So the SOP literally says for dark Shamo “this variety is essentially the same color as the dark Cornish although somewhat more variation is often experienced, and the ground color of the female is of a slightly lighter shade”
Maybe you can help!
Dark Cornish hens have black double lacing on a rich red/mahogany color. Roosters have much more black than the hens, and do not look very laced.Anyone willing to talk a little color genetics with me? Particularly those breeding to the SOP or working with standard colors?
2 of my young shamo stags (about 10 weeks old) have black hackles. According to the SOP this neither fits into the wheaten or the BBR categories and falls in the rather poorly defined "dark" category. Of course there is no visual aid in the newest SOP to accompany the dark shamo or the dark malay (which is often referenced as colors for shamo and malay are very similar).
1st: does anyone have dark oriental game they could share pictures of. Not black, but dark.
2nd: When breeding dark, would you only want dark to dark matings or could dark to wheaten produce color correct chicks? I'm concerned it will extend the black in my wheaten females which I don't want.
Thanks in advance!
For photos of Dark Cornish, I suggest this page:
https://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Cornish/BRKCornish.html
In the US, the Dark Cornish seem to be mostly based on e+ (wild-type, with chipmunk-striped chicks), although I've had at least one Dark Cornish Bantam that was E^Wh/e+ (split for wheaten and wild-type). I've read that in Australia they are often wheaten-based (chicks a pale gold/yellow color, few or no stripes.) The adult color seems to be about the same in either case.
But the Darks have the pattern gene and melanotic, which would not be found in correctly-marked birds of the Wheaten color variety. The black hackles in Darks are caused by some other gene, maybe charcoal.
I think crossing the varieties would not be a good idea. You need the correct patterning (black & brown) on the body of the Darks and you do not want that patterning on the body of the Wheatens. So the actual wheaten gene at the e-locus (E^Wh) might not be a problem, but several of the other genes would be a problem if you mixed the varieties.