New Brahma Group: Blue Partridge x Partridge, Plus Dark

[speckledhen]

My Brahma cock birds are pretty overzealous. Most of my hens are barebacked. Plus the boys are huge so they pull the back feathers out even if they're not an aggressive breeder. I definitely recommend getting saddles for your hens.O r you can keep your male separate from the hens & only let him out with them once a week. He doesn't need to mate with them everyday.

Yes, that was the only reason that at one point I did put saddles on a couple of Suede's hens, his 14 lb weight. He wasn't an aggressive breeder by any means, but when he did, his gripping did rip out feathers on occasion. I think in his old age, he bred them so infrequently, that I stopped having to worry about it too much.

I have a saddle I make/made myself for my big Orp hens with flank flaps where they tend to be ripped up so I'll just have to try to make a couple more of those for the Brahmas. At this point, I really don't have a separate area for the males. Maybe when a group of my old hens has passed and I can incorporate the few left with another group, I'll have space opening up.

Glad to see you pop in! Thanks for the info. Any education you can offer will be wonderful.

 

[Chicken Cake]

Blue is visually blue, whether dark, medium or light. Some people call it gray, not knowing the genetics of blue.

I'm not sure if this will help, but in this photo, we have both varieties, both pullets. The chick top right is a Blue Partridge and the one on the left is a straight Partridge. The blue girl has light grayish/bluish feathers and underfluff. Where she is blue, the straight Partridge is black. That is the only difference.

The top right chick is exactly what Pickles looked like at 4 weeks and when I picked her up at 6 weeks. Her leg feathers and butt fluff are totally blue, not like the chick on the left.

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...zwpRkC6qEnq?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

ETA: Not trying to challenge anything, just figure it out.

 

[speckledhen]

The top right chick is exactly what Pickles looked like at 4 weeks and when I picked her up at 6 weeks. Her leg feathers and butt fluff are totally blue, not like the chick on the left.

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...zwpRkC6qEnq?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

ETA: Not trying to challenge anything, just figure it out.

Oh, don't worry about that, I understand. I see what you're looking at in the photo, the bluish tinged/gray underfluff, but her tail and all other areas appear black so I'd say she was still a straight Partridge. If I'm wrong, surely someone with lots of experience with this variety will correct me.

With a plain blue or black chick, it's usually very easy to know what you're looking at, even when the blue is quite dark blue, but when you have only parts of the bird a blue color and the partridge pattern interfering, sometimes, I think it is easy to not really know if you're looking at a pt or a blue pt. I know it was taking a long time for me. And if the blue is really a dark shade, that makes it more challenging at first.

This is a link to a photo of a mature Blue Partridge Brahma hen-the tail is blue. http://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M403b93cb2baacef91cafc778b696f306o0&pid=15.1

ETA: No matter which she is, she's a beauty. You're very lucky to have such beautiful Brahma girls! Will you post pictures here when they are older for me?

 

[junebuggena]

Oh, don't worry about that, I understand. I see what you're looking at in the photo, the bluish tinged/gray underfluff, but her tail and all other areas appear black so I'd say she was still a straight Partridge. If I'm wrong, surely someone with lots of experience with this variety will correct me.

With a plain blue or black chick, it's usually very easy to know what you're looking at, even when the blue is quite dark blue, but when you have only parts of the bird a blue color and the partridge pattern interfering, sometimes, I think it is easy to not really know if you're looking at a pt or a blue pt. I know it was taking a long time for me. And if the blue is really a dark shade, that makes it more challenging at first.

This is a link to a photo of a mature Blue Partridge Brahma hen-the tail is blue. http://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M403b93cb2baacef91cafc778b696f306o0&pid=15.1

ETA: No matter which she is, she's a beauty. You're very lucky to have such beautiful Brahma girls! Will you post pictures here when they are older for me?

It's just some 'light' under-fluf. She's just plain old Partridge. Still, a very nice looking girl.

 

[speckledhen]

It's just some 'light' under-fluf. She's just plain old Partridge. Still, a very nice looking girl.

She sure is. The Brahmas in this variety are such beauties.

 

[1muttsfan]

Yes She will be a pretty girl, she looks like a regular (black) partridge to me too, but her eggs will look and taste the same regardless

If you want to improve your chances of getting a blue color bird in the future, ask the breeder what color her breeding stock is. Blues are most likely with crosses of black x splash (all offspring will be blue). Other crosses can produce blues, but also may produce black or splash chicks, depending on the cross, with splash x splash producing only splash. I personally like the appearance of a flock with 2 or 3 of the above in it, my own Arkansas Blues are black, blue and splash, very colorful.

ETA Pickles looks blue to me.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes She will be a pretty girl, she looks like a regular (black) partridge to me too, but her eggs will look and taste the same regardless

If you want to improve your chances of getting a blue color bird in the future, ask the breeder what color her breeding stock is. Blues are most likely with crosses of black x splash (all offspring will be blue). Other crosses can produce blues, but also may produce black or splash chicks, depending on the cross, with splash x splash producing only splash. I personally like the appearance of a flock with 2 or 3 of the above in it, my own Arkansas Blues are black, blue and splash, very colorful.

ETA Pickles looks blue to me.

See, that's what I'm wondering about mine. I think he must be blue, just very light, and would have to be if the parents were blue Partridge x Partridge. But, he seems to be getting lighter, though that may be my imagination. He has too much fluff right now, but I see a good bit of blue in the feathers coming in on top of the wings.

This is my splash Ameraucana hen. There is no blue tint to her, never was. So, I would expect that in a splash partridge.



Sally Sunshine here on BYC posted this photo of her Splash Partridge male so I see that he's very white in most areas other than the wings where the red comes out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6125808/width/350/height/700/flags/LL

 

[Chicken Cake]

ETA: No matter which she is, she's a beauty. You're very lucky to have such beautiful Brahma girls! Will you post pictures here when they are older for me?

Thank you. I was worried about the feet and they were so ummm… homely when I went to meet them but now I wish I’d gotten a third one. Foot feathers haven’t been a problem and they are very laid back.

I will try to get new pictures today. I think they are 20 weeks now. No sign of eggs, though they only started using their big girl voices in the last month.

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you. I was worried about the feet and they were so ummm… homely when I went to meet them but now I wish I’d gotten a third one. Foot feathers haven’t been a problem and they are very laid back.

I will try to get new pictures today. I think they are 20 weeks now. No sign of eggs, though they only started using their big girl voices in the last month.

You may have a much longer wait for eggs. Brahmas, especially breeder quality, are not considered early layers and 20 weeks is very early. Even my hatchery Buff Brahma, who is now going on 10 years old, did not lay until 30 weeks, which for this breed, is fairly normal.

For years, I was not a fan of feather footed breeds, still not that thrilled by feathers on the legs/feet, generally, but mine have never had issues with their foot feathers. And Brahmas have them only on outer leg/toe and middle toe, not the entire leg like a Cochin. It's one reason I have only had a couple of Cochins, both bantams. My little bantam Cochin rooster, who is hatchery stock, has profuse foot feathering and has had zero issues with his. If they were kept in a super muddy pen that did not drain well, I can see how they might be an issue, though.

The Brahmas do not have super stiff foot feathers like some others do. I believe the Belgian D'Uccle has stiff foot feathers by contrast, if I remember by trio from years back. I may be wrong about the Brahmas, but Caroline's foot feathers are not very stiff and neither were Miranda's.

 

[speckledhen]

Just because I seem to be unable to stop taking pictures of this bunch, here's more. Yes, I believe it's terminal. I'm doomed.

This guy is the least desirable of the bunch, mostly due to his lack of foot feathering and he's very red in the chest, which is pretty but I understand not proper. He's also way too slow to feather out.

This blue Partridge guy has much better foot feathering, as you can see, less red on the chest.


The little one at the bottom at the feeder is the one I misidentified as Dark. Seems like a pullet now, doesn't it? She's still way different than the other Partridge pullet, darker overall.

My big light colored blue partridge guy. That comb really widened up suddenly.

Same as above, has good foot feathering. Wish he'd hurry up and fill in the chest so I can assess him better. He and the very dark-colored partridge male are my largest males so I feel they are my best two at this point. I like a darker blue color, but this one is definitely larger and taller than the other blue partridge male.





Three of my four pullets in this picture.

The big boy's chest. He seems to be the very best male overall, colorwise, size, foot feathering, speed of development, etc.