While the varieties LIGHT BROWN and BLUE LIGHT BROWN are probably the best known colors in the Dutch Bantam in America, another variety is very common in the Netherlands, the CREAM LIGHT BROWN. And while the CREAM LIGHT BROWN is a major member of the "RED SHOULDERED" varieties of Dutch, as far as I can learn, it is one of the few varieties not found in any other breed listed in the APA or ABA Standards! And I get to write about it, because to me, it is the most beautiful of all the varieties of Dutch Bantam! Now becoming of interest to American breeders of the Dutch Bantam, this very old variety in Holland may become recognized in the U.S. in the not too distant future and, of course, only in the Dutch Bantam! GEELPATRIJS is its Dutch name, which translates to a Cream/Yellow color, the hackle and saddle color of the male. The back is the same red color of the Light Brown and Blue Light Brown. All the rest is black, except the wing tip of cream. The female is similar to the Light Brown, but the neck and hackle is yellow/gold of some brilliance in the best colored females. Because the addition of the gene for Cream color is a simple recessive, the Light Brown carriers of the gene will produce some Cream Light Brown offspring. But these birds may have red or dark orange heads instead of the beautiful blond heads of the correctly colored birds. The best hackle color will be Creamy-yellow from head to tip of hackle, but with the same black striping that the Light Brown and Blue Light Brown birds show. Some individuals will have "dead-straw" colored or very pale cream hackle, not really correct. The best birds will be not be from recessive genes on Light Brown birds, but selectively bred from "pure" Geelpatrijs birds. The pale-hackled Dutch in Cream Light Brown are almost indistinguishable from a GOLDEN Dutch Bantam. And it would take a great judge to tell the difference! But unlike the GOLDEN variety, which is based on the LIGHT BROWN gene with the SILVER gene added, and does not breed true, the CREAM LIGHT BROWN is based on the Light Brown gene with the CREAM gene added and breeds true! There are a number of breeds of poultry, both Standard and Bantam that recognize the GOLDEN variety, which, when brilliant, does resemble the CREAM LIGHT BROWN. But it is in breeding the Golden birds that one finds out--it is the Silver gene that makes the beauty, the BBred that gives some contrast, but unfortunatly it can only be put together for one generation. The CREAM LIGHT BROWN Dutch Bantam goes on forever! Because the variety in Dutch may not have been recognized as a TRUE variety, early U.S. breeders did not raise many Dutch Bantams in this color--and while it appeared now and then, who knows what was thought??-"No other breed in America has this color- is it undesirable???" However, this may have been a PLUS for the breed, as some of the finest Dutch TYPE is found in the CREAM LIGHT BROWNs, as the variety was not outcrossed with other breeds, and thus did not lose or lessen the Dutch TYPE by adding OEG, Rosecomb, Leghorn etc. type--and then work to regain the Dutch type, which is such a delightful little Bantam! With a number of Dutch Bantam breeders now multiplying this variety (and doing some great winning at smaller shows!) it is time to look for qualifying the CREAM LIGHT BROWN variety to "catch up" with its Holland ancestors! Some of the other "RED SHOULDERED" varieties will be described later.