When the Shanghai fowl first arrived in the UK and US in the 1840s they arrived in a virtual mélange of colors and color genetics. As Harrison Weir noted in his book Our Poultry, “As to colour, here again all could be satisfied. They varied from white to black, from light buff to cinnamon with many shades of yellowish admixture; while the partridge and grouse were of the richest hues, the silver cinnamon claimed to be the most beautiful.” (p. 361)
Among these colors was one with the unfortunate moniker of “Drab”, the name apparently a comparison to the vibrantly colored Partridge. Under more modern conventions of naming varieties in the internet age after dogs or horses or food, the Drab Cochin name almost certainly would have been nixed in favor of Brindle or Buckskin or Crème Brule. This was a time before breed standards and descriptions of these birds were shared only in pieces, and there was little understanding of color genetics. Applying modern color genetics knowledge to the fragmented descriptions we can establish that the Drab Cochin was very likely a Dark Wheaten Cochin – a melanized version of Wheaten similar to the Malay and Cubalaya (which is recognized as Black Breasted Red) – with the hens having melanized hackle and a body of dull cinnamon color.
Thanks to years of research, we now know that Wheaten is genetically an e-allele (base color) mutation with specific identifying characteristics. Wheaten is the lightest of the e-alleles, most notably removing eumelanin from females. Males, on the other hand, can be frequently mistaken for their Duckwing or Brown cousins. This mutation impacts the undercolor, turning the normal slate of the Brown or Duckwing e-alleles to white and minimizing hackle striping. In fact, in exhibition Wheaten males it is considered desirable for the hackle to be completely free of hackle striping.
In exhibition circles, the Wheaten Old English Game Bantam is often considered the “classic” form of the Wheaten phenotype, the hackle of both males and females being free black hackle striping and the female color being an even golden wheat color over the wing and cushion with the signature lighter breast color. The Wheaten phenotype, however, can take on a number of characteristics depending on which patterning, dilution and melanizing genes are present – as we’ll see in a moment.
When we take a closer look at the various colors of Shanghai mentioned in the literature from that time, we see Yellow and Buff, Red and Cinnamon, Silver Buff and Silver Cinnamon among others. This is a robust family of color forms all based on the Wheaten e-allele. The Buff, later described as Golden Buff, was single-handedly responsible for the Hen Fever that drove up the prices of breeding stock and was the genesis of the poultry show as we know it. In an unfortunate turn of events, and following debate at the standard convention of 1871, the Buff Cochin was the only representative of the Wheaten Cochin family that was recognized and the others largely went extinct. Yellow and Buff, Red and Cinnamon, Silver Buff and Silver Cinnamon are all Wheaten.
At the same time in the US the Light Brahma was under development and it was believed that the white undercolor was necessary to produce females with crystal white cushions free of mossiness. The Light Brahma from that time was a Silver Wheaten with the Columbian gene added and likely a recessive black factor added to enhance hackle striping. By ensuring a lack of black in the female cushions the Wheaten base color also produced Light Brahma males with white saddle free of the black diamond striping we associate with the Columbian pattern today. The Light Sussex, likely influenced by the Light Brahma, shared the same color description. It was years later that the preference for a Light Brahma male with saddle striping came into fashion and the standard description was changed to reflect a bird based on the much darker Brown e-allele that allowed for this patterning and also turned the undercolor from white to slate – which has the effect of removing yellow tones and creating a more crystal white top color. The Light Sussex standard description was not changed. Hatchery stock Light Brahmas often are still based on Wheaten and Wheaten still floats around in some exhibition flocks, lightening the undercolor near the skin. The original Light Brahma was Wheaten. The Light Sussex still is.
The Shanghai blood was used to create many of the iconic American dual-purpose and homesteading breeds. Nearly everyone has heard of the Rhode Island Red and the New Hampshire, which are no doubt descendents of some of the early red and yellow Shanghais, likely blended with Game fowl and Malay-type fowl, to produce some of the very best production fowl of the day. The deep red of the Rhode Island Red is its signature, the result of multiple color enhancing genes that include autosomal red/pheomelanin, mahogany and a recessive black factor. The New Hampshire shares many of these color genes, though carries dilute instead of recessive black. If we look closely at both of these phenotypes we see two interesting characteristics – the males are free from hackle striping and the undercolor is free from slate. Both the Rhode Island Red and New Hampshire are Wheaten.
Across the Atlantic in Europe, the Shanghai blood was also being used to add bone and muscle to the local market fowl. One of the most well-known breeds that resulted is a dual-purpose fowl bred in France known as the Salmon Faverolles. The female Salmon Faverolles clothed in soft salmon may be the closest to a pink bird recognized in the current standard while the male is stunning for his color contrast of Silver hackle, Mahogany wing bow, and Black breast and beard. Often termed a “modified Silver Wheaten” as the male lines carry both autosomal red/pheomelanin and mahogany that darken the wing bow. Interestingly, the female lines, in order to maintain the even salmon color in the females that is free from “bricking” or darker color over the wing carries restrictors of autosomal red/pheomelanin and mahogany. Males from the female lines are silver and black without the mahogany wing bow described in the standard. The Salmon Faverolles is Wheaten.
If we consider that the ideal Wheaten exhibition fowl is free from hackle striping in the male, then it should come as no surprise that the Black Tailed White and Black Tailed Buff Japanese Bantams are both based on Wheaten.
Wheaten, though, can be found in the least likely of places. We tend to think of Wheaten as being incompatible with patterning due to the lack of melanin (nothing to pattern) in the females and the female breast color being lighter than the cushion. There are, however, patterned birds based on Wheaten. Perhaps the best example of these are the Dark Cornish Bantams, which are often based on Wheaten (chicks are yellow) vs. Dark Cornish large fowl which are often based on Brown (chicks are striped). Though the color descriptions for these is the same in the standard, a keen eye will notice that the Wheaten based birds actually have more black in the hackle and other areas as additional melanizers are required to build the Dark pattern on Wheaten compared with Brown. A similar dynamic happens with the Barnevelder, which also is double laced but is darker than the Dark Cornish as it is generally based on Wheaten. The Dark Cornish Bantam and Barnevelder are Wheaten.
The Blue Lace Red Wyandotte has been popular in recent years. Like the Golden Laced and Silver Laced Wyandotte, the Blue Laced Red Wyandotte is based on Brown. The Blue Laced Red Cornish Bantam, by contrast, is based on Wheaten. So, while there is a tendency to think of the Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and Blue Laced Red Cornish as being the same pattern, they are not. The Blue Laced Red Cornish Bantam, being on a Wheaten base, requires heavier melanizing in order to pattern up and so tends to show more blue in the head and hackle. The Blue Laced Red Cornish Bantam is Wheaten.
When we use the term “Wheaten” in exhibition parlance, it is important that we distinguish genotype from phenotype. The Wheaten e-allele is the lightest of the e-alleles and is the base color found in a number of breeds and varieties. The Wheaten phenotype is another subject all together and depends on which modifying genes are present. From the “classic” Wheaten of the Old English Game to the Silver Wheaten of the Salmon Faverolles, from the Dilute Wheaten of the Buff Cochin to the Patterned Wheaten of the Blue Laced Red Cornish and Dark Wheaten of the Cubalaya, Wheaten can produce a wide variety attractive patterns that reflect the history of the breeds and the breeders who created them.
