By David Plant © February 2005
Extracts to form part of this article have been taken from a paper done in 1991 by my late father WJ Plant of Maitland NSW who did extensive research on the mottle gene

The Mottle Pekin would be by far one of the most charming of the Pekin colours, particularly with its overall colour contrast of stark white V tipping on a glossy greenish - black ground colour.

Accreditation for the making of the Mottle Pekin in Australia goes to Mr B Treloar from Glenorie NSW and goes back to around 1958 when it is said that Black Pekins were mated to Ancona bantams. Mottles then appeared on the show bench around 1963 after considerable work having gone into their making
Mr Alec Hobbs from Wollongong NSW would have been the most consistent Breeder and Showman of his time & during the past 40 years, in mottles and from his breeding and showing many of today’s Australian stock or their derivatives had started from Mottles from his yard.

Very few people have had the patience to persevere with the Mottle due to the requirement of the clarity, shape and evenness of the white markings and the intricacies involved in maintaining the required colour. Alec Hobbs passed away some years back, however the purity of his 100% Mottle pekins still lives on here. At least three fanciers are still producing offspring and working with the same blood as the original line from him. One dominant feature of the original Hobbs line Mottles was that they possessed a good level of the preferred V shaped white tipped black feathers. During Alec’s final years however his eyesight was failing due to cataracts and many of his last few years breeding programs included birds with an excess of solid white in feet and flights & body plumage.
Careful selective breeding is now beginning to remove those faults and many offspring from those old bloodlines are returning to a better balance between the Black and the White.

MOTTLE COLOUR STANDARDS
When the Australian Pekin Standards were revised and re formulated in 1994, not many people paid heed to the importance of the shape of the white tipping, clarity seemed to take precedence. In fact my late father, Bill Plant argued at the time and was unfortunately defeated, in favour of putting forward a recommendation that only V shaped tipping should be the Standard requirement when the Mottle standard was under discussion.

In hindsight now and given the fact we are told the mottles came from Anconas, why on earth should we have varied the shape of the tipping to that which is different from its ancestors? At the time thoughts were canvassed from other prominent Mottle breeders at the time and the overriding consensus was to let the shape of the mottle tipping be any of several shapes, moon shaped, round shape V shape etc rather than to have V shaped as the Standard, or at least as the “preferred shape". High focus then was placed on clarity only not the shape of the tipping.

My argument now becomes is that if you have one requirement for shape of a feather tip for a Standard why have several other options? Too many options make the role of producing bad coloured Mottles so much easier. This harkens back to the previous choice of 3 eye colours in Pekins years ago, prior to the redrafting of the Pekin Standards by the Club. Such variety of choices was unnecessary .This clearly was strongly advocated by the minority simply because some breeders found it too hard to breed to the Standard requirement of red eye.

As we now see on the show Bench many of the Mottles, whilst of outstanding type and conformation are being shown today to carry the following colour faults:
Distinct white splashing rather than tipping on the Neck hackles, saddle hackles, and cushion ( see hen 1 below )
Irregular splashing of white on the body rather than tips on the feathers ( see hen 2 below )
No distinction of white between the black & the white tip - ie white tips smeared or streaked with Black ( see hen 3 below )
Full white wing and foot feathers ( see hen 4 below )
The appearance is then of a speckled or splashed fowl rather than a mottled fowl

Faulty blobs of white not correct tipping	Faulty body colouring, smeared feathers & black neck
Female showing neck “flashes" not correct tipping	Incorrect Wing colour – Male

There is every chance that this line of Mottles has been produced by introduction of another colour with some disregard to the clarity and shape of the tipping. Or alternatively the purity of colour distinction of the original line of V tipped Mottles has been diluted due perhaps to poor selection for colour in breeding stock

I have heard many people argue, particularly in 1993 when the Mottle Standards were being formulated that “you won’t get a correct V shaped tip on a broad feathered bird such as a Pekin.” This statement is far from the truth as the photos here in this Mottle feature will reveal. ( seen below )

The correct interpretation is that on a broad feather the arc of the V tipping will be more obtuse and on a narrower feather from the body, neck or sickle feather, of course it will visually be more acute. Still though, a V shape tip should be there, whatever the angle of the V

Feather photos on this feature on Mottles herein will show that the correct V shaped tipping is in fact attainable and comes from rigid selection and care in mating for colour whilst still observing the Breed type requirements. It makes sense that on an Ancona it may look like a more acute V tip on any of the feathers. However this is simply because the Ancona does not have broad feathers, however on a Pekin I feel the V concept must still be there with distinction of clarity between where the black ends and the white begins on each tipped feather, also the tip needs to be free of black streaks and any mealiness.

The mixture of the Lines of what I describe as the “Splashed & irregular coloured mottles” back into the original V tipped lines can achieve some good results but diligent selection for colour will continue to be required.

As would be the practise in rectifying any fault, my suggestion is to back breed only to the bird that you used to improve the fault, not the one who has it. Each year on the Show bench we see a few more Exhibitors coming in with the Mottles so we look forward to keener competition in this colour each year. To aim towards perfection in this Colour is not easy but the rewards can be very satisfying.

Excellent Standard V shaped tipping from Mottled female	Good Standard tipping on Body, breast Cushion & wing	Outstanding primary wing tipping from Hobbs line female
Mealy coloured Incorrect wing feathers from Mottled	Reverse tipping (incorrect colour pattern) from female body plumage

 

Discuss / comment on this article in the poultry forum by clicking here

 

By David Plant © February 2005