New Brahma Group: Blue Partridge x Partridge, Plus Dark

They are wonderfully ugly at this age.

1muttsfan said:

They are wonderfully ugly at this age.

Click to expand...

To sort of quote Patrick Swayze in Next of Kin, "Oh, you ain't seen bad yet.....but it's a-comin". I dont think they've hit the truly awkward stage yet! When the legs get really long, before the bodies catch up, that to me is the worst stage. The one who is slow to feather, well, he may have a looong awkward stage!

The largest Blue Partridge is about as big as the dark Partridge male and very, very fluffy! The blue on it is so super light, really what I'd call an ice blue.
That one would really tempt me, though @junebuggena and @brahmapapa @anac1979 what would you two say about this chick? First, is it male? And second, though I realize it's not fully feathered on the chest, is it looking to have too much red there? Should a blue partridge come in blue on the chest like the partridge male came in black with very little red?

speckledhen said:

The largest Blue Partridge is about as big as the dark Partridge male and very, very fluffy! The blue on it is so super light, really what I'd call an ice blue.
That one would really tempt me, though @junebuggena and @brahmapapa what would you two say about this chick? First, is it male? And second, though I realize it's not fully feathered on the chest, is it looking to have too much red there? Should a blue partridge come in blue on the chest like the partridge male came in black with very little red?

Click to expand...

It's a Splash, and I do think it's a cockerel. And yes, the pattern should be the same. The only thing that changes is the coloring of the patterning, either black, blue, or splash. Were the gold/red shows up should be the same. Just like with a Wheaten/Blue Wheaten/Splash Wheaten; pattern doesn't change, just the black pattern color.
He needs to feather in a lot more before deciding if he's a keeper.

junebuggena said:

It's a Splash, and I do think it's a cockerel. And yes, the pattern should be the same. The only thing that changes is the coloring of the patterning, either black, blue, or splash. Were the gold/red shows up should be the same. Just like with a Wheaten/Blue Wheaten/Splash Wheaten; pattern doesn't change, just the black pattern color.
He needs to feather in a lot more before deciding if he's a keeper.

Click to expand...

Funny, splash crossed my mind as light as it is, but I believe that Tom has only a blue PT rooster over straight Pt hens. Since it works the same with BBS, should be two blue PT parents to make splash. He does seem to be just very light blue but maybe the partridge changes the look of a splash, I don't know. The splashes I've had are all basically pearly white birds. Unless there is a hen who is blue Pt in there with that rooster, then this would have to be just a super light blue. In either case, I agree 100% he has to feather out a lot more before I can even consider him as a keeper. He's developed much slower than his partridge half brother.

I remember all the shades of blue I used to get from my Ameraucanas and Orpingtons (sure love those blues!), from so dark you'd have to look long and hard to be sure it wasn't black to the lightest blue you could even imagine, appearing just one step above a splash. That should be possible with the blue here, from my experience. But, I'll have to check with Tom to be sure I am remembering right on what he told me, but I'm fairly sure he said he had only straight partridge hens with his blue pt rooster. If this chick is a splash and I put him over straight partridge pullets, I should get all blues from those matings, since it works the same as BBS. But, we'll see what he looks like when he's completely feathered and I'll make a decision then. All that fluff is getting the way, LOL.

If you look at the blues in my video there are some that have splashy markings, but they are clearly blue and not splash. I have not seen the darker flecks on blue birds before having this breed. I have seen some very light blues in other blue breeds, my cochins were sometimes very light.

1muttsfan said:

If you look at the blues in my video there are some that have splashy markings, but they are clearly blue and not splash. I have not seen the darker flecks on blue birds before having this breed. I have seen some very light blues in other blue breeds, my cochins were sometimes very light.

Click to expand...

My blue Rocks have a few darker feathers, but very definitely blue. I have one splash Rock and one splash Ameraucana. There was one very light blue son of Suede I recall that both LH and I wish we had kept. I recall a couple of super light blues, though most were in the medium to medium-dark range.

I miss having those fat little Orp chicks around. BBS Orp babies are probably some of the cutest chicks ever. If I'm not mistaken, the one on the far left was one that I went back and forth about being splash or light blue because of the bluish tinge on his topside. But even the one in the middle is fairly light blue. Most were darker than that.

I like blues, too

Such decisions you have to make! I'd have a rough time. I'd want to keep 'em all, Roosters included!!

Love all the "boots with the fur" ( a line from a hip-hop song, I think, that my nephew used to say a lot. It has carried over here, and one of the ways I tell DH who is who.)

MistyMountain said:

I like blues, too

Such decisions you have to make! I'd have a rough time. I'd want to keep 'em all, Roosters included!!

Love all the "boots with the fur" ( a line from a hip-hop song, I think, that my nephew used to say a lot. It has carried over here, and one of the ways I tell DH who is who.)

Click to expand...

You see my dilemma, then. I love the roosters, always have, but I have one pen in which to keep ALL the BRs and the Brahma keepers so I just can't do that. I might be able for a time to house the BR breeding quad in the bantam coop where they are currently to allow the more mild-mannered Brahmas to gain some bulk and bravado, but I really prefer everyone to be in the barn eventually. Too many roosters is never a good thing.

Since I've never kept a Brahma rooster, can someone tell me how dedicated of a breeder they are? I mean, will I have bare-backed hens if I have only 4 hens with one rooster? Or are they more like my Orps and not as enthusiatic in that regard? Suede never had more than 5 hens if memory serves and usually 3-4 and it was not a big issue with over-mating.

I really have no choice about number of hens since there are only 4 pullets, but if I can keep two cockerels for a time until they are both closer to maturity, I'd prefer to do that. I understand these are super slow to develop and I'd really prefer to see them with full saddle feathers before I pare down to just one, though I may not be able to wait that long, especially if they're being hurtful to the girls. They are a bit more complicated to choose than the BRs with which I am intimately familiar.

My two favorites are the darkest Partridge male and the very light blue Partridge that we think is a cockerel at this point. They are the two largest cockerels of the bunch, both with good foot feathering. One other blue Partridge male has good foot feathering with darker blue color, which I love, however, he's not as large as the light one and he has a lot of red on the chest. But then, all the blue pt have red, it's just a matter of degree.

I know nothing about chicken types but wanted to show you (show off!) the two Blue Partridge girls I ended up with. Found them from a local city guy who hatched the eggs to add a couple to his flock. They were born at the end of February and are indeed both pullets, although I wasn’t convinced about the lighter one until recently. Only by omission because she suddenly got huge and still doesn’t have the feathering I would expect but I think 4.5 months is enough to call it.

Here is 6 weeks, a few days after I got them. Names are Pickles and Butter
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...zcLLKdNvKwQ?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...GIvA1T1Zjao?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

8 weeks.
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...ryl908BAUOZ?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

10 weeks. You can see how much bigger Butter got. This was also the time their hatch mates really started to look like roosters. Not sure about coloring but I kept in contact with the seller and we compared combs on a weekly basis.
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...HiLY0m2f1nx?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...ohBt2eZqY8g?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...TuWKemg1eTn?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

Butter’s chest coloring in May 18.
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...CHvgLCc3hLM?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

Pickles on July 6.
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...F5vrwMMcTVQ?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy