with solid black colouring clearly indicating that solid coloured blacks can also be bred from a laced chested bird X pure black
This shows just how dominant the lacing gene is in either Brown red or Birchin

For Brown red and Birchin breeding this becomes a clear indication how carefully one needs to mark the parentage of black breasted birds for their future usage

INTRODUCTION OF BIRCHIN FOR COLOUR RESULTS

From my own experience and that which I have observed from others, Silver Birchin can be used to enhance the quality of colour of the Brown red and certainly brightens the gold colour bringing it closer to the lemon or straw colour desired

Breeders need to be aware that they can attempt to improve their brown reds colour by the use of a Birchin in-cross but never try the reverse by using a Brown red to improve the colour of a Birchin as the gold component in the Brown red will reduce the crisp silver in the resultant Birchins and produce impure coloured Birchins lacking in the strength of Silver required

INTRODUCTION OF OTHER COLOURS

I will endeavor to outline some of the results I have had in introducing other colours into a brown red line and bear in mind this is from my own experience and as we all know any type of experimenting takes time and careful recording and many let-downs along the way I usually put one colour to another for a specific reason and it is often best to jot down what you hope to achieve before you start. In this part of the article I will cover the White and in later articles I will outline results from introduction to the blue pekin

TO WHITE PEKINS

I first introduced the Brown red to the White pekin to put the width of feather and gloss from the brown red into the White and the type and eye colour of the white into the brown red, in effect to make a higher quality bird.

At that stage I had no idea as to what the colour result would be from either of the experimental matings, although one of my beliefs was that somewhere in there I would eventually produce a pure Black with the qualities of both the White and the Brown red lines

For the experiments I used the following combination of birds:

A - Black Breasted Brown red X to white pullet
B - White Male X lemon laced breasted brown red female
C - Black breasted Brown Red X Laced breasted female

I chose all birds on both sides of all the matings for exceptional type. In regard to the black breasted brown red male, even though he did not exhibit lacing I knew from his previous progeny that he had produced laced breasted birds in the past when mates to a laced bird

RESULTS

From mating A ....

I produced Black pekins with Red necks with only black striping in the neck and a minimum of shoulder colour(no top colour) who were crow winged and glossy black in both male and female .I also produced solid black with green sheen and also produced the odd white pullet. No offspring had lemon top colour only the darker mahogany colouring. However these birds would be potential breeders when mated to laced chested birds

From Mating B ....

Produced a lemon laced female and a male with lacing and perfect lemon top colour who was leaning to “over coloured in the chest. He showed some undesirable colour in the wing primaries I feel “B” Mating produced the brighter coloured Brown reds because the White male used happened to be a product from a Brown Red X Brown Red mating. In a next season I will use a White male not bred from brown red to see if the dilution of the excessive gold component may work

From Mating C ....

I produced a Brown red male with good all round top colour though not a lemon as needed but he was fully coloured, and crow winged. He had very minimal chest lacing only say 3-4 feathers laced on a black chest

So as you can see many different results can come from Breeding brown reds and I am finding I need to mark carefully those birds and their combinations with others that throw the correctly coloured birds. Once again however these experiments are only in the early stages and will develop with different combinations and I hope, more predictable results each year.

The following pictures show varying shades of male top colour:

	Lemon top colour neck striping and good saddle coverts
	Shows a brown red derivative with only the red neck colouring
	Shows a young laced breasted male however lacing could be a little finer around the feather edge
	Shows medium top & saddle covering colour but not really the desired shade