Hi Lisa, It was nice to hear from you again. Thanks for sending me a PM.
Your roo is so flashy! He is certainly pure Polish but, unfortunately, not of pure tolbunt coloring. That being said, I would venture to say that one of his parents must have been tolbunt, or both parents part tolbunt. You mentioned that he has changed colors from dark to light quite dramatically. That is always the case with tolbunts. That, plus the presence of three main colors, is how I know he is certainly part tolbunt.
If I owned this roo and could not find a pure tolbunt hen, I would choose a very good quality gold laced Polish hen with which to breed him. Place any roo chicks in pet homes and keep the offspring pullets to grow out. Choose the pullets that have the best mix of the three colors: red, black and white and breed them back to a pure tolbunt rooster. Roosters in any breed are ALWAYS easier to find than hens.
Again, place roos in pet homes and keep the pullets with the best coloring and breed them back to their father (the pure tolbunt rooster). The resulting chicks will then begin, if you're lucky, to look much more like tolbunts.
All things considered, this could be good for the breed. Tolbunts, as you know, have a very limited gene pool. The introduction of other colors into tolbunts will be the only way this breed color can survive. Now, purists will hate me for saying that, but what good is a color line that has poor fertility and decreased vigor? Anyone involved in genetics knows that to improve these two issues you must introduce genetic diversity! So, I say, go for it, Lisa.
I do breed tolbunts and have a flock of about 11 of these beautiful birds. I am not at the point, though, that I will let any hens go. I'm sorry! Next summer, I may have an extra roo that will need to be placed. In the meantime, buy the very best gold laced Polish hen you can afford and start breeding! If I can spare a roo next summer, I'll be glad to help you out with your resulting chicks.
Good luck!
- Gretchen
PS - you are welcome to come and visit my farm and see my flock of tolbunts. Just drop me a line. Busterduck is coming out tomorrow afternoon, if you'd like to join us.
Here is a pic of some of my tolbunts getting ready for bed! I breed both smooth and frizzle tolbunts.