Recently having had some requests that we print something explaining the genetics of Dutch birds, it was decided that perhaps it would be most helpful to construct an article that hopefully will be both helpful and beneficial as you work on Dutch bantams.  It is not an easy task to sit down and try to condense all of this genetic information into one article and to present it in a manner that everyone can understand and follow.  Genetics is first of all a very complicated and difficult field of science to first understand, and secondly, genetics is most difficult to communicate in “layman” terms.

     In poultry, the male bird contains a genetic code consisting of 17 pairs of autosomes plus one pair of sex-chromosomes.  The term autosome  is used in reference to all chromosome pairs other than the sex-chromosomes.  The sex-chromosomes are the chromosomes that carry and are related to sex differences that we find between males and females of a species.  In birds, the female contains a genetic code of 17 pairs of autosomes, plus one-half of a pair of sex-chromosomes.  In reality, in poultry, the female determines the sex of offspring and this is very different from humans where it is the male that determines the sex of the offspring.

     What do the chromosomes actually do in genetics?   Well, chromosomes are in reality a very complex and very complicated system of files that carry many different codes for determining various traits and characteristics common to any animal or bird.  A single chromosome literally carries tens of thousands of individual traits of which scientists at present are only beginning to understand the mechanics and workings.  Each chromosome is like a huge zipper that is extremely long and can at times unzip.  For most genetics studies we typically study the genes on the chromosomes in pairs and so we are most interested in both sides of the zipper and what they each contain in reference to a genetics study.

What about the sex-chromosomes and how they work?   Sex-chromosomes are just like any other chromosome pair except that they store and contain information related to the sex-characteristics of the organism being studied.  Sex-chromosomes simply store all of the sex information that determines male or female characteristics of a species.  Sex-chromosomes also do often carry some interesting files of genetic information that are not directly related to the sex of individual but they are carried as attachments to the sex files and so when we study these genetic traits we have to remember that they are found in the sex files and are known as sex-linked.  Another point that we should keep in mind is that since male birds contain 2 chromosomes that are sex related and the female only carries 1 sex chromosome, we find that male birds have twice as much storage space in their sex files in comparison to the females.

     Most poultry geneticists have determined through their research that poultry genetics can be divided into the following categories for study…..

          1.  black restrictors that are located on the E-locus

          2.  other black restrictors located in other places

          3.  enhancers of black

          4.  diluters of black

          5.  sex-linked gold

          6.  autosomal red

          7.  enhancers of black and gold

          8.  diluters of black and gold

          9.  diluters of gold

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         10.  other secondary pattern genes that affect feather patterns in birds

Will attempt not to get into the complicated areas of these and will make a great attempt to present information in simplified form related just to Dutch bantams.  Since most of the genes involving Dutch bantam varieties are all located on the E-locus  (singular) or E-loci (plural), this is the obvious place to start our discussions.

     What do we mean when we say E-loci?   Poultry geneticists have discovered through their studies that most of the important genes related to color are located in one specific location on one of the autosomes.  The scientist have simply chosen to refer to these important color files as being named E-loci so that they are easily and readily referenced when needed.

     Also, before we go any further in our genetics lesson, we need to establish the fact that geneticists have chosen to use letters to represent genetic traits.  After  some studies of our birds we perhaps begin to recognize that one color is a little more dominant or powerful in comparison to say another color.  We then would wish to use capitol letters to code the color of the dominant trait, and we should use the smaller letter to code the color of the recessive trait which would be the weaker of the color traits. 

     Now that we know the most basic information relating important color traits of birds is located on the E-loci region of the autosomes, we are now ready to begin our studies in poultry genetics. Poultry geneticists have chosen to use the letter “e” as the code for most color traits in birds.

·            1.  The most dominant of all of the color traits in our birds is the one known as extended black.  The code that is used for extended black is EE.  We use two capitol “E”s because we are dealing with a pair of alleles and each of these alleles are dominant to the other possible colors.  The birds that typically carry the extended black genes are known to most game bird breeders as “crow wings” because their color pattern has a black wing bay; otherwise, the birds are very much like the wild-type birds in the color of the males.  Females of the dominant black patterns are typically predominately black in coloring, but sometimes may have a non-black hackle.  The down color of extended black birds or crow-wings are usually blackish in down colors.

What is the basic differences in “crow-wing” birds and in “duckwing” birds?  Crow-wing males will always have a black wing bay area.  Duckwing males will always have some other color (usually red) in the wing bay regions.

(Since all of the other traits of color at the E-loci region are less dominant than that of the extended black, geneticists have chosen to use the smaller case “e” to reference these traits.  To distinguish between the several different recessive color traits, it is necessary to add an additional superscript code of lettering so as to distinguish one recessive color trait from another one.)

·            2.  The code that has been chosen for dark brown color pattern is  e^be^b .  The dark brown is most commonly found in leghorn classes.  The male is very much of a black-breasted red or wild type pattern.  The female does not have the salmon breast characteristic of the true wild-type females.  Chick down is characteristically a striped back, but the striping normally found on the down of wild-type chicks has been somewhat modified to have a disruptive blurring in the head region.

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•     3.  The code representing dominant wheaten is e^Whe^Wh, and in both sexes the black is restricted to the wing areas and to the tail.  The male has the typical wild-type black body with some additional differences in other colors and locations of color from the basic wild-type, and the chick down color is an almost white or very light color.

•     4.  The code for buttercup color pattern is e^bce^bc.  In this pattern the color has the same outward appearance as the brown, except that the chick down color has a black stripe similar to wild-type, but with a much wider yellowish-white stripe that is distinctly wider than the stripe of wild-type chicks.  The head stripe is broken and irregular in comparison to the head stripe of wild-type.

•     5.  The code for wild-type is e⁺e⁺.  In this pattern the light brown (BB Red in Old English) coloring has hackle and saddle striping.  A salmon breast is found on the females and the down color of chicks has stripes on the back and head showing the distinct marks that are characteristic of wild-type.

        Many classes of poultry also have some other genes that are located on the other chromosomes besides at the E-loci area, and which are known as black restrictors because they have a profound effect on the restriction and distribution of the black pigments on the birds.  A couple of these are ….

•     1.  The columbian gene code is designed as CoCo , and it makes the males and females to be colored very much alike.

•     2.  The ginger red gene is coded DbDb, and this makes a black-white, buff or red in the male but it does not remove all of the stippling from the body of the female bird.

We also find a few genes which enhance the black pigments and they are known as enhancers of black.  These traits are also located in some of the other chromosome locations rather than at the E-loci region.

•     1.  The melanotic gene is coded as MlMl and is responsible for blackening   the plumage by the addition of more than the normal amounts of the eumelanin or black pigments.  Eumelanin is the pigment of black that is responsible for the formation of  “ebonies” which are very dark birds.

A few other non E-loci genes that are responsible as diluters of black are…..

•     1.  The andalusian blue diluter of black is coded as Blbl.  This gene action works only when we have one allele for black and one allele for blue.  The gene alters the presentation of black pigments and replaces then with the diluted blue pigment thus forming a blue colored bird.  (It should be noted that when producing blue birds it is usual that there is expected to be variation in the shades of blue from darker blues to very light blue.  Most breeders will generally select those birds representing the medium blue coloration for breeding purposes.)

•     2.  The sex-linked barring is a gene which is coded as  B B  , and it is carried on the sex-chromosomes.  This gene action is responsible for alternating bars

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        of white and black throughout the plumage of the feather pattern.  (The barring of the Cuckoo is an irregular barring pattern, but is of the same gene action of the B B).

•     3.  Another diluter of black is the dun gene that alters black to a dun color that is a “grayish tan” or “bluish tan” color.

Another diluter gene that affects both the black and red/gold coloring is…..

•     1.  The lavender gene which is coded as lav lav, and which is strictly a recessive trait that is responsible for the formation of the Self Blue color variety.  (This color is called lavender in most other countries.)

The final genes that are responsible diluters of red/gold coloring are……

•     1.  The cream gene that is also a recessive gene that is coded ig ig.  This gene action is to change the red or gold coloring on the bird to a very pale cream color.

•     2.  The most important diluter gene action is likely that of the silver gene.  Silver is actually a dominant gene that is coded as S S , and is dominant to the gold or red gene which is coded as  s s.  One thing that we need to mention is that silver is sex-linked, meaning that the gene action comes from the sex-chromosome.  We must remember that as a sex-linked gene, the male will carry a pair of alleles because males have two sex-chromosomes.  Females can only carry one silver gene because they carry only one sex-chromosome.

             When studying or thinking about Dutch bantams it is possible to categorize them into three family groupings based upon colors……..

1.  The “red or gold family” includes Light Browns, Blue Light Browns, Cream Light Browns, Cream Blue Light Browns, and Creles.

2.  The “silver family” includes Silvers, Blue Silvers, Dun Silvers and Birchens.

3.  The “solid color family” includes Whites, Blacks, Blues, Self Blues, Cuckoos, and Duns.

        The first family that will be covered is the “red or gold family”, and the possible genetic compositions required to breed each of the families of Dutch bantams…..

•     1.  Light Brown Dutch Bantams …  This variety should produce 100% Light Brown offspring when one is mating Light Brown x Light Brown.  The Light Browns are typically the largest variety in the Dutch class at most shows in this country as well as on the European continent.  The Light Browns are certainly one of the more perfected varieties in this country and a good conditioned bird is very difficult for the judges to pass by in judging the Dutch class of birds.

The likely gene combinations involved in producing Light Brown are…

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       e⁺e⁺          “wild type plus black striping factors for hackle & saddle regions”

       s s             “alleles for gold or red coloring”

•     2.  Blue Light Brown Dutch bantams…. This variety when matting Blue Light Brown x Blue Light Brown should produce a genetic number of 25% Light Browns, 50% Blue Light Browns, and 25% BLB Splash.  Some breeders prefer to produce Blue Light Browns by crossing Light Brown x BLB Splash and this generally produces 100% BLB offspring.  Some breeders prefer to breed Light Brown x Blue Light Brown, and this should produce 50% Blue Light Brown and 50% Light Brown offspring.

The gene pairs in action are…

        e⁺e⁺          “wild type plus black striping factors”

        s s             “gold or red coloring”

        Bl bl           “blue diluter of black”

Note = Blue Light Brown Splash will carry two alleles for blue dilution bl bl rather than the one that we find in the Blue Light Browns.

•     3.  Cream Light Brown Dutch bantams….This variety should be mated as Cream Light Brown x Cream Light Brown to avoid the conflicts of the appearance of “swavers” in the offspring.  When mating to Light Browns, the addition of the extra influence of the red or gold factors seems to produce females that do not have the desired coloring of the preferred Creams on the back areas.

        The gene actions involved in this variety are…..

        e⁺e⁺            “wild type pattern”

        s s               “gold or red coloring factors”

        ig ig             “cream diluter of gold & red”

•     4.  Blue Cream Light Brown Dutch bantams…. This variety is most easily understood by following the same mating schedules for offspring as the BLB..i.e.,  BCLB x BCLB should produce 25% CLB, 50% BCLB and 25% Splashes’ or if crossing CLB x BCLB you should produce 50% CLB and 50% BCLB or if crossing CLB x Splash BCLB one should get 100% BCLB offspring.  The determining factor is most likely the cream parity color of birds available when setting up breeding pens and the quality of type and color of the birds you have to use.

        The genes in action here are ……

        e⁺e⁺         “wild type pattern”

        s s             “gold or red color factors”

        Bl bl           “ blue diluter of black”

        ig ig           “cream diluter of gold or red”

note = CBLB Splash will carry bl bl two alleles for dilution rather than the one in BCLB.

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•     5.  Crele Dutch bantams….. The Crele represents a variety that can experience difficulties with breeding correct patterns of color because of the influence of the “barring gene” on the wild type pattern.  Because of the fact that the “barring genes” are carried on the sex chromosomes, breeders often find this difficult to work with, however we do have several present breeders who are doing an excellent job of producing so very nice Creles and they should be very willing to share their breeding techniques to you should you be interested in this variety.  When working with the barring gene it is most important to remember that this gene has inhibitor effects on the distribution of color to the legs.  Creles should have light leg color because of the “barring genes” (most crele leg colors are going to be light in color with various spots of the slate color).

        The genes that act on this variety are…….

               e⁺e⁺         “wild type pattern factors”

               s s            “gold or red coloring factors”

               B B           “barring genes”

The second family or group of Dutch bantams that will be covered is the one that involves “silver genes”.

•     1.  Silver Dutch bantams……. Silver x Silver matings should produce 100% Silver offspring.  The silvers should, if possible, be kept in locations avoiding excessive sunlight as the Silver coloring sometimes turns dingy in sunlight and is not as pure and rich in the whiteness of color as it should be for showing.  Nice silver males should have no “rust” colors in the wind areas, and they should have a nice solid breast.  Sometimes silver males have a tendency as they mature to develop “checker board” breasts.  In choosing males for breeding it might be a good suggestion to avoid using young males which have the “checker” breasts and use one that is more solid black in color if one is available.

           The genes in action in this variety are…….

                e⁺e⁺          “wild type pattern”

                S S            “silver genes dominant over gold or red”

•     2.  Blue Silver Dutch bantams………The Blue Silver is a beautifully colored variety that is a real eye catcher to many fanciers.  Have had extremely good success myself crossing Blue Silver x Blue Silver which produces 25% Silver, 50% Blue Silver, and 25% Blue Silver Splash.  Silver x Blue Silver should produce 50%Silvers and 50% Blue Silvers.  If a splash is available for breeding, Splash x Silver should produce 100% Blue Silvers.

           Here are the genes in this variety……..

                  e⁺e⁺          “wild type pattern”

                  S S             “silver genes”

                  Bl bl           “blue diluter gene”

Note=  Blue Silver Splash Dutch bantams will carry two blue diluter genes bl bl.

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•     3.  Dun Silver Dutch bantams ….  The Dun Silver is a new variety that a few breeders have worked on during the past couple of years.  This is essentially the same color variety that the Old English call “fawn”.  The dun gene is a modifier/diluter of black color into a soft shade of bluish tan or grayish tan or brown (it is actually similar to the color of chocolate ice cream in color).

          The genes involved in this color are …….

               e⁺e⁺          “wild type pattern”

               S S              “silver genes”

               I^D I^D           “dun gene” (incomplete dominance produces “whitish”)

          Note= Dun Silver Splash is a very light bird that is a dirty grayish white color with bright silver hackle and saddle colors in the males and this variety would carry two dun genes for color.

Caution on breeding Splashes!   If you have never breed or worked with splashes of any of the colors, Splash BLB, Splash BCLB, Splash Blue Silver or Splash Dun Silver, a word of caution is perhaps in order.  It is often very difficult for even the experienced breeder to distinguish one color of splash from another, so perhaps it is certainly in order that one should mark the splashes as they are hatched so as to make sure of their breeding and to avoid accidents that might arise from not being absolutely sure what the splashes came from genetically.

The Golden Dutch bantam is actually a cross between the “silver family” (Silver bird) crossed with a member of the “gold family” (Light Brown).  Great caution should be noted!  If you should venture into producing Goldens, be sure to mark your birds carefully so as not to confuse a Golden female with a Silver female and contaminate the Silver line.  It takes great practice to distinguish a golden female from a silver female.  The males are not difficult to distinguish as they are going to have the “rust colors” in the wing areas as well as often some “rust coloring” in the back area.  The preferred mating to produce Golden should be Light Brown male x Silver female and this should produce both Golden males and Golden females.

The final family of the Dutch group is the “solid family” of colors…….

•     1.  Black Dutch bantams……. Blacks should be mated Black x Black and get           100% Black offspring.

         The gene involved here is…..

                E E      “extended black”

•       2.  Blue Dutch bantams……. Blue coloring is most often associated with the Andalusian color which is heterozygrously dominant with black.  What this mean is that it works on the same breed principle as with Blue Light Browns – birds carrying two “black alleles” will result in black color, birds carrying “one black and one blue allele” will be blue laced, and birds that carry “two blue alleles” will be splashed.  In many of the European countries “blues “ are bred to both the “laced pattern” and in the “non-laced pattern”.  In North America ,

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          the poultry organizations unfortunately do not recognize the “non-laced blues”.  We do have both “laced” and “non-laced” blues in this country.  They both follow the same basic blue to black principles, exception being that one carries a lacing factor as do Blue Light Browns and Blue Cream Light Browns, and the other one does not.

          The factors involved in these two blue groups are…….

           (a) the Blues (with lacing)

                   E E          “extended black”

                   Bl bl        “blue color”

                   Lg Lg       “lacing as a secondary pattern”

            (b) the Blues (without lacing)

                   same as above except no Lg Lg present

•     3.  Self Blue Dutch bantams…….  The Self Blue color pattern is totally different in action from the regular blue laced.  Self Blue is totally recessive to Black and only works when there are two “lavender” genes present to dilute the black color.  Self Blue x Self Blue breeds true and produces 100% offspring.  When breeding Self Blue to Black, it takes two generations to again produce the Self Blues.  Another difficulty that has been discovered with our Dutch Self Blues is that there seems to be a genetic factor related to tail structure closely connected to the lavender gene location.  The result is that the tails, especially of male birds, are often smaller width and length feathers that are often not smooth and just actually unattractive to many breeders.  Though the females do seem to produce very attractive birds, we are continuing to work on this problem so as to resolve it.  The color of Self Blues is a very soft “pigeon blue” that is uniform throughout the regions of the bird and without lacing.  The more uniform the color of the bird, the better the quality of the bird.

           The gene action is…….

                     E E           “extended black”

                     lav lav      “lavender diluter of black”

•     4.  White Dutch bantams……. There are some reasons to suspect that the White Dutch bantams in this country are the result of recessive white factors.  Dominant white factors in birds should produce excellent white feathering that would not be affected by either sun or corn.  The exhibition whites that we see in this country are therefore most probably a product of the recessive white factors.

           The genes in effect are…….

                   e^b e^b            “wild type brown”

                   c c                “recessive white”

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          Even though the birds carry a “basic wild type pattern” they turn out white because of the presence of the recessive white traits.

•     5.  Cuckoo Dutch bantams…….  The Cuckoo color is another color that involves the effects of the “barring gene”  and it is sex-linked – meaning the male carries the potential of having two barring genes; but the female can only carry one barring gene.  It should also be noted that in the Cuckoo Dutch bantam, the leg color should be light and not slate.  The barring gene is an inhibitor of leg color to produce slate legs that are so characteristic of Dutch bantams.  Remember, Cuckoo should have light colored legs with some dark slate patches spread over the leg areas.

           The gene action involves………..

                   E E         “extended black”

                   B B        “barring gene”

          You should notice that in your male birds there should be about equal regions of black and white coloring.  In your females you should notice that they have more black regions and less white regions.  This is caused by the fact that males carry two “barring genes” and females carry only one “barring gene”.

•     6.  Dun or “chocolate” Dutch bantams…….   This is one of the colors that is still in the “experimental stages” and are not yet ready for open distribution.  The dun gene is one that has been around for a long time in the pit games and has given fanciers some challenges by working the gene actions into other breeds and varieties.  The dun gene acts on diluting the black coloring of a bird to that of a bluish tan or grayish tan or chocolate ice cream color.  Just imaging birds that are the color of chocolate ice cream all over and this is what you should see.  The dun gene is heterozygous and therefore when breeding dun x dun you are going to get some birds that are black (25%), some birds that are dun (50%); and a few that are “splashed” (25%).  The color of the splashes is more of an ashy-gray color.

            The genes involved are……..

                    E E          “extended black”

                    I^D I^D        “dun diluter of black”

There are several additional varieties that certain individuals are working on that are basically created by various forms of “secondary pattern genes”  Most geneticists would characterize what has been previously covered as the “primary color genes”, and then the next option of genetics study in poultry science would likely be the “secondary pattern genes”.  Secondary pattern genes usually alter the feather appearances by such items as penciling, spangling, and certain kinds of barring or even double barring.

•     1.  Mille Fleur Dutch bantams……… The Mille Fleur Dutch bantam is a beautifully marked bird in which both sexes have a basic golden bay color, marked with a V-shaped bar of black near the end of the feather and then the end is tipped with a white spangle.

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        The genes involved are…………..

                   e^b e^b               “brown modifier of wild-type”

                    s s                  “gold color”

                    Co Co             “columbian modifier”

                    mo mo           “mottling modifier”

•     2.  Red Quill Dutch bantams………. The Red Quill Dutch bantams are beautiful birds in which the males are a rich pumpkin color throughout their body.  The females are a lighter pumpkin color with black bars throughout their body feathers.  Both sexes have black tails and the modifier genes involved simply convert stippling into bars and also modifies the normal salmon breast of wild type into a pumpkin colored region.

           The possible genes involved are……..

                    e^bc e^bc              “buttercup modifier of wild type”

                    s s                     “gold coloring gene”

•     3.  Silver Quill Dutch bantams………. The Silver Quill Dutch bantams are essentially a silver modifier of the red quills.  The basic body color in both sexes would be a silver body color with black bars on the feathers of the females, and some irregular markings on the feathers of the males.  This color is very early in the experimental stages of development and has several generations before they are ready for distribution.

          The possible genes involved are……..

                   e^bc e^bc             “buttercup”

                   S S                    “silver coloring”

There are perhaps some of you out there who are working on some other colors that might need to be added to our genetics display.  If you are interested in discussing the addition of other varieties and their genetics involved, contact me and we will discuss the additions.  We have chosen to leave some of these off the genetics list until we can involve some of you breeding them and involve you into the genetics discussions.  Correspond with us if you wish to have additional varieties included.

credits for information………..

1.  Bantam Chickens.  by:  Fred P. Jeffrey ( united States )

2.  Poultry Breeding and Genetics.   By R. D. Crawford ( Canada )

3.  Creative Poultry Breeding.  By  Dr. Carefoot ( Britain )