Lemon Blue Cochins~~***BRAND NEW PICTURES***~~~

[County Boy]

So, did they start out dark and then gradually got the second color?

Lynne has pics of them. They were pretty dark. You can see some of her other birds throughout the thread. Her username is wwmicasa1. Her version is the recognizd version of lemon blue though it is very stunning.

 

[mibirder]

Ashley -

My bantam LB project chicks generally start to show a little color in hackles and/or male saddles at 6-8 weeks but don't develop full markings for several more months. Breast lacing usually comes after the hackle color starts showing up. Once they're into adult feathering they're full marked (at about 7-8 months).

Dave

 

[Ashdoes]

Ashley -

My bantam LB project chicks generally start to show a little color in hackles and/or male saddles at 6-8 weeks but don't develop full markings for several more months. Breast lacing usually comes after the hackle color starts showing up. Once they're into adult feathering they're full marked (at about 7-8 months).

Dave

Thank you. I was looking for a timeline. I'm not sure how long he's been getting the yellow streaks, but I'll be keeping an eye on it now. The woman I got him from had a huge mix of colors, but one really beautiful "lemon blue" Roo. So I was hoping one of mine got that coloring. Who knows though, since my other male is a black that shimmers purple and green. It's all fun in the end, I just wanted a few pretty birds for the flock.

 

[mibirder]

One thing to keep in mind is that hackle and back stripes can also be caused by what's called leakage especially in males. Usually this can be caused by two similar acting genes. In my breeding programs I often get striped males in the first generation crosses of black , blues or splashes with patterns such as gold or silver laced. I also get them with Mottle crossed into some of my lines of Mille. These are usually called brassy back or silver backs and can be either black or blue based.. These individuals will not develop the breast lacing (lighter lace on darker feathers) of birchen, brown red, lemon blues or silver blues due to the birchen make up. They still can be quite attractive in the backyard flock, just not a standard recognized color.

Dave

 

[1muttsfan]

Dave, do you have any pictures of your silver blues? Would love to see one - Mary

 

[mibirder]

While not the best type, this male shows the breast lacing quite well. He is split for gold/silver and may get used as all of the blues I test mated so far seem to be pure silver.

As you can see, the females show less breast lacing but still ok. As gold/silver is sex linked, she would be just carrying the silver gene. I could use these to get to Lemon Blue but it would take a couple of extra generations to get there. Still nice looking.

BTW the BR in the background is one of the ones I got from Jaimie. She is about twice the size of the bantams. If I don't need their size right away, I may get some LF blues to start building LB LF next year. Jaimie did let me know he has one last cockerel chick from his LF cross that he'll get to me once it's big enough to ship. Fingers crossed it goes well shipping.

Dave

 

[1muttsfan]

Very nice, you can see the breast lacing really well. He has a nice comb too.

That LF brown red is the best I have ever seen color wise, and looks very typy too.

 

[Knetiknrga]

Is anyone in Northern Michigan breeding standard lemon blues?

 

[mibirder]

Technically, LF Lemon Blues don't exist as there are no LF Brown Red Birchens in LF. That being said, a few breeders have been breeding larger and larger BRs to create them. In fact, I have two Pullet BRs that are just about LF size for my LB breeding project. After I get chicks out of that pen, I may breed these two with LF blues to see if I can work toward LF LB. With some luck, I'll see where it leads next Summer.

There are a few of the BluexBuff sort of LB marked LF around, but remember that they are not true LBs due to the lack of BR breast lacing.

Dave

 

[County Boy]

Technically, LF Lemon Blues don't exist as there are no LF Brown Red Birchens in LF. That being said, a few breeders have been breeding larger and larger BRs to create them. In fact, I have two Pullet BRs that are just about LF size for my LB breeding project. After I get chicks out of that pen, I may breed these two with LF blues to see if I can work toward LF LB. With some luck, I'll see where it leads next Summer.
There are a few of the BluexBuff sort of LB marked LF around, but remember that they are not true LBs due to the lack of BR breast lacing.
Dave

I realize that there technically are none yet but some do look very similar. I do know that Jamie Matt's has some here in New York that are beautiful. I'm thinking about contacting him to get some. I do have Lynne's version of Lemon Blue's though.