Mottle/Exchequer

[Guest]

Does anyone have experience with mottling/exchequer in their Ameraucana crosses? I am documenting several heterozygous chicks, with E and ER loci, and would love to hear more from others.
There are a few breeds that have slate shanks and mottle, so I think it is a possibilty for us to have this color as well. I have 2 adult hens with Mottle and light slate shanks, about the color of a wheaton.  I\'ve had a few discussions with other breeders, with other breeds but no one so far with a slate shanked breed, and they do not consider leg color. Does anyone know a breeder of Mottled Bearded Bantam?

[bantamhill]

I have toyed with the idea of mottled. If it was me I would go to an Old English breeder and look at birds who were culled due to leg color. I have used the following link as a reference.

http://www.wirelink.com/poultry/mottled.html

Based on the information in the link I might use in large fowl a Speckled Sussex. If one could find a large fowl mottled cochin I wouldn\'t hesitate to use it.

Michael

[Mike Gilbert]

It is my understanding the mottling gene is also an inhibitor of dermal melanin.    If that is correct it may be next to impossible to develop a line of mottled Ameraucanas since this breed requires slate or black legs.   I think most everyone has given up on the barred variety now, as the sex linked barring gene is also a dermal melanin inhibitor.   I did have one silver bantam pullet show up this year, out of the blue as it were, with mottling.   The mottling was evenly spread throughout the tail, body, and even the salmon colored breast feathers.   She is also the only silver ameraucana bantam I have ever hatched with white shanks.
Where this gene came from in my line of silvers is a mystery to me.   She was culled.

[Guest]

I have located a Mottled D\'Anver bantam breeder with a few breeder hens to sell; she also has trios. She says they have good slate leg color and is sending photos (I\'ve learned that one!) but doesn\'t know if E or ER. Her line was directly imported from Europe 5 yr\'s ago and this is her first year to sell. Anyone else interested? I\'ll post a picture when I get it.
I had a speckled sussex way back when and she had interesting somewhat smokey legs. Sure didn\'t know Cochins came mottled; I\'ll have to check that out. Thanks.

[Mike Gilbert]

Apparently I am dealing with a different gene that causes mottling then.    Why else would my one mottled silver pullet have white legs when both parents had slate?   There is no possibility of a mixup as I had only slated legged breeders.
I will be interested in seeing the photos.

[Guest]

It IS interesting! I\'ve been searching around for quite some time now. There just really hasn\'t been much testing done to determine influences on leg color. I have a therory that it has to do with combination of genes, mostly the e-loci, for instance how my blue roosters that have been split ER/e+ have the lightest leg color, and then a modifier, perhaps silver.

[Guest]

As Mike said, the mottling gene is an inhibitor of dermal melanin. If you have birds with white skin and they are birchen or extended black, then extended black or birchen can add color to the epidermas. This would cause the birds to have dark shanks. Extended black would cause darker shanks than birchen.

How about autosomal barring? Has anybody thought about producing an autosomal barred amerucana?

Tim

[Mike Gilbert]

According to definition, slate leg is caused by melanin in the thick layer of dermis (under layer of skin), and a clear epidermis (the thin layer of outer skin).   A black leg is produced when both the dermis and epidermis contain melanin pigment.

[grisaboy]

I remember reading an atricle several years ago  about soneone trying to make a barred silky.  They had the same leg color issue as the barred gene also restricts melanin and silkies require dark legs.  Anyway they hatched many chicks and eventually got some barred/cuckoo birds with dark legs.  I don\'t know the right genetic combination, but it can be done.  If someone has some dark legged mottled d\'Anvers that you can get, then that would be a great start as you would already be half way there since they would have the gene combination that you need.  It would still probably take 3 generations to set the dark legs on a mottled Ameraucana.

Curtis

[grisaboy]

One other thing....
If someone is able to develop a dark legged mottled Ameraucana, then this may be the link to developing barred Ameraucanas.

Another thing.. If you use speckled sussex or other \'Red\' breed to get the mottle gene,  you will be fighting red feathers in the hackles for many generations.

Curtis