Brown reds are ER or birchen at the e locus and s+ or gold at the silver locus. It is possible that the parents of this bird were heterozygous for birchen and another e locus gene (ER/e?). When you cross two individuals that are heterozygous at the e locus then there is a one in four chance of the parents producing a non birchen offspring. He looks like the typical BBR male for the other e locus genes and could be any combination of other e locus genes.
Wheaten is a very good gene for removing the black from the hackles of a bird. That is why the quality wheatens do not have black in the hackles. My guess is that he is not homozygous wheaten.
There are other factors that can cause black in the hackles. One of these is the black intensifier Ml or melanotic. There are other melanizing genes that can cause the same effect .
In order to get a good red pyle bird, the bird must carry modifiers that get the black specks out of the feathers and must also be heterozygous for dominate white. Quality red pyle birds carry these modifiers. Since you can not get a red pyle, this is a suggestion but you might introduce the blue gene into your stock. Blue could be one of the modifiers.
Do you know anybody that has splash ameraucana stock?
Birds that carry the extended black gene and are heterozygous dominate white will have black specks in the plumage. Another good gene to remove black from the chickens body is the columbian gene. The columbian gene clears black from the body of the bird but has little effect upon the red in the pyle regions. Quality dominate white breeds should be carrying the columbian gene.
Rooster
