Breeding
With Anthracites
by Stephen Fowler
L to R: Cobalt, Anthracite, single
factor Anthracite
I bred about 40 anthracites last year & a few more this year getting into
dominant pieds & spangles. If you breed a double factor (black) anthracite (DFA) to a
normal sky, you will get all sky anthracites that may be blue or grey depending on whether
your DFA was blue or grey to begin with. Sky (
If you do the DFA to cobalt or mauve the results are confusing as you are
adding the two dark factors (mauve & anthracite). The cobalt & mauve anthracites (
Adding mauve & violet to DFA's does not make them darker. Adding those
factors to
I have some violet mauve
The lack of jet black in the bird is due to the buff nature of the feather, ie white tips
to the feather barbs.
My first mating was
The violet when combined with the
Note the sky hen is a double factor violet (DFV) in the family photo but
looks lighter than her daughter who is sky SFV
Pairing DFA's (visuals) with normals gives you only
Hope I am not confusing you & btw don't use green birds.
I have been breeding them for three or four years now.
The first DFA's were all grey (one was a