Partridge

Holland: Patrijs
US: Light Brown
Norway: Gullhalset

This was the first color that my father got, as eggs from Denmark in 1981, and was first shown at the Norwegian Show in 82.

Our experience with the Gold Partridge is that they are strong with good fertilization abiliy and high survival of the young. We have mainly been using 2 strains to prevent too much inbreeding.

Some of the males can get an undesirable red color at the edge of the tail-feathers and some gray in the chest. We also don`t breed with males that have curled feathers in the neck. 

Blue Partridge

Holland: Blauwpatrijs
US: Blue Light Brown
Norway: Blå Gullhalset

We have been breeding this color since 1982. The offspring of our Blue Partridge varied the first years to a great extent when it comes to colors. Some were very light and others almost black. We still get some very light chickens (called double blue Partridge) and we now use a few of them to cross with the Red Shouldered Red  variety as an experiment.

Black

Holland: Zwart
US: Black
Norway: Svart

To limit inbreeding we have crossed black with white. The offspring of this is blue. In the next turn we have crossed blue with black, and the offspring of this is some black and some blue (figure to the right).

Yellow Partridge

The Yellow Patridge may be my favorite. Not just because of the great color, but also because of the calm temper. It is obvious that the "psyche" is also inherited, and we are trying to breed only with calm birds. Read also the exellent article about the Yellow Patridge (Cream Light Brown) at the American Dutch Bantam Society

Silver Partridge

We first got this color as eggs in 87, and was the same year shown at the National Show.

The Silver Patridge has allways been strong by us, and no other color has been crossed into the silver. We occationally have gotten new blood from Holland.

Some males may get som brown color in the white on their back. We don`t breed with birds having this weakness.

White

Our whites was originally the offspring of white antwerp bearded bantam and light blue gold patridge. After seven generations (1990) the whites was really white and ready for participating at shows.

To limit inbreeding we have crossed in black to the whites (see figure to the right). We have recently got some new blood from Holland that will hopefully strenghten the whites.

Red Shouldered White

This color is one of our newest and we got it from another breeder in Norway, Jan Jemtegaard, in 1997. There are only a handful of breeders of Dutch Bantams in Norway and we coorporate as best we can.

A problem with the Pile is that the birds are too large (you may see it by the picture of the male). We was trying to get them smaller by crossing in small light Blue Partridge. The outcome of these crossings was birds with to much red in the brest, and we are now back to breeding true red shouldered whites.

You can read an exellent article of the Pile (Splash) on the American Dutch Bantam Society

Cuckoo Partridge

A problem with our Cuckoo Patridge is that the males are too light in color. We have tried to get them darker by crossing in Gold Patridge, but still they are too light. This breeding season (2001) we used a dark Cuckoo Partridge male (but is lacking the triangle in wings; so he is not a true Cuckoo Partridge). See the result of this crossing. 

Cuckoo

We got this color as eggs in 1989. We has been coorporating with Jan Jemtegaard and exchanged birds with him to prevent inbreeding.

A problem with the Cuckoo, just as with the Silver Patridge variety, is that the males may get som brown color on their backs. This is probably caused by a gene from Partridge that is still attached to the Cuckoo. We don`t breed with these birds.