We are seeing nearly full grown SW males in addition to the very few adults that we had going into this effort for APA acceptance. There are a few areas in the proposed standard description that will be up for full debate, but not until we have many more to fully examine. The first topic for discussion is the breast coloring.
I am attaching photos of one the cockerels that hatched January 2016. These pics were taken today, 12 days shy of the cockerel's first birthday. Note the SHAFTING in the breast feathers. The shafting is an orange-red color. This shafting is in every photo of every SW cockerel of this age that I have seen thus far. In earlier months in the juvenile weeks, the breast coloring has orange-red LACING.
I am also attaching a picture of this SW's sire, a Blue Wheaten. You can see very faintly that the feathers in the breast also have this color pattern, just in blue and dark blue.
The BW standard allows for orange or orange-red TICKING in the front of neck and in the fluff. And in the breast, it says "blue, preferably laced with dark blue."
It is incredibly important that we write this description very well and accurate, not only to what is normal, but also to what is achievable in the sense of improvement.
So the question right now is what is the genetic reason for this shafting that is is nearly all SW cockerels? Are there actually cockerels and cocks out there that DON'T have this shafting? If so, is the genotype linked to another genotype that IS in the standard? Is it linked to the undesirable, and highly improvable, hackle striping? Or is something that SHOULD be included in the standard to read "orange-red shafting on white-grayish tinged white" (or something like that)?
I ask all experienced Blue Wheaten/Splash Wheaten breeders to share your knowledge, experience, and if possible PICTURES so that we can get closer to making some decisions.
Thank you!
Sarah Meaders