Blue rocks

[ravenswood]

This is a blue cockerel from Halo's breeding. I hatched him, but no longer have him. It was my understanding that all blue, ( not self blue, or lavender) is from Andalusian blue which is laced. If that is not correct, then I don't know how the lacing got in these birds, but they all have it, even the barred males. ........stan

Andalusians were the original blue source, but the pattern gene that is needed for proper Andalusian lacing seems to have been lost along the way of creating most of the current blue varieties. I've observed that the pattern gene and barring together in the same bird really messes up the barring, so I doubt that the Good Shepherd birds introduced Pg. More than likely, they were carrying Columbian (Co) and/or some other combination of genes that allowed the lacing (Pg) to express itself like it wasn't able to before you did the cross.

I do not see the same lacing in this cockerel that I do in the pullet Brookhavens posted earlier. I would consider his to be edging, not lacing. The tell is to pluck a feather and view it against a white background. Edging is nearly transparent; lacing is definitely black.

 

[tadkerson]

I agree with the above post-edging. This is a product of the extended black allele and the inability of the blue allele to produce the correct shape and number of melanosomes needed to produce a blue color.

The bird would show double lacing if it carried Pg and as mentioned above would need to be columbian restricted also to get a good single lace.

Tim

 

[tigercreek]

A blue pullet from Halo's line that is not from GS breeding. Her lacing is as good as the lacing from the GS hens though. I Just don't know about the edging. They all seem to be laced with the black to me, but I will look closer this afternoon when I get home. Maybe I need to go back and look at the Andalusian blue lace again. I might missing something in these blues. ......stan

 

[tigercreek]

Nice work on the lacing! These birds also appear to have decent size. In the other pictures on your album, leg color seems to be better than most of the other "Blue Rocks" I've seen on here. The Orpington influence (body shape, fluff) is less obvious on these. Is there a reason you are breeding with a Blue Barred male? Does anyone have true blues of both sexes, with proper leg color? Thanks!

I think she is using a single barred male because that is what she has. Same reason I am using a blue single barred male. They are all sex links from GS pullets and a splash cock, so all of the males are single barred, all of the pullets blue laced. Next generation we will be able to breed splash cocks that are half GS line to black and to blue and to barred females. One benefit that I think we are getting with this cross is that the slow feathering gene may help with the lacing. Doesn't the feather start growing with the black on, then turn off to make the barring, or in this case the blue? If so, wouldn't the black be crisper in the blues for the same reason it is crisper on the barred? - a slower growth = cleaner black stripe or bar wheather it is barring or lacing ?? ....stan

 

[ravenswood]

That makes sense. Although I would encourage anyone working with this line/cross to use blue rather than splash males for a few generations to make sure the lacing you are seeing is not lost. With splash, it is difficult to impossible to know what you have until you see the chicks. I would only use a splash if it originated from multiple generations of well-laced blue parents.

I'm not sure about the slow feathering/lacing theory. A few years ago I had both Andalusians and Barred Rocks at the same time. The Andalusians feathered considerably faster and their lacing was incredible. I couldn't deal with their dispositions, though, and didn't keep them long enough to compare with other breeds.

 

[DMRippy]

That makes sense. Although I would encourage anyone working with this line/cross to use blue rather than splash males for a few generations to make sure the lacing you are seeing is not lost. With splash, it is difficult to impossible to know what you have until you see the chicks. I would only use a splash if it originated from multiple generations of well-laced blue parents.

I'm not sure about the slow feathering/lacing theory. A few years ago I had both Andalusians and Barred Rocks at the same time. The Andalusians feathered considerably faster and their lacing was incredible. I couldn't deal with their dispositions, though, and didn't keep them long enough to compare with other breeds.

One of the traits of high quality SLW is they feather in very slowly. Gives crisper lacing. It is desirable in SLW for them to be slow feathering and slow maturing. Hatcher SLW do not posses the slow feathering genes and it shows.

 

[draye]

Never Mind

 

[draye]

You creating Blue Birchen?

Nevermind, I found where you answered that.

Nevertheless he is a beauty.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Here are some of my new Rock chicks.

(white bands are from splash cock over blue and splash hens, black bands are from blue cock over barred and blue barred hens)

 

[Brookhavens]

Nice work on the lacing! These birds also appear to have decent size. In the other pictures on your album, leg color seems to be better than most of the other "Blue Rocks" I've seen on here. The Orpington influence (body shape, fluff) is less obvious on these. Is there a reason you are breeding with a Blue Barred male? Does anyone have true blues of both sexes, with proper leg color? Thanks!

I originally purchased my birds to continue with the GS line.The blues were going to be just for eggs. Stan asked if I wanted a blue cockerel also and seeing as how I had the room I agreed. Sadly my GS boy died back in Dec. and after several failed attempts to find a new GS roo my breeding plans changed to working with the blues. I am fairly new to the breeding game and Stan and I have talked about what I need to be breeding and culling for. I do know that the blues are a little faster to mature as my blue girls started laying in January at 5 1/2 months and the broody nature is there. Exactly 2 months after she starting laying, one of my girls went broody last Wednesday and she is very determined to hatch out her eggs.