Volume 5, Number 1 http://www.ExhibitionPoultry.net January 2014
Cover Photo by Ann Charles
In this issue . . . APA NewsABA News Heat and LightSources for Chicks Poultry Watering Options, Dehy, etc. Genetics of Self-Black Genotypes Poultry Breed ClubsListingAPA & ABA Judges List Upcoming Shows, andmore. . .
The Champion Old English Game at the Leesvile, Louisianashow on March 23, 2013, was a black breasted red OEG cock
exhibited by Bobby Durr, of Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Advertising Rates and DeadlineAd Deadline is the 24th of each month.
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On The Cover . . . The ChampionOld English Game at the Leesvile,Louisiana show on March 23,2013, was a black breasted redOEG cock exhibited by BobbyDurr, of Natchitoches, Louisiana.Photo by Ann Charles
January 2014January 4, 2014College Station, Texas, Brazo County Poul-try Club Show. Contact: Claudia Choate,[email protected], 512-273-2010.
February 2014February 22, 2014Newcastle, Oklahoma, The Great Plains GameBantam Spectacular. One day-double show.Contact: Andy Barnes, 580-439-5956,[email protected]; RR 2 Box 450,Comanche, OK, 73529.
March 2014March 1, 2014Pryor, Oklahoma, Mayes County Fairgrounds.NorthEast Oklahoma Poultry Show, ABA sanc-tioned - bantam only. Contact: Kenneth Kvittum(918) 476-5613.
March 1, 2014Rison, Arkansas, Cleveland County Fair-grounds. Contact: Frankie Harper, PO Box 552,Rison, AR 71665; Phone: (870) 370-3427
March 1, 2014 - TentativeLagrange, TX, South Texas Classic, FayetteCounty Fairgrounds. Contact: Danny Hughes,P.O. Box 251, Garwood, TX 77442; Phone: 979-758-3471
March 4-23, 2014Houston, Texas, Houston Livestock Show &Rodeo. Contact: 832-667-1000 Website: http:/
/rodeohouston.com/
March 21, 2014Beaumont, Texas, South Texas State Fair.Contact: Phone (409) 832-9991, Email:[email protected], Website: http://www.ymbl.org
March 22, 2014 - TentativeAlexandria, Louisiana, LSU Ag Center. Cen-tral Louisiana Poultry Club Spring Show. Formore information, contact: Maddi Williams,940-736-9491 MaddiWilliams@ yahoo.com,email: [email protected], website: http://clpoultryclub.wix.com/mainpage
Upcoming APA &ABA Shows
LA - AR - OK -TX - MSTable of Contents Advertiser’s Index
Exhibition Poultry Magazine Page 03 January 2014
April 2014April 5, 2013El Dorado, Arkansas, Fairgrounds. SouthCentral Regional Classic. Contact: FrankieHarper, PO Box 552, Rison, AR 71665; Phone:(870) 370-3427
April 12, 2013 - TentativeSan Marcos, Texas, Hays County Civic Cen-ter. Fancy Feathers. Contact: Jaci Kroupa,[email protected]; website:http://
www.fancyfeatherstx.org/
May 2014May 3, 2014 - TentativeLittle Rock, Arkansas, Arkansas State FairSpring Show, Arkansas State Fair grounds. En-tr ies at: http ://arkansasstatefai r.com/livestockindex/Springfair.html or contact: contactDr. Keith Bramwell 479-841-6498.
September 2014September 4-13- TentativeAbeline, Texas, West Texas Fair and Rodeo.Contact: 325-677-4376. Website: http://w w w. t a y l o r c o u n t y e xp o c e n t e r . c o m/taylorexpo_wtfr.html
September 13, 2013 - TentativeOdessa, Texas, Permian Basin Fair & Exposi-tion. Contact: Jerry Wiley, P O Box 212,Gardendale, Tx 79758. Phone: 432-366-3026Website: http://permianbasinfair.com/index.html
September 20-26 2013- TentativeLubbock, Texas. Panhandle South Plains Fair.Contact: (806) 763-2833. Website: http://www.southplainsfair.com/
September 27, 2013 - TentativeTulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa State Fair. Contact:Mike Geiss, (405) 761-8339. Website: http://www.tulsastatefair.com/filesSite/Poultry4.pdf.
October 2014October 02, 2013Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Southeast Arkansas Dis-trict Fair. Contact: Lewis Hinkle, 870.543.0198,[email protected].
October 11, 2013Dallas, Texas. State Fair of Texas, Pan-AmPoul try Show. Contact: 214-565-9931.Website: http://www.bigtex.com/sft/
October 17, 2013Little Rock, Arkansas, Arkansas State Fair,Arkansas State Fair grounds. Entries at: http://arkansasstatefa i r.com/ l ivestock index/Statefair.html or contact: Dr. Keith Bramwell479-841-6498.
October 18, 2013 (Special)Lebanon, Indiana, Central Indiana poultryShow, Boone County 4-H fairground. Entriesat: http://poultryshow.org. Call: 765-482-0750.
ARKANSAS
Jacob Bates 614 N. Hancock St., Charleston,AR 72933 479/965-5222.
LOUISIANA
JIM CRAIN, APA General Lic #1184, ABAGeneral Lic #344, Bantam Duck #157,Serama #26. 318-455-9980: 160 PelicanCove, Homer, La. 71040 (03-14)
Jerry McCarty 513 McKinley St. , Haughton,LA 71037 318/949-0027.
OKLAHOMA
L. C. "Corky" Higbee 6100 Cemetery Road ,Noble, OK 73068-8604 405/872-7504.
Richard Peters P.O. Box 735 , Noble, OK73068 405/527-8513.
Robert D. Murray 920 S.E. 21st Street , Okla-homa City, OK 73129 405/632-7085.
Jeff Maxwel l Jr. 5230 Abercreek ,Friendswood, TX 77546 409/258-5662.
Joe H. Osburn 296 CR 4896 , Boyd, TX76023 817/220-6261.
ADDITIONAL STATES
JEFF HALBACH, 31601 High Dr.Burlington, WI 53105. [email protected],262-534-6994. APA General & ABA Gen-eral and Bantam Duck. (12-14)
DWIGHT MADSEN, ABA Bantam License#349, Duck #161. ABA District 11 Direc-tor. 17402 Locust Rd., Carthage, MO 64836.Email: [email protected], Phone: (417)359-3867. (05-14)
SOUTH CENTRAL APA & ABA JUDGESOne-year listing, bold, and underlined, with details just $12.
The club promotes opportunities to practice showmanship, cooperation andfellowship and to be involved with their home community and with the poultry
fancy in general.
For more info go to: http://www.apa-abayouthpoultryclub.org or contact: DorisRobinson, National Director, 810 Sweetwater Rd., Philadelphia, TN 37846 ~ Phone:
Hello all - I hope you have enjoyed yourholidays and have been able to take sometime to relax . I have just arrived back fromthe ABA National Meet with the TennesseeValley Club in Knoxville, TN. Be ready to seea lot about this show in the next few months.I will just say that we will be back. The clubdid an amazing job at hosting our meet. Thebuilding was beautiful and open and clean.The show ran smoothly as well. I sincerelywish I would have been able to spend moretime. The weather was not on our side. Thelong trek back to New Jersey was a ride toremember. Thank you Kevin Unrath (my hus-band) for getting us home safely.
The ABA ran a wonderful breeders auctionwhich was a big success. A special thank yougoes to all who donated the top quality birdsand to all who participated in the auction. Thisevent is a win-win-win.
The ABA wins by being the recipient of allfunds. The donors win with some great pub-licity. The buyers win by getting some out-standing birds for their breeding programs.That is a WIN-WIN-WIN.
Thank you to the following donors: Chris-tian Diaz, CA for some beautiful WhiteSerama Bantams; The Bennett Family of KYfor their wonderful donations of Black Mod-ern Games and Mille Fleur d’Uccles; RickHare of NY for an outstanding pair of BlackRosecombs; Brian Knox of NH for an incred-ible trio of Light Brahma Bantams; JackFerguson of Tennessee with his lovely SplashSilkies; Gail Berube of New Hampshire forsome great Partridge Wyandottes; and the topmoney maker went to Anthony Ashley ofSouth Carolina for his donation of Dark Cor-nish Bantams. Thank you ALL!
The ABA Board of Directors met in Knox-ville and covered some business. Stay tunedfor all the details.
They will be included in our next newslet-ter which is mailed to all ABA members.
The ABA Website now has the 2014legbands online and available for purchase.They are GRAY this year. The prices remainat .38 ea with $5.00 shipping and handling.Visit www.bantamclub.com to order yourstoday.
We are busy prepping for our 100th Na-
tional. We will have lots of surprises!If you would like to join the ABA, please
visit our website at www.bantamclub.com orsend your annual dues ($20 USA - $30 allothers) to ABA, PO Box 127, Augusta, NJ07822.
I wil l be working this month on the nextWinter newsletter. If you would like to sharea story – inquiry – advice or anything youfeel would help your fellow fanciers, pleasesend to me by January 15th. My new emailis [email protected].
Be well and remember to thank the ban-tam breeders!
I will be at the Northeast Poultry congressin January of this year so stop by and sayhello……
Anniversary show which will be in Novem-ber 2014 at the Ohio
Karen Unrath – ABA Secretary
National Call Breeders of AmericaA club formed for the promotion of breeding and
exhibition of Call Ducks, offering National, District andSpecial Meets. Quarterly newsletters and annual year-book.
Memberships: Junior (under 16) $8/year; Individual$15/year or $29/2 years; Family $17/year or $33/2years; Lifetime membership $200. Visit our websiteat www.callducks.org to join online or purchase clubmerchandise, such as t-shirts, pins, patches, post-ers, etc.
For more information contact secretary DennisFuller, 1729 Otterville Blvd., Independence, Iowa50644; 319-334-3497, [email protected](12-14)
It’s winter - one of the worst we have seenin years in most parts of the country. Butbreeding pens are still being set up, eggs be-ing laid (hopefully fertile) and chicks shouldbe hatching soon. Brooding chicks in artifi-cial conditions, during the winter especially,can be a nightmare. However, the facts arethat your chicks will have to be a minimumof 6 months old (pullets), and older (cocker-els) if they are going to look their best forthe early fall shows. Your best laid plans canall come to naught if you do not have a handleon two very important things this winter andthat is heat and light.
Very often we depend on these two impor-tant elements to be supplied by the same ob-ject - a light bulb. You can go the real expen-sive route to protect your incubators andnewly hatched chicks . . .commercial brood-ers with automatic thermostats and even gen-erator back up systems would probably getthe job done stress free - except for the price,which could be substantial. I believe that mostof us, especially when we are hatching only afew chicks at a time, try to get by as inexpen-sively as possible.
If you are setting eggs in the winter a lotof your birds will be hit and miss on fertility- even if you have them in a comfortable en-vironment, on a proper lighting schedule anda good quality breeder ration. If you are likeme and hatch year round you may sometimesonly hatch 5-10 chicks a week during Win-ter. Small frequent hatches work best utiliz-ing small brooders with chicks graduating toa larger brooder as they grow. Light, heatand brooder space, should gradually be alteredto fit their state of development. If this isyour system, and you are hatching and brood-ing in the winter, and have several smallbrooders, you need to know something aboutheat and light and how it is produced by thebulbs (lamps) you are using.
It is important to know that when youswitch on a light bulb, the wattage rating rep-resents heat AND light that the bulb pro-duces. Watts are a measure of power (en-ergy per time) not light. Let’s say you areusing one of Stromberg’s li ttle light bulbbrooders that work well if your chicks areinside in the winter as my early chicks are. I
use these for the first two to three weeks-of-age. I have found that an incandescentbulb of about 60 watts works really well for5-10 large fowl Araucana chicks in one ofthese small brooders for the first week. Thatis, assuming I am keeping the brooder room(my office) at about room temperature. Aninteresting thing about incandescent bulbs isthat they are terribly inefficient as lightsources considering the power they use - butVERY efficient as a heating source. Accord-ing to the Wikipedia on-line encyclopedia, a100 watt bulb is 2.1% efficient. In otherwords, it produces about 2 watts of light and98 watts of heat. Converting those figuresto a 60 watt bulb would give us 1.2 watts oflight and 58.8 watts of heat. Why would youwant to pay extra for a heat lamp? Of course,with the governments new laws outlawing in-candescent bulbs, one of the least expensiveand most readily available sources of heat forour brooders may be hard to come by unlessyou stocked up on them before January 1stas I did. As far as 24 hour lights on babychicks, it does them no harm and encouragesmaximum feed consumption and growth atan early age which is critical for top showbirds next fall. There are, however, drawbacks to the incandescent bulbs being usedin brooders. One of the main problems I havewith an incandescent bulb in a brooder of anykind is the fragility of the filament in the bulb.More times than I can count I have had chickshuddle too close to a bulb, or jump up andbump it (maybe trying to catch a fly or mothdrawn to the light), or in some other waycome into contact with it causing the hot fila-ment inside the bulb to break. As a conse-quence, the bulb goes out, leaving your babychicks in the dark and without a heat sourceuntil you discover it - the next morning usu-ally. By then you may have lost some or allof your chicks to the cold.
As my chicks really start to grow and arethriving and can handle a little less intenseheat, I switch them over to a fluorescent bulbfor both heat and warmth. Although not ashot as an old-fashioned incandescent bulb, thefluorescent bulbs give off a substantialamount of heat. Especially in a closed envi-ronment like a small chick brooder. The pri-mary reason I use the fluorescent bulbs assoon as possible in brooders is because thechicks can bump them if they want. Beinggas filled, their is no filament to break fromthe shock so the bulb does not blow out. Withmy large fowl Araucana who are bred for fastfeathering I can usually switch them to acooler brooder by week two. It is importantto adjust for how much less warmth a fluo-rescent bulb emits and how much more watt-
age is required over the incandescent to com-pensate for heat loss.
Fluorescent bulbs are supposed to be ashigh as 8.2% efficient, some sources say theyare three times as efficient as incandescentlamps... So 100 watts of electricity would beconverted to approximately 8 watts of lightand 92% will still come out as heat. So muchfor ‘cool’ fluorescent lighting. I have seenfluorescent efficiency ratings as high as 27%light, and 73% heat for a 32 watt bulb. Asalways, observation and careful managementfor each individual system are key. Withfast feathering chicks in a small brooder I havefound that a 20 watt fluorescent bulb puts outenough heat to keep them warm in a room keptat about 72-75 degrees. I have used fluores-cent lights as high as 100 watts for brooderswhere I did not have as much control over theroom temperature. It helps to have severaldifferent sizes on hand.
I suppose I should point out that I believein “cold brooding” my chicks. I only givethem as much warmth as they need to thriveand remain healthy. Too much heat is bad forbaby chicks - it makes for long overgrownwings and under-deveoped bodies. Once mychicks are about 3-4 weeks-old I can usuallyswitch them to a draft free, unheated broodermade out of a clear tote. I no longer supplyheat at this age as long as the room is still atthe 72-75 degree range since they are almostfully feathered - but they still need light. Atthis age I find that LED’s work great You canuse either rope lights, or a strand of 25 whiteChristmas lights per tote brooder ($1 a packafter Christmas and my personal choice), orwhatever you wish. Attach them high in thebrooder so that the chicks do not jump up andpeck at them but the chicks are still well lit.
When it comes time to move chicks out-side you may want to move to stage 4 of the“heat-and-light equation” and supply just theheat, if needed. Your chicks may be doingwell outside with out any supplemental heaton those 60-70 degree days but with unpre-dictable jet streams and Arctic air blowing init sure doesn’t hurt to have a heat back up ifthey want it. A few years ago I began usingheated resting mats for my youngest chickswho were brooding outside. The mats aresafe, can’t be bumped like a light bulb can,and the chicks usually use them only on thecolder winter nights. The mats maintain acomfortable 99-100 degrees, 24-7, and areeasy to clean with a hard plastic housing. Theyonly use about 15 watts of power per hour.K&H Manufacturing's 9x12 mat is the one Ihave used.
I hope that this information will help keepyour chicks warm and thriving this winter.
Exhibition Poultry Magazine Page 07 January 2014
The Brooder Bottle CapPress Release: Davidson, NC (PRWEB)
March 27, 2013
“The Brooder Bottle Cap™ takes the mess
out of providing your new chicks with clean
and fresh water as well as eliminating the risk
of accidental drow nings”, says Frank
Cardaropoli, Owner of The Chicken Fountain,
LLC. Poultry breeders “can enjoy the peace
of mind knowing that their new chicks will
always have clean water available and not
worry about them drowning in a traditional
waterer. The Brooder Bottle Cap™ also is
the perfect set up for sick or injured birds
that must be confined to an isolation cage or
crate. If you use supplements and medica-
tions, they can be
added directly to
the water to keep
your chicks
healthy.
The Brooder
Bottle Cap™ is
shipped fully as-
sembled and
ready to be used
on any si ze
recycleable soda
bottle. “The caps
design . . .gives
you the opportunity to start your chicks on a
dripper early in life making the transition to
a permanent nipple waterer like The Chicken
Founta in™ seamless”, says Frank
Cardaropoli, Owner of The Chicken Fountain,
LLC.
(Editors Note: The Brooder Bottle Cap is
availble in sets of 2 for $5.99 (total for the
pair) with free shipping. Order here: http://
shop.chickenfountain.com/Brooder-Bottle-
Cap-Set-009.htm)
Poultry Watering Options, Dehy, etc.By Ann Charles
We all deal with the various (and seasonal)problems involved with watering our birdsfrom hatch, to shows, to the breeding pen.And a number of watering methods are avail-able. Some work better than others and somework better under different condition thanothers. A cage cup works well for birds atshows or in cages. And exhibition birds whotend to get their feathers wet in a cage cup,like Polish, do well with a bottle watering sys-tem. A lot of people are going to the nipplesystem that has been used successfully foryears by the commercial chicken producers.But how do the various systems work andwhat are the benefits of each? I am currentlyexperimenting with the water bottles. So farI prefer the water bottle system over a tradi-tional waterer with my young chicks.
The water bottles utilize a ball bearingdrinking tube and are gravity fed. Accordingto the folks at Paws Creations*, the drinkingtube water bottle works in the following way:
“There is a drinking tube attached to thebottle cap. Inside this tube are two stain-less steel balls. As your pet licks on the endof the drinking tube the stainless steel ballsare pushed back releasing the clean waterdirectly into your pet’s mouth. When yourpet stops drinking the stainless steel ballsfall back into posit ion at the end of thedrinking tube shutting off the flow of wa-ter. A few water drops may take place atthis point as the vacuum pressure reestab-lishes itself and drip bowl will catch those.”
Important Note: Your pet does not suckor nurse on the drinking tube; it just lickson the end of the tube to obtain the water.The pet uses the same drinking motions theywould normally use if they were drinkingfrom a bowl of water.”
Please note they said ‘vacuum pressure’.I have read instructions on-line for how tomake a water drinking bottle using the widelyavailable commercial drinking nipples andthey would not work the same as the drinkingtube with the ball bearings since many of thesedesigns do not keep the vacuum in the bottleintact.
So far my baby chicks love the waterbottle. I have a couple of small brooders inmy office and I frequently here clinking ofthe ball bearings in the water tube which tellsme they are drinking. Their bedding is stay-ing much drier and does not have to bechanged as often.
On the subject of chicks and bedding, I am
wondering how many of you have used, orconsidered using, dehy alfalfa as bedding forbaby chicks? I have read plenty of articleson rearing young chicks that promote every-thing from sand, to pine shavings, to newspa-per. Personally, I have had problems with allof these for one reason or another. The news-paper is too slippery. For a while I used plas-tic shelf liner in my brooders for the firstfew days and I still use it in my incubator traysto make sure newly hatched chicks have goodfooting. But, I have found the best beddingfor my newly hatched chicks is dehy alfalfa.If they eat it (and they will) there is no prob-lem since they are getting a good dose of vi-tamins and protein. And I have never had anyblockage issues as you can with shavings andfine sand.
When the dehy gets damp it seems to havea natural deodorizing property that is not inthe shavings. I use about 10% alfalfa dehy inall of my rations for my chicks, breeders, andshow birds. Besides being a nutritional feed,the Xanthophylls are off-the-chart comparedto other feeds, including corn. Of course, ifyou have white skinned birds (or white feath-ered) the alfalfa may not be as suitable sinceit may tend to color the birds up in an unde-sirable way.
I have a white bantam Leghorn cockerelthat I was hoping to show in the Spring and Ijust noticed his earlobes have turned a but-tery yellow color! Not good. I have pulledall the corn and dehy from my white Leg-horns and put them on oats (as I was advisedto do originally) and hopefully their adultfeathers will not have any brassiness. Work-ing with each new breed always has it’s ownlearning curve. My Araucana, being yellowskinned, with only a couple of whites in theflock, are doing wonderful with the crackedcorn and alfalfa dehy as part of their dailyration.
Back to the subject of the nipple wateringsystem . . . According to Ziggity Water Sys-tems, Inc.**, some key principles to remem-ber with the nipple waterers are that “wateringested during the drinking process is lim-ited to beak size . . .Water spillage happenswhen more water is discharged from thedrinker then can be retained in the bird’s beak. . .Therefore use low column pressure forbirds with small beaks and increase pressureas birds (and beaks) grow.”
As usual, it all comes back to managementand the unique requirements of each type ofwatering system.
For more information on both bottle andnipple watering methods for your birds youmay want to visit one or both of the follwoingwebsites:
**Ziggity Water Systems, Inc.: Website:http:/ /www.ziggity.com/
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Exhibition Poultry Magazine Page 08 January 2014
Association of the slow feather-ing (K) and an endogenous
viral (ev21) gene on theZ chromosome of chickens.
By Bacon LD, Smith E, Crittenden LB,
Havenstein GB.
Abstract“A dominant sex-linked gene, K, regulates
slow feathering (SF), whereas a recessive al-lele, k+, determines rapid feathering (RF) inchickens. This trait provides a convenient andinexpensive approach to gender identificationof White Leghorn (WL) chicks at hatch, i.e.,in a sex-linked mating using k+/k+ malesmated with K/- females, the K/k+ male
Neoplastic diseases: Marek'sdisease, Avian Leukosis and
Reticuloendotheliosis.By L.N. Payne LN & K. Venugopal
Abstract“The commercially important neoplastic
diseases of poultry are Marek's disease, whichis caused by a herpesvirus, and the avian leu-koses and reticuloendotheliosis, which arecaused by retroviruses. These diseases are re-sponsible for economic loss due to both mor-tality and depressed performance. Marek'sdisease virus (MDV) and avian leukosis vi-ruses (ALVs) are prevalent throughout theworld, and new strains which arise in particu-lar locations may spread across borders.
“Marek's disease virus is transmitted hori-zontally only, and spread in hatching eggs andday-old chicks can be prevented by appropri-ate hygiene precautions. Transmission of ALV(Avian Leukose Virus) and REV occurs bothhorizontally and vertically (through the egg),and measures to prevent spread are more de-
chicks are SF, and the k+/- females are RF.“”However, in many WL strains, female
progeny of SF dams produce fewer eggs andhave higher mortality than progeny of RFdams. This loss in productivity has been at-tributed to higher infection and shedding ratesfor leukosis viruses (ALV) in SF than in RFdam lines. Because infectious endogenousviruses (EV) can induce immunological tol-erance to ALV, we examined the expressionand distribution of ev genes in SF and RF sib-lings from heterozygous K/k+ sires and k+/-dams.
“”It was concluded that ev21 and K genesare tightly linked because, in different WLcrosses, all SF chicks inherited ev21 but RFsiblings uniformly lacked ev21. Alternatively,the K gene in WL may be a mutation result-ing from the insertion of ev21 in the k+ gene.The SF chicks which harbor ev21 expressedinfectious EV21; evidence that EV21 mayinfluence susceptibility to ALV is presented.”
(US Department of Agriculture, AgriculturalResearch Service, East Lansing, Michigan48823.)
manding.“Marek's disease is controlled by vaccina-
tion, whilst Avian Leukosis is controlled byvirus eradication programs, mainly at the pri-mary breeding level”. . . . .Rev Sci Tech. 2000Aug;19(2):544-64.
Exhibition Poultry Magazine Page 09 January 2014
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The Genes Involved inSelf-Black Phenotypes
By Brian Reeder
Black colored chickens are very popularin the poultry world. This is understandable,as they are striking, appear clean in most set-tings and present a beautiful silhouette, es-pecially in type-bred fowl such as TheCochins, Silkies, Japanese bantams, etc.While self-black, or solid black, is popular,it is not often well understood genetically andcan be difficult to breed, especially when theattempt is made to create a black variety of agiven breed that does not already have thiscolor variety.
It is important to understand that there isno such thing as a “black gene”. Black is acomplicated color variety genetically, thoughit looks very simple to the eye, as is the casefor all of the self-colored varieties (manywhites, buff, red, etc). To arrive at the self-black phenotype, we need several mutationsthat increase the melanin levels of the fowl.It is easier to fully melanize the female thanthe male, as the female is more melanizedthan the male in the jungle fowl to being with.Of the six well known e-alleles, only threeare generally found with the fully black phe-notype: E (extended black) ER (birchen) andeb (brown). There have been some claimsthat other e-alleles may be capable of beingfully melanized and though I have never seenany evidence for this, that doesn’t mean it isimpossible. I will discuss this more at the endof the article.
Of the three e-alleles commonly associ-ated with solid black phenotypes, E and ERare the most commonly encountered. Brown(eb) based self-black lines are much morerare. While E is called ‘extended black’, itdoes not make a solid black bird in and ofitself, requiring the same generally groupingof additive type genes as the other two alle-les to make the self-black phenotype. Ex-tended black is named for the chick down ofthis allele and not because it makes a solidblack adult plumage. The brown allele (eb) isa mutation of E and shows an extension ofmelanin in comparison to the red jungle fowle-allele, e+ (duckwing). As all three of thesee-alleles (E, ER and eb) are more melanizedthan the wild type allele (e+) it seems intu-itively logical that it is these alleles upon
which self-black phenotypes can be most eas-ily made.
Both E and ER are known colloquially as“crow wing” in that the adult males do notshow the pheomelanic wing triangle as seenin e+, eb, ebc and eWh males. As well, thehackle of both sexes and the saddle and shoul-der of the males of the E and ER alleles showa heavy melanized stripe in thecenter of the feathers. Thesetwo alleles are then probablyeasiest to fully melanize to cre-ate the self-black, as they arealready heavily melanized tobegin with. The brown (eb) al-lele is more melanized thanthe e+ allele and is also lesspheomelanic (as seen in the fe-male body - absence of thesalmon breast). While the maleof the eb allele does show thepheomelanic wing triangle,both sexes show the strongblack hackle stripe and themale shows a strong blackstripe on shoulder and saddles. The presenceof melanotic extension in this allele also pre-sumably makes it easier to fully melanize.The most difficult aspect of fully melaniz-ing the eb allele is the pheomelanic wing tri-angle of the male. In my personal experience,lines of eb-based, nearly self-black birds of-ten show fully black females and males thatare fully black except for the wing triangle,which remains pheomelanic and must requirea very specific melanizing gene to cover.Fully self-black lines of eb e-allele birds areknown in black Wyandotte and black Leghorn,so it seems that fully self-black eb birds arepossible, but may be harder to make than onE or ER, possibly requiring a rare melaninmutation to be successfully, fully melanized.
To go beyond the basic color blocking ofthe e-alleles (E, ER and eb) requires the ad-dition of two or more melanizers, generally.My experiences indicate that there are sev-eral different mutations that melanize nor-mally pheomelanic areas of the fowl. Mel-anotic (Ml) and charcoal are two of the knownmelanizers, with Ml being the most well
known and extensively studied of all themelanizers. I also refer to “recessive blacks”,which is a catchall of several different un-named and little studied factors that seem tobe different genes and also seem to not beMelanotic or charcoal. It is my experiencethat most blacks have melanotic and at leastone other melanizer, generally somewhat re-
cessive in their function, beingmore recessive in males than infemales. I refer to this as ‘sex-expressed’. Charcoal is likelyone of the genes in the ‘reces-sive black’ complex of factors.
Melanotic is diagnosed by thefact that it tends to melanize thetop of the head and upper hackleof both sexes, while partiallymelanizing the shoulder andsaddle of the male by making themid-stripe of the feathers widerand more distinct (as long asnone of the interaction genessuch as Pattern gene, Columbianand/or Dark brown {ginger} are
present). The recessive black complex genestend to have the strongest melanizing effecton the lower hackle of both sexes, as well asmelanizing the outer edges of saddle andshoulder feathers in the male. There is somevariability to the extent that the various re-cessive black complex factors melanize.None seem to be very effective at melaniz-ing males when heterozygous.
When any of the three e-alleles (E, ER oreb) is combined with Ml and any one (ormore) of the recessive black factors a nearlyfully self-black phenotype can be expected.However, in my experience, unless both (all)factors are homozygous, it is not likely thata fully self-black male will result. The malesseem to require homozygosity for both ofthe melanizing factors in order to create afully black phenotype. However, on the eb e-allele, just these two types of melanizers donot seem to be sufficient to make the fullyblack phenotype in males, which will usuallystill show the pheomelanic wing triangle evenwith the full gene combination described. Forthe brown allele (eb) there seems to be a third
“It is my experiencethat most blacks havemelanotic and at leastone other melanizer,generally somewhatrecessive in theirfunction, being morerecessive in malesthan in females. I re-fer to this as ‘sex-ex-pressed’. . .”
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Exhibition Poultry Magazine Page 10 January 2014
gene (at least) required to make the fullyblack male.
As a further consideration, some of thenon-melanized varieties seem to carry a fac-tor that suppresses the expression of mela-nin in the sex feathering (hackle/saddle/shoul-der) of the males. When this factor(s) is ac-cidentally recombined with the melanizers,even on one of the three more melanized e-alleles, it can be extremely difficult, even im-possible, to create the fully black phenotypein males. Some attempts to make self-blackvarieties in some breeds seem to be stymiedby this type of factor.
I have seen several odd anomalies in rela-tion to self-black phenotypes that make mebelieve this is a very complicated subject forwhich we have only touched the tip of the ice-berg. In one rare instance, involving a line ofblack Minorca, there seemed to be only onemelanizing gene in addition to the e-allele (E).However, I was never able to extract that fac-tor and observe it functional in recombina-tion with any other line, no matter the out-cross I tried or how many generations I car-ried those outcrosses forward. Only when thef1 offspring were backcrossed to the saidMinorca line for two or more generations didthe factor begin to express again in the phe-notype. Perhaps there was a gene that sup-pressed pheomelanin and allowed only onemelanizer to completely blacken the feath-ers? I can’t be sure and never pursued the fac-tor far enough to make any definitive deter-mination.
Another highly anomalous occurrence thatI witnessed and recorded in a line that was acombination of several rare breeds, includ-ing the Japanese black long crowing breedKurokashiwa (Black Oak), was the appearanceof what appeared to be E, ER and e+ down inthe offspring from a male that was an estab-lished ER/e+ heterozygote and who was bred
only to confirmed e+/e+ females. How is itpossible that a male that is a heterozygote atthe e-allele, expressing ER and e+ could attimes throw a third e-allele; E? I have no idea.It is not possible for any given bird to havethree doses of the e-allele. So what may havebeen happening? I suspect that there may bea melanizer that is recessive (one of the ‘re-cessive black’ complex) that causes ER toappear like E in some instance, but that isonly conjecture.
A further anomaly that oc-curred in this line was that in amating of confirmed e+/e+ xe+/e+ siblings (offspring of theabove menti oned male thatseemingly threw three e-alleles,crossed to confirmed e+/e+females), a very small numberof E down-appearing chicksemerged tha t subsequentlygrew into typically E-appearingadults when not fully melanizedto make a self-black phenotype(i.e., somewhat birchen like butslightly more melanized with nobreast lacing). Since we knowthat the e-allele E is the mostdominant of all the e-alleles,there is no way it could be car-ried as a recessive to e+. Sowhat was happening there? I donot know, but I would surmisethat there is an unknownmelanizer, either another e-allele mutationtha t is very recess ive or a recessivemelanizer with a powerful effect on the chickdown. I cannot state with certainty what washappening, and as I don’t have that line any-more, it will fall to someone else to make adetermination as to what such an effect is ge-netically.
Wheaten is an interesting e-allele, as it is
the opposite of those we have discussed.Wheaten restricts melanin, as can be seen inthe absence of hackle striping in males andthe drastic reduction of melanin in femalesas well as the extension of pheomelaninacross the female’s back. The fact that thefully pheomelanic varieties such as self-buffand self-red occur on a wheaten base tendsto reinforce this notion. It is my experiencethat wheaten is the least amenable of all thee-alleles to melanization, with Ml having only
a small effect on this alleleand the recessive black com-plex factors showing onlypartial expression in fe-males and nearly none inmales. The most melanizedexpression on a wheaten basethat I have ever witnessed isfound in the Recap breed,which appears to be a mela-nized and patterned wheaten.However, I have seen a re-port of the possibility of fullmelanization on a wheatenbase.
Several years ago, an ar-ticle about the Cubalaya ap-peared in the magazineBackyard Poultry. In it theauthor (who’s name I have,unfortunate ly, forgotten)sta ted that he felt I w aswrong when I stated in my
book, An Introduction to Color Varieties ofthe Domestic Fowl, that wheaten was not ame-nable to melanization and could not be usedas a base to produce self-black phenotypes.As evidence of this, he sited the black Cuba-laya. He stated that the black Cubalayaemerged spontaneously from the regular BBRed Cubalaya. This he sites as proof that ablack phenotype can occur on the wheaten
“Melanotic is diag-nosed by the fact that ittends to melanize the topof the head and upperhackle of both sexes,while partially melaniz-ing the shoulder andsaddle of the male bymaking the mid-stripe ofthe feathers wider andmore distinct . . . The re-cessive black complexgenes tend to have thestrongest melanizing ef-fect on the lower hackleof both sexes . . .”
Exhibition Poultry Magazine Page 11 January 2014
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(eWh) e-allele base. I muststate that I have never ownedor worked with any black Cu-balaya nor have I ever seenthe chicks of such or an adultin person. I do not know thecoloring of the chick downin black Cubalaya chicks,which makes any real diag-nosis nearly impossible.
As I noted in the above ex-ample, I had an instancewhere E-downed chicks (thatthen grew into near self-black adults) emerged frombreeding confirmed e+/e+homozygous sibl ings thatdescended from a melanizedmale that also showed mela-nizing anomalies in some ofhis offspring. This leads meto suspect that the black Cu-balaya may represent exactlysuch an effect as I witnessed,and is not actually a fullymelanized wheaten. I stillhave to state for the recordthat I do not believe thatwheaten can be fully mela-nized to self-black, but I dobelieve that this anomalousform of E-downed chicks/self-black adultscan emerge from any of the other e-alleles.While I only witnessed this effect on e+/e+homozygotes, it is possible that such couldalso occur from homozygous eWh-basedbirds.
One key to making an accurate assessmentof the nature of the black Cubalaya is to ex-amine the chick down. If the chick down issolid white or white with a bit of faint blackstriping on head/back (as in Redcap chicks),but then the adult bird is self-black, it is pos-sible that there is in fact a melanized form ofwheaten. In such an instance, there could bea mutation of wheaten (not eWh, but some-thing like a “eWh~M”, as a rough example,for ‘melanizable wheaten’ that mutated at thee-locus from eWh) that can be melanized orthere may be a melanizer that is powerfulenough to cover wheaten, either on its ownor in conjunction with other melanizers.However, if the chick down of the black Cu-balaya is black on the back and top of the headand white under the chin and on the abdomenor is solid black with a brownish head, thenwe are dealing with an E or ER-like e-allele,as such down is not wheaten. I suspect thechick down is the diagnostic key to these self-black Cubalayas, said to have emerged fromeWh (non-E/ER) parent stocks.
Personally, I have never witnessed wheatenbe amenable to melanization, certainly not fullmelanization to self-black, however, that doesnot mean it is not in the realm of possibility,as I have not worked with every line of fowlon Earth, nor have I owned, bred or even seenin person any black Cubalaya, and there arelikely to be mutations that I have never en-countered. However, as I have seen actualmelanized downed individuals arise from the
mating of two confirmed ho-mozygous, duckwing (e+/e+)birds, I suspect this may alsobe the more likely explana-tion fo r the seeminglyanomalous occurrence ofblack Cubalaya arising fromBB Red Cubalaya. The chickdown of the black Cubalayawould be a most importantdiagnostic tool in determin-ing what type of e-allele is ac-tually at play in the variety.
In closing, I want to pointout that self-black fowl arevery elegant, lovely birds.Self-black allows the silhou-ette to really stand out. Aswell, a well-bred line of thesel f-bl ack vari ety of anybreed is an excellent startingpoint for beginners, as longas the males are sound formelanization in the hackle/saddle/shoulder, thus imply-ing homozygosi ty for themelanization genes. If themales are not sound in thesex-feathered areas, they canbe very difficult to clean up,in many instances. Self-black
is a very popular variety for showing in manybreeds and there are often very good linesavailable of the variety in those breeds. Thebeginner would do well to work with such aline. However, I would strongly discouragebeginners from trying to make a black vari-ety in a breed where none exists, as it is acomplicated variety genetically and can rep-resent many difficulties that beginners mayfind insurmountable.
The excellence of Janice Hall’s winning Black Cochin cockerel makes self-black look easy . . .It is not - - especially in the male birds. Photo by Janice Hall.
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