Hi Curtis,
I rely mostly on the head pattern on chicks. So much depends on what you are use to seeing in your birds. I crossed some California Gray hens under Cuckoo Marans last year and Db segregated out in about 25% of the chicks. Their head pattern was just like the ones in John\'s photos. I call them \"Ewok chicks\" because that\'s what they look like to me, little Ewoks, lol. Anyway, I get the same erratic, broken head patterns on my project birds (easter egger types) that I\'ve been studying for the last 12 years. I believe that Db entered my easter eggers via the \"reverse laced\" hen I started with. In all of the crosses I\'ve made using these easter eggers over the years, every single chick that had the Db type head patterns are the ones that also gave me good lacing. In the case of my Marans, they received Db from an independent source. It would appear that the Marans with Db are also the ones with the nearly solid silver hackles. You\'ll have to draw your own conclusions on that one, I\'ve still got another few years of testing before I feel comfortable with the results.
With everything I\'ve got going on and lack of space, I haven\'t been able to test out the affects of Db on a solid black (E) bird. My guess is that red comes through in the hackles and saddles to some degree.
What breed and variety of fowl were you curious about testing for Db Curtis? Db seems to show up readily against patterned varieties.
Regards,
Dan Demarest
Auxvasse, MO