Backyard Poultry Forum

Hi,
I'm looking at starting a red Wyandotte project pen this breeding season.
Does anyone here breed this colour or have any tips or starting points for me?
Cheers
Jess

Red as in solid red (not laced)? What do you have in mind to start with? I am not sure if there are any already developed in Australia. I would imagine a Rhode Island red (preferably rose combed) would be a good starting point but i believe they are on a wheaten base and most wyandottes are on a brown base. Laced reds are built on a brown base so i can't see why non laced would have to be on a wheaten base but i believe it helps inhibit unwanted expression of black particularly on the front of the bird.

Putting a RIR over a silver laced wyandotte will give you birds with broken lacing that could be put back under the RIR roo to produce red, non laced birds. Then it is a case of sibling mating and selecting for the desired base and cleaning up any remnants of lacing whilst improving on wyandotte type but you will probably need to back cross to a wyadotte a couple of times to get good type.

If you could get your hands on a buff (non laced) wyandotte and a rose combed RIR you wouldn't have the lacing to deal with. Buff (in my inexperienced opinion) is just diluted red so it's just a case of removing the diluters by rir x buff dotte then select the darkest offspring to sibling mate. Buff dotte cock and rir hen would work best since you can put dark pullets under a buff dotte and select for dark offspring with improved type (i had a buff roo 12 months ago that i would've given you......darn).

These are my thoughts but i don't have a lot of experience, just an interest. I am very keen to follow (and hopefully participate in) the development of blue laced red wyandottes in Australia and still have a lot to learn about the genetics of red but as far as i know, red is just gold with the addition of Mh (mahogany) and some red enhancer genes. Buff is fundamentally the same but with diluters instead of enhancers. I hope you get some input from some more experienced breeders on this thread because i will be following it with interest.

Good luck with your project.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

Thanks for your reply DottesnSilk. Yes solid red. My original plan was to start with my RIR and White wyandottes, but have been doubting myself lately. I'm very new at the genetics side of it, hence why I'm asking the question! I wanted to try and use birds that I have already got - White, blg, bls, & RIR. I also have some GLW in the brooder box. The buff roo sounds like a good way to go, would just have to find one! I was also trying to avoid buying any new stock as I have already gone overboard this year already lol!
I also have blr project pens, only at the very early stages!
Thanks again for your reply

I believe that Rob Wilson in Tas had started breeding them, but unsure if the stage he got to. I don't have any contact details for him so can't contact him to get some pointers

Perhaps you will get a blr from your project pen that will have poor lacing but good red that you could cross with a white wyandotte. That would be far better to keep the type in place. I don't know much about white dottes (what base they are on etc.). If they are made using recessive white it wont be too hard to work with but you will be getting white sports from the reds for some time until you completely remove all traces of recessive white.

I personally would be focusing on your blr's. There is still a long way to go with these and for them to reach their potential, lots need to be bred and ruthlessly culled seasonally so that the quality of breeding stock is getting better season by season. Once you have quality blr stock you could use it instead of rir. Then you only have to remove lacing rather than fixing type. If you start now with a rir, you will still be fixing type years after the blr's have been perfected. My advice is to put your resources into your blr's and keep your eye out for a suitable candidate from those pens.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

A couple of Red Wyandotte exhibited at Lawnton Rare Breeds Show in 2014. A work in progress but there are some breeders working on the project.

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Backyard Poultry Forum

Very nice Cathy. Do you happen to know if they are on an eWh base or eb based?

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

Thanks Cathy, they look great!

Thanks DottesnSilk, I'm only first cross and second cross into my blr so still quite a few years away from anything! Thanks for your advice, I will definitely take it on board and have a think about which direction to head in

If you take the pattern gene Pg and melanisers out but leave Co you'd get close to a solid gold. Then you need something to intensify the red.

Self Reds are very easy to make. In the past I have made them up in bantam and large fowl. There are a few people with them in bantam now.

They must be on an ewh bird. To achieve this just cross a dark red Dotte to a buff. With selection breed out black and dark undercolour. Although you are allowed 10% black.

Matt