American Partridge
So, perhaps unsurprisingly, partridge standards vary across the world, and our standards here in South Africa seem to be mixed between the two.
Some have speculated that the phenotype(how they look) difference is a gene called Dilute, some say Mahogany.
The major difference between the UK and USA Partridge birds is the presence or absence of a gene called Mahogany. This is a red enhancer, and to a limited effect, a black diluter. There is also Dilute in the UK and South African birds.
USA Pg/Pg Mh/Mh
UK/SA Pg/Pg Di/Di- possibly.
What is Mahogany and how do we identify it? Let's look at a breed here that has it. Rhode Island Reds (RIR).
The "red" in the RIR is a much richer, deeper colour then the brown that occurs when the gene is not present. This alone is the cause of that rich hue and the difference between the colours across the oceans in my opinion.
We know that Mahogany is here in South Africa, but we can't exactly breed a RIR with a pekin (Well you could, but, shame man!)so another substitute needs to be identified. The best candidate in my opinion is the Partridge Rock or Partridge Plymouth Rock (PR).
PR's are a similar size to the pekin, they are soft feathered and and carry the patterning gene in it's pure form here, they also carry the dominant gene Mh, they are single combed. Sure the tail is different, and there is no foot feathering,
but this is much less of a stretch then any of the other carries of Mh. They are also similar on on the e-locus(e^b).
Mahogany has the added benefit of being dominant, meaning only a single copy of it will express and turn the brown to red. PR's also have the distinction of being less broody, more producive, more alert and more healthy then our local Pekins.
The bird you will need is a PR pullet, with a straight single comb, as flat a tail as you can find, and vitally, it must be pure for Pg. Breed that pullet to your best Partridge Pekin males and keep the best pullet in the f1, who has the best lacing and looks most like a Pekin. This will be the only cross you will need to make to permanently add the Mahogany gene to your future Pekins. In the future generations breed purely for type, as we can clean up the patterning genes and colour genes later.
Still to come, the interplay between Dilute(Di) and Mahogany (Mh)
Some have speculated that the phenotype(how they look) difference is a gene called Dilute, some say Mahogany.
The major difference between the UK and USA Partridge birds is the presence or absence of a gene called Mahogany. This is a red enhancer, and to a limited effect, a black diluter. There is also Dilute in the UK and South African birds.
USA Pg/Pg Mh/Mh
UK/SA Pg/Pg Di/Di- possibly.
What is Mahogany and how do we identify it? Let's look at a breed here that has it. Rhode Island Reds (RIR).
The "red" in the RIR is a much richer, deeper colour then the brown that occurs when the gene is not present. This alone is the cause of that rich hue and the difference between the colours across the oceans in my opinion.
We know that Mahogany is here in South Africa, but we can't exactly breed a RIR with a pekin (Well you could, but, shame man!)so another substitute needs to be identified. The best candidate in my opinion is the Partridge Rock or Partridge Plymouth Rock (PR).
PR's are a similar size to the pekin, they are soft feathered and and carry the patterning gene in it's pure form here, they also carry the dominant gene Mh, they are single combed. Sure the tail is different, and there is no foot feathering,
but this is much less of a stretch then any of the other carries of Mh. They are also similar on on the e-locus(e^b).
Mahogany has the added benefit of being dominant, meaning only a single copy of it will express and turn the brown to red. PR's also have the distinction of being less broody, more producive, more alert and more healthy then our local Pekins.
The bird you will need is a PR pullet, with a straight single comb, as flat a tail as you can find, and vitally, it must be pure for Pg. Breed that pullet to your best Partridge Pekin males and keep the best pullet in the f1, who has the best lacing and looks most like a Pekin. This will be the only cross you will need to make to permanently add the Mahogany gene to your future Pekins. In the future generations breed purely for type, as we can clean up the patterning genes and colour genes later.
Still to come, the interplay between Dilute(Di) and Mahogany (Mh)