Blue rocks

[DMRippy]

Quote:
Yellow legs are recessive so breed him with hens/pullets with good leg color. he probably has one copy so it is not expressing.

 

[Findtex]

Yellow legs are recessive so breed him with hens/pullets with good leg color. he probably has one copy so it is not expressing.

Agree, so did the show manager (who is a friend) just a matter of which, may take a shot gun approach and give 6 good hens/pullets. The problem in my mind is that he is so big I may have to give him hens as the pullets take a good 12 months to gain size. I have a couple of months to go before I need to decide. Nationals next month and I think I will have more advice which may create confusion.

 

[Findtex]

OK I will be a dope, if a bird colour e.g. Blue is in the standards how come it is not recognised?
I am new to the show business!!!!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Each country writes its own Standard and sets its own rules on breeds and exhibition.

The North American Standard is similar, but nowhere near identical to the Standard written and applied in Australia, GB, Netherlands, etc. Each country has their own breeds they accept, different varieties- yeah or nay, and differing exhibition rules.

Makes sense because in some countries, certain varieties and certain breeds are simply not available or have not reached critical mass or have not yet been shown to have been kept by an adequate number of breeders. While some individual birds may be up to exhibition form, the number being kept and bred is simply not wide enough for the poultry association of that nation to write a description or accept them into their Standard.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Here in the US, the APA is tightening the acceptance standards for new breeds and new varieties. The bar is being raised. In too many cases, there are indeed birds in the American Standard that have been abandoned, are extinct, or are no longer widely held in top form. Honestly, there are breeds and varieties accepted in the current Standard that might as well be dropped, which the APA has done in the past.

 

[DMRippy]

OK I will be a dope, if a bird colour e.g. Blue is in the standards how come it is not recognised?
I am new to the show business!!!!

The part about the Standard in the US that kills me is Blue Rocks are accepted but Black Rocks are not...... that one is a head scratcher to me.

I am sure your standards are just different than the US. Blue Rocks are not very common here. I am working to get me a good flock going and so far they are looking pretty good. My leg color issue is not a LACK of yellow but too much dark coloring in the legs. My new pullets do have some nice lacing though and the blacks look really nice too.

 

[emenheiser]

Yellow legs are recessive so breed him with hens/pullets with good leg color. he probably has one copy so it is not expressing.

This is an oversimplification...the male pictured appears not only to be lacking the needed (recessive) genes for yellow shanks/skin, but also the dermal melanin inhibitor Id (hence the duskiness) . Given that he is male AND is also showing signs of barring (both are known to be dermal melanin inhibitors on their own), I would seriously question what value this male offers toward the goal of proper Blue color.

 

[Findtex]

I was really surprised that the judge gave him 1st, I think he was overwhelmed by his size. Judges in OZ have never seen a Blue Rock and I do not think they are over the standards. I put him in the show to create discussion which I got. We will see what happens at the nationals next month, I will be taking the other two males and C what they think, but as I say no-one in OZ has seen a blue and we are all confused. I still think the other two has the body shape of an egg layer not a meat bird (Rock)

 

[emenheiser]

I would agree that you have a lot to work on. In my mind, the first cock and 2nd pullet are the only 2 worth breeding from. Still, both appear to be barred, undercolor looks white, and the cockerel has white in his earlobes. Like you say, they appear to have a very Mediterranean body shape from the few pictures we've seen. In my mind, the first thing you need to do is find out whether these males are carrying one or two copies of barring. If they both have two, you may be out of luck. But the fact that you have a solid blue pullet implies that perhaps the cock (assume her sire) is heterozygous.

What I would do is mate them to the best typed barred females you can find (a touch heavy-bodied wouldn't hurt), and hope for solid blue pullets. You may also get some solid black ones that could be useful as well. This is essentially what I did last year to make my foundation group of blue pullets; I used a heterozygous barred, black male over blue barred females. I hatched over 200 last year and grew out 15. I've used 1 so far in the breeding pens. It is a numbers game for sure.

By mating these females back to a heterozygous male, you can begin to produce solid (non-barred) blue birds of both sexes. A word of caution: the dermal melanin inhibitor that is linked to barring is largely responsible for the yellow legs. Do not be surprised when you mate two yellow legged, blue (barred) birds as described above and find that all of the non-barred offspring have dark shanks.

 

[Findtex]

I would agree that you have a lot to work on. In my mind, the first cock and 2nd pullet are the only 2 worth breeding from. Still, both appear to be barred, undercolor looks white, and the cockerel has white in his earlobes. Like you say, they appear to have a very Mediterranean body shape from the few pictures we've seen. In my mind, the first thing you need to do is find out whether these males are carrying one or two copies of barring. If they both have two, you may be out of luck. But the fact that you have a solid blue pullet implies that perhaps the cock (assume her sire) is heterozygous.

What I would do is mate them to the best typed barred females you can find (a touch heavy-bodied wouldn't hurt), and hope for solid blue pullets. You may also get some solid black ones that could be useful as well. This is essentially what I did last year to make my foundation group of blue pullets; I used a heterozygous barred, black male over blue barred females. I hatched over 200 last year and grew out 15. I've used 1 so far in the breeding pens. It is a numbers game for sure.

By mating these females back to a heterozygous male, you can begin to produce solid (non-barred) blue birds of both sexes. A word of caution: the dermal melanin inhibitor that is linked to barring is largely responsible for the yellow legs. Do not be surprised when you mate two yellow legged, blue (barred) birds as described above and find that all of the non-barred offspring have dark shanks.

Thanks mate, I will go that way, I feel that if I can enough chickens on the ground I might hit something. I may have to take a bit of a shot gun approach. I was hoping to get back to 1 rooster for next year.