Partridge and Pencilled
Partridge is a very striking pattern in both the males and females.
Partridge is a bird on an eb background, carrying two copies of the patterning gene. For it to be "correct" the bird needs to have two copies of a gene responsible for the pattern. This gene is called Patterning gene and has a label of Pg if it is present and pg+ if not.
pg+/pg+ shows you the gene is not present.
Pg/pg+ shows you one copy is present
Pg/Pg shows you the bird is "pure" or has two copies.
Silver pencilled carries the same basic make up of partridge, and only differs on one colour gene.
s+(red) = partridge
S(Silver) = silver pencilled.
While this seems like an easy prospect, partridge birds are hard to get right. Good quality birds are rare.
Partridge is a bird on an eb background, carrying two copies of the patterning gene. For it to be "correct" the bird needs to have two copies of a gene responsible for the pattern. This gene is called Patterning gene and has a label of Pg if it is present and pg+ if not.
pg+/pg+ shows you the gene is not present.
Pg/pg+ shows you one copy is present
Pg/Pg shows you the bird is "pure" or has two copies.
Silver pencilled carries the same basic make up of partridge, and only differs on one colour gene.
s+(red) = partridge
S(Silver) = silver pencilled.
While this seems like an easy prospect, partridge birds are hard to get right. Good quality birds are rare.
Partridge chicks can be sexed at day one to some extent. A lot of breeders here say the females have a thicker stripe across their eyes then the males.
When partridge or pencilled are young they display barring on their feathers. This is said to be a good indicator of their future pencilling and the quality of the pencilling at a later stage.
This little pullet had bad barring at this stage, and was sold.
Most patterned birds change a lot as they grow, and partridge and pencilled are no exception. They look very ragged and strange as their patterns emerge, so give them time.
Breeders will often wait until the first true moult at about a year before deciding on whether to cull for colour and pattern. This is a reason that patterned birds are not bred as much as solid colours, it is more expensive as you have to keep the birds longer before knowing whether they are a keeper or not.
The cockerel below i had to wait a good 6 months to see the final pattern
Partridge chick down should always be consistent, looking very similar to a wild type bird. The appearance is often described as "chipmunk" like, and you can see some good examples of it in two i bred last year below.
This is a good example of classic Partridge chick down colour.
This is a good example of classic Partridge chick down colour.
Here are some very interesting variations of partridge chick down. These two are from the same parents as the two above, but show a big difference in their colour. The lighter coloured bird is referred to as "diluted". There is a gene in European and South African birds called Dilute. This lightens the brown/red colour you see on the American Partridge birds
The second one is a bit of an anomaly to me, i have a feeling it completely lacks the Dilute gene, and is pure for patterning gene. Time will tell. As you can see both of these are very different to the classic chick down shown above.
The second one is a bit of an anomaly to me, i have a feeling it completely lacks the Dilute gene, and is pure for patterning gene. Time will tell. As you can see both of these are very different to the classic chick down shown above.