Ameraucana folks--care to check out my new roo?

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Hey, this is Iko. He's just under a year old. I know that his color isn't great--while he has really striking green sheen to his feathers, he also has purple as well as green, and he has some gold/brown feathers around his face. How does he look otherwise?

I don't plan on showing him, just having him as flock rooster, but I'd love to know how his conformation compares to others just in case I decide to hatch any eggs from him.

Also, for what it's worth, is there any way to know in advance if a black roo carries any genes for blue? I have a splash Ameraucana hen and I was curious if I could get blue from the mating.

Many thanks!

edited because I can't spell conformation. My chickens are not church members (confirmation)

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[LilPeeps]

Not sure about the question on type, but a black bird can not carry the blue gene. Blue is incompletely dominant, so if a bird has one copy, it will be a blue and if it carries two copies, it would be a splash. So without carry carrying a copy of the gene, the bird would be black (this is different from self blue, which is recessive and can be carried by a black bird and must be in the homozygous form to be visible).

 

[greenthumb89]

a black bird crossed to a splash will ALWAYS give you a blue
blackxblack=black
bluexblue=25%black 50%blue and 25%splash
splashxsplash=splash
bluexsplash=blue and splash
bluexblack=blue and black
splashxblack=blue

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Quote:
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OK, now I'm REALLY confused.

Anyone else care to weigh in?

Erika

 

[LilPeeps]

In crossing the splash hen to the black cockerel, you will get 100% blue offspring.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

OK, so basically it wasn't Iko's genetics I had to worry about, but the splash hen's? I guess I can see why I was confused. I think I have it straight now. Fun!

Anyone want to weigh in on type? Now I'm kind of jonesing to find someone with a 'bator and hatch some blues.

 

[DougD]

Splash colored chickens carry two copies of the diluter gene you need for blue. Blue chickens have one copy, Black has none. You get one gene from each of the parents two genes. So a black and Splash pairing will result in one copy hence a Blue chicken.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Very clear, thanks Doug D.!

I just wasn't sure if my black rooster would work for blue offspring because I was worried about the golden brown feathers he has near his head. I thought maybe there would be something in his genetics that made him not a "true black" or something, and therefore would not throw blues when mated with my splash hen.

 

[DougD]

Its hard to see detail in the pics, but from what I can see...

Comb doesn't look too bad,
Beard and Muffs are ok.
Leg color looks light in the pics, should be slate or black.
Purple sheen is not desirable.

How is the leg color on your Splash?
How about it's beard and muffs?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

DougD: Sorry about the pics. It's hard to photograph details on a black bird!

How dark should slate be? Can you give me some way to compare them so that I know what I'm talking about? I'm such a newbie with chickens. Show me a horse and I'll know what I'm looking at.

The splash's beard and muffs are not as well developed as some. I have a brown hen that I think is probably a better specimen, but I have even less of an idea what a black crossed with a brown will give me. Here are the three.