New Brahma Group: Blue Partridge x Partridge, Plus Dark

[speckledhen]

Brahmas rock! But, apparently, Barred Rocks rule!

 

[1muttsfan]

 

[speckledhen]

A pile 'o partridge blends in nicely with the oak leaves. They have good camouflage for our wooded property.

 

[1muttsfan]

Funny I don't see any stripes in that pile

 

[speckledhen]

Funny I don't see any stripes in that pile

No, you probably won't for some time, LOL. They are still rather frightened of the BRs, who think the Brahmas are there for amusement. But, the BR kids are not as inclined to hassle them as they used to be. The largest male is wider than Thea is. I found them together on the bar only about 6" apart a couple mornings ago, big prpgress! Thea is less likely to chase them than Jill and Mary, though.

 

[speckledhen]

I still am sort of on the fence about the largest Blue (or splash) Partridge chick. At almost 7 weeks old, I still see almost no pink in the comb and no overtly male "stuff". So, is it a cockerel or pullet? The feathers are not bright solid orange or anything. And as for size, my blue partridge pullet is larger than my two partridge and my dark pullets so can't go by that alone. He/she is standing closest to the big dark-colored partridge cockerel on the bar in most of the photos.

Anyway, here's the Monday line-up. It seems obvious that the best all-round cockerel of the bunch is the darkest Partridge male. What say you?


Wish this picture had not had so much glare on it.



Whoa, what a big wide load on the left! LOL. That's the chick in question.

 

[1muttsfan]

Hopefully it a nice robust pullet.

 

[speckledhen]

Hopefully it a nice robust pullet.

It would make my choice of a male easier. Though I have two blue pt males other than this chick, they both have a lot of red on the chest, something junebuggena says is not proper coloring for that variety. The biggest partridge would be my keeper for sure then. If it's male or female, I'd love to keep it, but I'm not sure I can if it's a cockerel since I have only 4 pullets. If it's a 5th pullet, then yea for me!

 

[speckledhen]

I noticed this feather on his/her back today. It almost appears barred rather than laced, pretty cool with the red-blue-red-blue, I think. So, I snapped a few more. The Brahmas are 7 weeks old now. I think I am almost settled on keeping the two largest males, that is, if this blue partridge is, indeed, a cockerel. It sure is second in size only to the darker colored partridge male.







This guy is so, so much darker on his chest than the others, much less red.

 

[MistyMountain]

The contrast is quite striking, isn't it? Size and color, of course. I'll bet he is going to be just beautiful!