Red Erminette
We are pleased to announce the publication of The American Erminette. Included in the book is a 16 page chapter documenting the recently learned history as well as the most updated genetic understandings, breeding efforts, and an account by Matt Hemmer on his work with this extremely rare coloration.
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After receiving feedback that there is interest in learning more about the Red Erminettes, I have decided to make available some information on this coloration. Before I start, let the reader be warned; very little is known about this coloration and how it is produced. Many, many off types exist when breeding these, most likely because the genes haven't been bred in a homozygous state consistently yet.
The main reason why I hadn't included these birds was because it doesn't yet appear that they breed with the expected phenotype like the Erminette does (Erminettes when bred together produce Erminette, solid whites, and solid blacks). Red Erminettes do not yet appear to produce Red Erminette, solid white, and solid red when two Red Erminettes are bred together. There is a really good chance that the birds will need to be bred in a way where they produce all Red Erminette colored offspring. Time will tell. That being said, Red Erminettes are NOT Erminettes by definition. While the Erminette was used in the creation of this coloration, the Red Erminettes are not a breed in their own right and they are not yet a variety of the Erminette.
Again, time will tell if these will be included under the Erminette breed umbrella or not.
Below are photos from Matt Hemmer who is currently working on producing these birds. These are 2020 hatch. So far, no one has come as close to breeding these with such uniform type and color as Matt. Ron Nelson had a uniform flock of these but we do not know how consistent the flock was in producing properly colored offspring (photos Matt Hemmer).
The main reason why I hadn't included these birds was because it doesn't yet appear that they breed with the expected phenotype like the Erminette does (Erminettes when bred together produce Erminette, solid whites, and solid blacks). Red Erminettes do not yet appear to produce Red Erminette, solid white, and solid red when two Red Erminettes are bred together. There is a really good chance that the birds will need to be bred in a way where they produce all Red Erminette colored offspring. Time will tell. That being said, Red Erminettes are NOT Erminettes by definition. While the Erminette was used in the creation of this coloration, the Red Erminettes are not a breed in their own right and they are not yet a variety of the Erminette.
Again, time will tell if these will be included under the Erminette breed umbrella or not.
Below are photos from Matt Hemmer who is currently working on producing these birds. These are 2020 hatch. So far, no one has come as close to breeding these with such uniform type and color as Matt. Ron Nelson had a uniform flock of these but we do not know how consistent the flock was in producing properly colored offspring (photos Matt Hemmer).
Bottom left is a pullet Matt received from Glenn Drowns in the early years (photo Matt Hemmer). Bottom right is a male Josiah Moore received from Glenn Drowns that ended up in Matt Hemmer's breeding pens (photo Josiah Moore).
As you can see there is much variation in the coloration, and these photos are of the good colored birds at this stage. Lots of off types are still being produced. You can see how some of the pullets are more buff in color while others are more red in coloration. There are still very few males who are as good colored as the male shown at the top of this page. That male was bred by Ron Nelson and passed out of this life nearly five years ago. Glenn was unable to produce any known offspring out of him before he died as he was very old when Glenn received him from Josh Miller in Wisconsin.
Below are some pics from Josh Miller's flock. You will see a lot of variation in comb type, etc. as Josh has done a lot more crossing with his flock. That being said, while the type is all over the place, the color does lock in rather nicely on some of the birds.
Below are some pics from Josh Miller's flock. You will see a lot of variation in comb type, etc. as Josh has done a lot more crossing with his flock. That being said, while the type is all over the place, the color does lock in rather nicely on some of the birds.
Shown below is a picture of a chick hatched out by Josiah Moore, photo by Josiah. You can see that they look just like the Erminette chicks, only the black is replaced by a beautiful red color.