wheaton based mille fleur

Mille fleur can be made on three of the five backgrounds that make up chicken colors. The five backgrounds are extended black (E), birchen (ER), wheaten (eWh), wild type (e+), and brown (eb).

The mille fleur pattern seen on Belgian d'Uccles can be made on wheaten (eWh), wild type (e+), and brown (eb). This page is specifically about mille fleur patterns made on the wheaten (eWh) background. I won't go into what makes up the other genetics in the mille fleur pattern here, other than saying that this color is made with white mottles, black spangles, and a reddish buff background. Feathers should be buff at the base with a line of slate grey between the buff base and the buff red color.

Most mille fleur d'Uccle chicks are reddish brown, but oftentimes breeders will hatch out chicks that are yellowish, rather than reddish. These yellowish chicks are chicks with two copies of the recessive wheaten background. All chicks have a copy of a background color from their dad, and a copy from their mom. With mille fleur d'Uccle, that means babies can have these combinations as their background color:

eb/eb

eb/eWh

eWh/eWh

e+/e+

e+/eWh

e+/eb

I work with eb and eWh backgrounds, so here are some chick photos:

This photo above has a red chick (either eb/eb or eb/eWh) on the left and a yellow eWh/eWh chick on the right. 

A yellow eWh/eWh chick 

A darker eb/eb chick

A medium eb/eWh chick

As the babies grow, eWh/eWh chicks will quickly show some big differences. They will start feathering in quite darkly, and will soon look like they have almost a partridge pattern. 

Here are a few side by side photos of an eWh/eWh girl and a girl who was a red chick (either eb/eb or eb/eWh). The chick on the left is actually the little yellow chick. Notice that now she is darker than the chick on the right, who was the darker red as a chick! The wheaten background interacts with mahogany and creates a deeper red background as youngsters feather out. Notice that the back of the eWh/eWh chick is almost all black when she starts to feather in: 

At around 2-3 months, you will finally begin to see some real mille fleur feathers with spangles and mottles during their juvenile molts. This little eWh/eWh lady is finally getting her spots:

At this point, the wheaten based youngsters will begin to look much more like their eb/eb and eb/eWh siblings. They will still look darker red, and often will have more black smut (a bit of black smudges in their feathers.) Often they will have a bit more red in their tails, especially the girls. The eWh/eWh girl is at the bottom of each of these photos:

Here is a little cockerel, just beginning to get in his mille fleur feathers. Notice how dark he is, especially around the face. 

As eWh/eWh birds mature, the males will become quite a dark mahogany color, often with big black spangles. Females will often have incomplete spangles, more moon shaped than tear drop shaped. Often the girls won't have great white mottles until after their first adult molts. They will look spectacular after their first adult molt, although they will still be too red for most shows. Both guys and girls will have fluff at the base of their feathers that is more white than buff, and they usually will have quite a lot of dark grey slate color right above the white base. Tail feathers, especially the girls', will get more red with each molt. If you look carefully at the girls, you will notice that their heads and necks are usually darker red than their bodies, and their backs are usually darker than their bellies. That is the influence of the eWh/eWh background.

A lovely young wheaten based girl. Note the light mottling and incomplete spangles.

Here is a girl who is growing in after an adult molt. Much more mottling! And much more red in the tail.

Two more photos of a lovely wheaten based hen.

Now on to boys!

Note how much black and deep dark red is present in the three previous photos. Long black spangles and dark red faces are common in the wheaten based boys.

The wheaten based boy is in the center in the above photo. Note how dark red his beard is, compared to the boy on his left.

Above you can see the dark slate base in the beard, especially prominent in the wheaten based boys. Sometimes their beards almost look completely grey as they come in.

Below is the white feather base and the very dark slate right beside it. In eb homozygous or heterozygous birds, the base will be buff colored.

So why not get rid of the eWh base, if it produces a bird that is too dark to show? In my own experience, my best show birds always have a heterozygous background (eb/eWh). It's all a balance, really. I have had spectacular eWh/eWh birds, but they are always a bit too dark red, too much smut black in the feathers, and too much brown in the tail. I've had spectacular eb/eb birds, but they almost always have too much black in the hackles, and sometimes they are a bit under marked. 

Wheaten seems to add just the right balance to the brown eb background, so I won't ever breed it out.