We don't do things by halves, and this breeding project is no exception.

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The Empress Hen has been our vision for over a decade. After a first attempt in 2014 went awry with a sudden move and the loss of our flocks, the Empress was put on the back burner. Now, exactly ten years later, our new farm gives us the ability to start fresh. 

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While the first attempt was made using what birds we happened to have on hand, this time around, we have much higher standards. Very specific breeds, with very specific genetics, are being acquired for the project. That is no easy task - especially when most breeds come with traits that we definitely don't want in our lineup, finding exactly what we need has been a challenge. ​

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(For a quick rundown of chicken color and pattern genetics, Click Here!)

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The trait lineup is as follows:

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• Standard-Sized

• Vaulted/Crested

• Single Comb

• Naked Neck 

• Fibromelanistic (Fm), Blue-Eared if Possible (fibro + white eared)

• Blue- or Blue-green Laying

• Feather Footed / Long Shank Feathering

• Long-Saddled (Gt~sd), Multiple-Saddled if possible but not required (Mtpf~sd)

• Low-held Tail w/ Long & Multiple Tail & Sickle Feathered (Gt~t, Gt~sc, Mtpf~t, Mtpf~sc). 

• (Nm~ partial non-molting complex would be nice but not required. Full nm~ non-molting complex not wanted.)

• Birchen-Based Laced (ER Pg Ml Co Db)

• The flock to retain the colors Silver (S+) and Mahogany-Gold (s+ Mh), and also plus BBS (Bl) and Dun/Khaki (I^d). All would be laced.

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We have been collecting the breeds for this project, as follows:

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• Korean Ogye (Fibro, single comb, silver birchen line but low quality pattern, possibly other genes hidden)

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• Standard Gold Laced Polish (Vaulted, crested, laced. Unfortunately, V combed.)

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• Project Fibro Malgache (Single-gene fibro, naked necked, birchen split silver. Unfortunately, mixed rose and pea comb.)

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• Mahogany Longtail (Mahogany gold, possibly birchen, low-held tail, multiple tail & sickle feathering. Unfortunately, pea comb.)

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• Birchen Longtail (Birchen, silver, single comb, low held tail, long saddles/tail/sickles, multiple in at least tail/sickles, at least partial non-molting)

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• Blue Dun? Sultan (Blue, possibly dun, crested, feather footed, long feather shanked. Unfortunately, bantam and V comb.) (There is a possibility he is a blue dun, as he has dun in his parent flock, or he could just have warm leakage - see photo at end. )

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• Shetlands (Birchen, Pg, Db, single comb, crest, and blue egg genes. Unfortunately, may have other genes mixed in.)

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What all that means is that there is many genes we have to gather, and many we have to avoid. For example, any bird used for the project needs to be E/Extended Black, or ER/Birchen/Crowwing/Brown Red. That's because the type of lacing we intend to use - Polish-type, with patterned tail feathers - is based on ER. If any e+/Wildtype/Duckwing, eWh/Wheaten, or eb/Partridge gets into the mix, well... it's a muddy genetic mess, and breeding the wrong allele out would take several additional generations. 

 

We are currently pairing:

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• Mahogany Longtail Rooster x Gold Laced Polish Hens (Firstly to confirm if the rooster is indeed Birchen and not just lots of leakage; if birchen, then keeping the offspring for the project.)

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• Silver Birchen Longtail Rooster x Gold Laced Polish Hens

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• Blue Dun? Sultan Rooster x Gold Birchen Shetland Hens (Will also prove out of he is in fact dun.)

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• NN Single-Fibro Silver Birchen Malgache x Korean Ogye Hens (Will also prove out of our Ogye are indeed E/ER, and not E/E with leakage.)

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Our intent is to solidify birchen in the breeds without it, and breed the birchen ones to laced as that seems to be the most complex and hard to guestimate the partial-gened birds. So the next gen (2026 F1xF1) of the two Longtail x Polish groups will be bred to each other, hatching out hundreds of eggs until I land on birds with both Laced and Longtail genes. (We will only be breeding one F2 / 2nd gen laced cross per year, since it will take SO many chicks to land on that ER Pg Ml Dg Co Gt~t/sc/sd Mtpg~t/sc Nm~t/sc combo, and a long time to raise up to confirm the longtail in roosters. We are aware it will take a long time, especially as we cannot grow out an unlimited number of chicks to adulthood on a budget.) Fortunately at this phase we don't need to concern ourself with keeping both gold and silver, as later crosses will re-introduce both, so long as we retain the mahogany. We will also at this point decide if we like the look of mahogany silver laced, or if we prefer a clean silver, for the final breed.

 

At the same time we will be selecting the best chicks of the Sultan x Shetland and crossing them together in 2026, selecting the F2 chicks for blue, birchen, (dun if present), single comb, feathered shanks and feet, and blue egg (We will be doing genetic testing for the blue egg gene).

If the F1 Malgache x Ogye cross produces quality birchens, we will cross that back to Ogye in 2026 for improved fibro. If it turns out that my Ogye don't actually have the birchen gene (just pattern + leakage, perhaps), then we will be taking those F1s and crossing them to each other instead. 

 

In 2027 we will be taking the keepers from the F2 Sultan/Shetland and F2 Malgache/Ogye, and crossing both with the Gold Laced Polish. We are figuring that we will still be breeding the F1 x F1 Longtail/Laced birds, trying to build up a workable stock of that gene combo, considering the odds. If we succeeded in producing at least one quality cockerel the previous year, we may use that F2 male over the F1 hens instead, for better odds. 

 

In 2028 we will then take the F2 Sultan/Shetland x Gold Laced Polish and the F2 Malgache/Ogye x Gold Laced Polish and crossing them together. We will then re-begin the long, long process of getting laced, fibro, single-comb, NN, crested, vaulted, long feather shanked and footed, and blue-egg genes. Fortunately, many of those traits are easy to see at hatch, so we can hatch MANY more of these chicks per month, selling off or culling anything without the obvious traits at day one. We will have to make sure to keep both gold and silver, plus blue and dun. That year we will also be taking the time to refine our Laced Longtail flock to as high of quality as possible.

 

In 2029, we expect we would still be doing the Su/Sh/Mal/Ogye cross, as we would also need to make sure to have at least one pair of quality birds per color that we intend to retain in the breed (minus mahogany, which comes in later). 

 

In 2030, if all goes well, we will then take the Su/Sh/Mal/Ogye F3s, and cross them with my Laced Longtails. Since the lacing would be locked in at this point, only the longtail genes should give me trouble (having to raise those to adulthood). 

 

In 2031, we think again that we will be continuing the last year's cross, to make sure we have a decent group of each color - for while we could pick out a single pair of each color and breed out from there, this will be the last chance at fresh genetics the project will have.

 

In 2032, we would separate them out by color, and concentrate on refining those colors - making sure the silver is double-gene, making sure the BBS line is silver-based so that splash doesn't have leakage, producing the mahogany-gold/blue/khaki combo and silver/blue/khaki combo (which would have a ghost of a pattern, but may be beautiful) if it had not yet popped up, etc. We may also decide to lean into the mahogany silver and encourage maximum leakage, or if we prefer mahogany split-silver with its cream tone to be a whole different line than the clean, white silver. 

 

After a couple years of refining, we think we would consider the breed finished by 2035. 

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