Lady Amherst - pure breed or mutant?

[pktuan]

Are they pure breed or mutant Lady Amherst?
male

and chicks:

 

[tonini3059]

I am by no means an expert but I would say a mutt. I am a little reluctant to say that though, since I have no idea what they may be crossed with. I thought if they were crossed with some type of golden there is usually more color, these guys are just dark. I am not sure either of anything else they could be crossed with to produce that coloration since I thought that the amherst and goldens are the only members of that genus. I am interested to see how everyone else ways in on this.
They are nice looking birds though, maybe they could be a morph, which would be neat and in that case I want some.

 

[Enjaytoo]

I cant wait to hear what folks will say, those are interesting pictures... I agree, the male is just to dark, could there be a possibility of a Dark Throat in there? The chicks look similar to DT hens yet with the blue facial coloration of LA's...

 

[tonini3059]

I am very curious also, what throws me off is that there is no head crest. The Lady Amherst has a red one starting half way back the head and the goldens have a yellow one atop the entire head, yet this has neither. Time will tell, hopefully some expert will weigh in on this, the anticipation is killing me. If it is a different color morph of the amherst I would love to get my hands on them.

 

[Tony K T]

lOOKS LIKE THEY ARE CROSSED WITH A MELANISTIC BY THE FEMALES COLORING.
IN N.H.,Tony.

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
THAT WOULD ACCOUNT FOR THE DARKNESS IN THE MALE AS WELL....

 

[tonini3059]

It would account for the darker color, but I didn't think that a cross with a ringneck would even be possible, they are in different families, correct? Plus other than the dark coloration there is really no difference in body size or shape. Unless there is another melanistic that I am unaware of it doesn't seem to fit.

 

[Lophura]

Quote:
Same family, different genus. Offspring between Phasianus and Chrysolophus are often fertile as they are closely related. A breeder in CA told me that the biggest obstacle in "creating" pied Goldens was "breeding that straight ringneck tail out of them". I don't know the origins of the bird pictured above and not going to make any comments regarding it other than I wouldn't trust it. Also, that aviary could use some material to make the birds' lives a little more stimulating. They aren't chickens.

An interesting reference point - Johnsgard has a rather comprehensive list of the different genera and their hyrbid-fertility in his Pheasants of the World.

Dan

 

[isaacearlg]

i wpuldny buy them a man told me that diluted bloodlines give your stock a bad name

 

[buck-wild-chick]

They are gorgeous !