Blue becoming Splash?

[BlueTheBrahma]

I would agree that the bird is Splash.
View attachment 3059922
I have a Splash Orpington hen that is marked similarly.

Lovely looking hen!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Lovely looking hen!

Thank you!

 

[EmmaRainboe]

How old is he?

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

He’s about a year old now, hasn’t moulted yet so it will be interesting to see how he comes out after doing so.

How old is he?

 

[EmmaRainboe]

He’s about a year old now, hasn’t moulted yet so it will be interesting to see how he comes out after doing so.

Alright, that’s what I was wondering. Update us after his first big molt, I’m curious to see how he fills out then.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

I have a blue hen with splashes also, not nearly as extreme as your guy though.
Look particularly in the floof under the wing in these photos.

 

[BethReed]

I agree that he looks to be splash, but if you’d like to be sure you can breed him to black hens. If he’s truly splash, all offspring from this breeding should be blue. If he’s a weird blue and you breed him to black hens, the offspring should be about half blacks and half blues.

 

[Autumnatic5683]

View attachment 3057902View attachment 3057904View attachment 3057887View attachment 3057893View attachment 3057896View attachment 3057899View attachment 3057900This is my Brahma Rooster, Blue. He is the first chicken I ever chose when I started chicken keeping. I’ve raised him from a 2 month old little cockerel to 2 foot 6 dinosaur. When I first chose him, I though the was blue, hence the name, but as he aged, he became lighter as he developed dark splashes amongst his feathers, which are purple in the sunlight.

I’ve never personally hatched any eggs he has fathered, so don’t know if he can produce black based offspring, or just blue/splash offspring. I have a few splash Brahma hens which I am creating a breeding programme with this year, once they are large enough.

I have quite a good understanding of genetics, but don’t know whether to call his colour blue or splash, as my other splash chickens are lighter in colour and were always undeniably splash from being young. He’s also got a lot of gold leakage unfortunately, which I believe is usually more common in splash than blue. Anyone know an answer? Is it just variation within splash? Is there a gene I don’t know about/ am forgetting about in play here?

Thanks

Edit: I was given him at about 2 months old along side brahmas of other colours, so don’t know what colour he was as a chick.

Blues can have paler variations and darker splashes on them. I still think he's blue because his "background" seems to be blue? There may be something else going on, but blues' color fades over time, and he may look more blue again after his next molt.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Not posted for a while but thought I’d update. After trying six times now to hatch from him it seems blue is infertile. Keeping him since he was my first chicken. After moulting, he has lost some leakage but looks no darker.

 

[CoopBoots]

Wow, he's just stunning. I'm so sorry you weren't able to get any hatchlings. I had to try four times with my own rooster, and was getting ready to trim everyone's butts in case he was too fuzzy to make contact with my also fuzzy hens. My only success came from a broody hen vs. machine incubation.