New Varieties

[Tailfeathers]

Mike made mention of one of the requirements for getting new varieties accepted in his APA Yearbook post.  That made me wonder what new varieties are being worked on.  I know at one time there was some talk about getting Splash accepted.  How about Splash Wheaten?  I assume Lavender is still in the works.  I'm also wondering if there has ever been any consideration to or interest in a Red?

I would be interested in working on the Splash Wheaten and a Red if there is enough interest.

[Mike Gilbert]

At the club meeting in Lebanon, we discussed pursuing splash and lavender.   Nothing was said about splash wheaten or other colors.   Of course not all our members were present, far from it, so I guess this is the place to find out.   Hopefully others will post on this thread.   I personally have no interest in splash wheaten or red, but that is just one person. 

[Stan Alder]

I could like reds! I have a buff that is dark enough that she might be a good place for me to start...is that the way to go??

[Mike Gilbert]

I think I would try crossing dark buff with a good dark brown red.    But then what kind of red would you be trying to create?   There are several different descriptions of red in the standards depending on the breed.

[Russ Blair]

Reds would be cool, unfortunately I am working on Blue Silvers. With the nice trio of Wheaten Bantams Mike helped me get my hands on any extra ( like there really ever is any lol ) pens I have are spoken for. On a second note I am officially a member of the APA 😃 now do I need to join ABA also in order to possibly help get new varieties recognized in the future??

[Suki]

I would like blue laced reds, not that I have any, but it sure is pretty.  Other than that, I'm with Stan, Red is one of my favorite colours; I have a cinnamon buff and a mahogany red, I like the cinnamon better.  I don't know what blue silver is so I have no comment there.  I'm good of course with lavender; I don't care of splash.

brownie.

[Cesar Villegas]

I love projects myself. I worked on the Chocolate Project myself this past spring, after speaking to a lot of breeders and observing lots of birds but I realized that the current accepted varieties still need a lot of work. I'm personally not doing the chocolate project for two reasons. Or any projects for a long time.

1.) I don't have the  infrastructure for a project color
2.) Black can be used and I don't want to contaminate the (black) variety population with the recessive chocolate gene. " even though it's sex link and can be bred out quickly"

I'm just going to work on what's available. Brown Red and Silver seems to be a great challenge for those who are thinking about a project.

Just my two cents

[Mike Gilbert]

Good decision Cesar.    The present varieties need more breeders to perfect them.   Black is about the only one that is where it needs to be.   And maybe some of the bantam varieties. 

[John W Blehm]

I love projects myself. I worked on the Chocolate Project myself this past spring, after speaking to a lot of breeders and observing lots of birds but I realized that the current accepted varieties still need a lot of work. I'm personally not doing the chocolate project for two reasons. Or any projects for a long time.

1.) I don't have the  infrastructure for a project color
2.) Black can be used and I don't want to contaminate the (black) variety population with the recessive chocolate gene. " even though it's sex link and can be bred out quickly"

I'm just going to work on what's available. Brown Red and Silver seems to be a great challenge for those who are thinking about a project.

Just my two cents

A couple more cents...
I spent about 20 years creating and improving the already recognized varieties, resisting the urge to breed other breeds and even new varieties.  It has only been in the past decade or so that I branched out.  I'm not sorry I dedicated that time to the breeding I did, since I enjoyed it. 
The other side is I was breeding some varieties I didn't really care for, like white and blue.  I was on a mission to get the varieties developed and into the hands of others to improve and carry on.  When I would drop a variety there were times when it would become very rare and sometimes I started breeding them again for a period of time.
Realistically some varieties just aren't that popular and may go by the wayside, but I don't see that as a negative.  I'm at the point where I (pretty much anyway ) only breed the varieties I like and believe that is the way to go.  Life is short, so breed the breeds and varieties that appeal to you...be inventive if that appeals to you.  We don't all have the same tastes.  Bantam buffs may always be my favorites, but LF blacks are probably the most popular overall.  In the end keep in mind they are just chickens and have fun.

     

[John W Blehm]

FYI...
Jim Tuckwood has/had bantam reds.
Johnny Parks is/was working on bantam Red Pyle, Birchen and Blacksilver.
Ken Olsen is working on LF partridge.
Jerry Segler is working on LF cuckoo lavender and maybe others.

[Tailfeathers]

I totally agree with the sentiment that we need to perfect the varieties we have rather than getting a whole bunch of new varieties accepted and I sure don't wanna take anything away from that.  That said, since I have been breeding W & BW for some time and working on them, I would kinda like to see the SW get accepted.  I haven't "worked" on them, per se, because I've focused more on the W & BW but it shouldn't be that hard to do as they are just a double dilution of the other.  I would think the females would be fairly easy to get accepted as they'd be the same as the W & BW except for White in the tail and wings.  The males might be a bit more difficult as we'd need to get a consensus on the coloration.  (i.e. whether any Red would be allowed other than hackle and saddle). 

The other was just more curiosity than anything.  I've been told more than a few times that if I wanna get a bird on Champion Row I'll have to go to a solid color and I've always been very fond of the deep, dark red color. 

While I do still intend to devote most of m time and efforts into my WBS, there is a part of me that just likes to tinker and play with things.  I have Buckeyes and Mahogany Russian Orloffs so I may try a cross with my Am's just to see what happens.  The Buckeyes already have the color, same eye color, yellow legs (so it should be fairly quick to get to blue and then just work on homozygous), and they lay a very light tan egg.  The MROs have the same plus beard and muffs.  Not sure on eye color.  So it'd be interested to see what the cross produces.  No doubt both would take a bit of time to get the Type where it needs to be.  I know everbody always says "Build the barn and then paint it" but ya gotta start somewhere and I don't see why I couldn't get the color and then keep crossing into the Am's for Type??

I also have one Buff Cockerel that I could cross to those two as well.  So if anyone knows which would be genetically better to do, by all means lemme know!

[Mike Gilbert]

Royce, if you use Buckeyes and MRO's, what would be your plan to eliminate the recessive yellow leg/skin epidermis?   Are you thinking a black tailed red like the Buckeyes, or a solid red with no black feathers?   R.I.Red color or more orange like New Hamps?    I have never been attracted to the real deep red, but I think it would be neat to have an all orange/red bird with no black.   A buff cross would be the way to go with that one. 

[John W Blehm]

...there is a part of me that just likes to tinker and play with things.

And then that is what you should do.  If it is a red or other color that is your aim though, continue with the homework, learn from the experiences and mistakes of others and save yourself a few generations of frustration. 

[Tailfeathers]

Mike, I was thinking a Black-tailed Red like the Buckeye and RIR.  Figured that would be easy because my WBS have colored tails.  Plus I just personally think that makes for a better looking bird.  Though I'm definitely open to any suggestions and/or advice!

My plan to eliminate the yellow-legs is just to cull anything right off that doesn't show a blue leg early on.  I understand some of those may be heterozygous for blue but I figure after about 4 or 5 years I should have homozygous blue as long as I continue to cull any yellow or even light blue.  I'm thinking I should be able to tell at the age where they start turning from flesh color to blue.   About 8wks old if I remember right.   So if I pay attention to all the chicks at that time, I should be able to distinguish.  Yes?

To be honest, I hadn't actually thought about skin color but that's a good point.  Forgot about that.  I was about to say that I assume the yellow skin is connected to the yellow epidermis so if I eliminate the yellow leg, I should eliminate the yellow skin.  But now that I think about it, my yellow legged Am's that showed up this year are White skinned.  So that's a pickle!  Any suggestions on that?  Other than the obvious I mean like keep white skin and cull yellow.

John, amen to that!!  One of the great things about not being one of the brightest bulbs in the socket is that I'm not afraid to say I don't know much.  Or even sometimes nothing at all.  If anybody's done anything like this, I'm all ears!

[Mike Gilbert]

If you eliminate the yellow and willow shanks, you will eliminate the yellow skin in my opinion.   After over 100 years of breeding, some strains of Wyandottes still produce a percentage of single combs.   That is because the undesirable recessive trait was never eliminated by test mating all breeders.
You may need to do that to eliminate willow shanks and yellow skin, although it is remotely possible you could get lucky just by repeated culling.
I believe you will be on the right track by culling very young birds, six to eight weeks, that show willow at that time.   The heteros will change to slate in time and contaminate your genetic pool, and the homos will stay willow as adults.