August 29, 1994

Dear Bill:

Glad to hear from you and to hear that the Pekin book has sold 500-600 copies. I thing this very good for a breed book.

It is true that our Barred Rocks, both bantam and large, are slow feathered and along with this they have excellent barring. Nobody can doubt this. However the problem is not quite as simple as rate of feathering. In 1980 when I visited the huge Cologne show in Germany I made notes on their Barred Leghorn bantams which had just as good feathering and as good barring as our Plymouth Rocks. All the Leghorns I have worked with are fast feathered. I really do not know if the German Barred Leghorns are slow feathered or not. In the USA we have some Barred Cochins which approach but do not equal the Barred Rocks in quality of barring. I am told that they have a sort of intermediate rate of feathering.

I have tentatively decided that the important difference between quality of barring in cuckoo as compared with barred is the gene at the E-locus. In Barred Rocks it is eb and in Cuckoo Old English it is e+. You are welcome to quote me on this point in your newsletter but as you see I am lacking proof of this theory. If this theory is correct then you see one must cross with the idea in mind that it is necessary to incorporate e-b from the Barred Rock.

On of our fanciers, Bob Padula, made a nice Mottled OE from crossing Black OE with Spangled OE. His address is 640 Fletcher Road, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 02852. His work would suggest that the gene for mottling in Blacks is the same one as found in Spangled. You might wish to write to him.

I still think that the best way to improve type in Buff Pekin is to cross Buff with Black and then run a large second generation. There has to be a lot of waste but that cannot be helped. I would not cross with Blues or Whites. I am the first to agree that we do not know the exact genotype of the Buff Pekin so it is possible that there might be merit crossing with Buff Orpington. Perhaps your friend is on to something. Should the Buff Orpington be used I would agree that it should not be used beyond the original cross for reasons of type and skin colour.

Sincerely,