Unusual color in blue wheaten cockerel?

[Guest]

Hello!

I have a young blue wheaten cockerel with unusual coloring, and I am wondering if his color is a common fault. His wing bays have the brilliant orange-red edge, but fade to a buttery yellow--attractive, but pale and not what I am accustomed to seeing in a wheaten. The brood from which he comes is approximately 4 months old, and the other wheaten cockerels all seem to be developing normally. The lower red-orange sickles on the other cockerels do have a bit on their very tips of that silky flaxen color, but none in the wing bay at all. The only butter is in the bottom-most tips of the sickles and hackles--and that only if you use your imagination.

His blue is a pretty mid-shade with some darker edges, like smoky lacing, and does not differ from any of the other boys nor in any significant way from other standard blue wheaten roosters I have seen. They all still have some juvenile plumage (a bit, at least), so because these feathers are just coming in, this paleness is just now becoming apparent. As his sickles grow longer, I imagine it will seem less buttery overall because more orange will show, but this is just a guess.

Does anyone know anything about the appearance of this color in wheatens?

[bantamhill]

Being a wheaten I would give him some time . . . If the color sticks, I would cull him.

[Guest]

Thanks for your advice on my flock. However, I am not breeding for show. I am actually more likely to find new homes for the other boys should I need to, since the cockerel with the flaxen color is the friendliest, and I keep chickens for pleasure.

(Naturally, the cockerel with the fault would be the friendliest...)  :rolleyes:

I was just wondering if he somehow got a dose of recessive ig, a red diluter, if that was even possible in wheatens, or if there that instead suggested some mixing of blood in his line somewhere. The eggs were purchased, not from my own flock. Strangely enough, the first batch of Ameraucana eggs I hatched yielded only hens.

He is otherwise--thus far--lovely, with the tail held at the correct angle, and a nice comb with three distinct rows of papillae, very pretty. His legs are a bit pale at this point, but are still darkening to a more proper slate. And of course he is affectionate, as I said, and likes to sit on my lap and sunbathe just as my favorite hens do. Maybe it\'s his defense... could he know his color is off?  

He is striking, but the color is not typey, and I was wondering if any of you gurus knew where it might come from. I don\'t know much about genetics.

[Mike Gilbert]

In years past I saw this phenomenon in McMurray birds, but they were bantams, not large fowl.   With some, their entire hackle and saddle feathers were a lighter, yellowish color.   Apparently there are a few phantom modifying genes lurking in some lines of purebred stocks as well.   In Dutch bantams, a red dilution gene lightens the light browns to cream light browns, and blue light browns to cream blue light browns.  It could be the same gene or something entirely different I suppose.     My suggestion:   just enjoy your friendly rooster, but be sure to provide full disclosure to any future customers of his descendents.   Thanks for sharing this info.

[Guest]

The cream gene would cause all of the red in a bird to be diluted not just specific areas. The dutch have the cream gene in them.

Tim

[grisaboy]

I had some McMurray Easter Egg Bantams for awhile that were \'Buff\' Wheaton or \'Gold\' Wheaton.  Not sure what to call them because they are not standard colors.  Very pretty though.  The males were bright golden buff where normal wheatons are orange red.  The Gold/buff with black breast was very striking and beautiful.  The hens looked like normal wheatons.  

Curtis

[Guest]

These are not EEs; they are Ameraucanas.

The creamy is not in the whole feather; just the tip, hm. I wasn\'t sure if the ig would change the whole feather or not; that\'s good to know.

I will see if I can get some photos uploaded so you can see what I mean. Looks like I need to size them down a bit.

[Guest]

These are not the loveliest photos in the world, however I think they illustrate the difference. I hope they haven\'t been sized down too much to see the difference. If so, I can crop a small portion from the originals and try again.

These are shots from above. It\'s tough to get shots from beside them. They are sweet and friendly but they think the camera might be tasty and want to try out the lens and the cord... and the flash... and the logo, etc. As you will be able to see, there is still significant juvenile feathering. It is worth mentioning that their tails are about the same length; due to the angle of their bodies when I snapped, for some reason the cockerel with less red appears to have a shorter, lighter tail. They\'re about the same, though.