Partridge & Mille Fleur Brahma

One of the most richly marked Brahma varieties. Hens carry a warm golden-chestnut ground with double or triple black penciling running parallel to each feather edge — the penciling should be sharp, evenly spaced, and complete around the full feather circumference. The breast is a solid salmon-red in the upper zone, fading to chestnut toward the fluff. The hackle is golden with black shaft striping and a fine gold fringe. Roosters are dramatically different: they carry an orange-red hackle and saddle with black striping, a largely black breast and body, and a black main tail with bronze-green gloss. The wing bow is chestnut-red; the wing bay is black.

The silver-base partridge, known as the Dark Brahma in American standards. Hens have a silver-white ground with sharp, clean black penciling — the high contrast between the silver base and the black markings makes penciling defects very visible, which makes this the most demanding variety to select well. The hackle is silver with black shaft striping. Roosters are dramatically patterned: silver hackle and saddle striped in black, with a black body and breast. The wing bow is silver; the wing bay is black.

One copy of blue dilution (Bl/bl+) applied to the Silver Pencilled base softens the black penciling to a cool blue-grey, while the silver-white ground remains. The result is a pale, refined bird with blue-grey penciling on silver-white — one of the most subtle and elegant Brahma varieties. The penciling structure is identical to Silver Pencilled; it is only the color of the dark element that changes.

The lavender gene (lav/lav) is an autosomal recessive that dilutes all eumelanin (black) to a soft, even grey-lilac. Applied to a Gold Partridge base, it converts the sharp black penciling to a muted grey-purple and shifts the warm gold ground to a pale cream-straw. The result is known as Isabel Partridge — also called lavender double-penciled in some contexts. The penciling structure remains identical to Gold Partridge in spacing and completeness; only the tone of the dark element changes. The overall effect is an extraordinarily delicate, almost watercolor-like bird.

Mille fleur — French for "a thousand flowers" — is one of the most complex feather patterns in domestic poultry. Each feather carries three distinct elements: a warm ocher-brown ground, a green-glossy black spangle in the center of the feather, and a clean white mottle tip at the apex. The pattern is produced by the interaction of the partridge base (Pg), the Db/Ml lacing modifier haplotype that generates the spangle, and the mottling gene (mo) that adds the white tip. The pattern typically intensifies with each successive moult; birds often look their best in their second or third year.