How do you get blue laced red... "For dummies" ;)

I'm wondering how you'd go about breeding in order to get the BLR coloration. (without starting off with a BLR bird ) I was told that "they" bred rose comb RIR with gold laced wyandottes to get the BLRW? But something also makes me think I was told you could breed gold laced & silver laced? That seems too easy, & I'm sure I'm remembering incorrectly. I do not understand genetics (although I'm trying my best!), so please make your response as easy as possible

If you don't want to buy Blue Laced Reds you have to make them from scratch. Mate a Blue (or preferably a Splash) bird to a Gold Laced (Black Laced Red) bird. If using a Splash,all chicks will be Blue, if A Blue 50% Blue & 50% Black. Cull all Blacks. Mate these F1 Blues to Gold Laced (Black Laced Red) birds. Repeat previous step for as many generations as required until you have what you want. Just remember Blue Laced Reds will not breed true.
David

People have crossed the blue laced red or gold laced wyandottes with rhode isalnd red to improve the red color in the blue laced red. The color of the blue laced red is too bland so some breeders are crossing the blue laced red so the young will inherit the genes needed for a darker red color. I have seen some of these birds and they are mahogany red.

I am going to repeat what blackdotte stated but in a different format.

You will want to find a male gold laced wyandotte that is a good representation of the breed.


Pay close attention to which bird is male or female.


Cross #1 (you need only to produce 8 or so birds)

gold laced wyandotte male crossed with splash wyandotte females = F1 offspring that are basically blue in color.



Cross #2 ( hatch at least 20 or more birds)

gold laced wyandotte male crossed with the F1 offspring blue females = F2 offspring that will differ in color. You will pick out the best looking blue laced red F2 females. The lacing will be poor but do not worry.



Cross # 3 (if you have some good looking gold laced wyandotte females you can use them now)

A. gold laced wyandotte male crossed with the F2 poorly lace blue laced red females = F3 this group should have better lacing ( you will get both blue and black laced birds)

or

B. a poorly laced F2 blue laced red male with gold laced wyandotte females = F3 this group should have better lacing ( you will get both blue and black laced birds)


Continue to pick out the best blue laced red offspring and back cross them to superior laced birds until you get the birds you want.

Tim

What I was wondering, is how the does gold color magically change to red? (excuse my chicken color genetics stupidness )

Thank you! Excellent advise for a genetic newbie

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It doesn't... They're Blue Laced Gold really unless you breed in Mahogany gene somehow. A GLW will be s+ or s+/s+ (meaning Gold) and mh/mh (not Mahogany). Which is probably the reason for the RIR crossing the OP refers to. Thing is, you can name the colour anything you want as long as it's a new colour... Even if it *is* confusing

Blackdotte, I recently got one of the last copies of your book that Jerry had left here in the States, and I am very diligently working my way thru it. My thanx to you and Sigrid for such an informative book. I'm hoping either you or Tim can give me some advice here. (Tim, I've tried to register with bluelacedred.com, but haven't heard back from the admins!) I seem to be thriving on the frustration I get with my Mille Fleur Bantam Cochin project, so thought I'd tackle another project - BLR Bantam Cochins. My flock is very small, but I think I have the right birds to get me started (on a very small scale!). I was able to get an excellent typed pair of Golden Laced, and an excellent Blue hen. I also have a pair of Blue Splash. The GL roo shows a lot of red (Mh), so I thought it best to start with him on either the Blue or Blue Splash hen. Or I could start him on both hens simultaneously? Any advice on which birds to start with would be greatly appreciated. And should I also get myself a good Blue roo to use on the GL hen? And what about using the Blue Splash roo on the GL hen? Or should I just hold back the GL hen to use with the F1 chicks to start the F2 generation?

There is one catch. The blue or splash wyandotte could be silverbased.
To be safe always breed a goldlaced male to the blue-something hens.

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Either GL male X Splash hen, or Splash male X GL hen will give you the same result.
As only a small number of chicks are required from this mating I would only do one or the other but not both.
David

This helps! After reading that I only wanted to add a "Single Dose" of Blue (Bl/bl) to the GL's, I almost sold my Blue Splash (Bl/Bl) - so now I'm glad I kept them! (Henk, thanx for the tip on watching out for the silver - I should be OK here with my Blue Splash having no silver.)

I thought the double-dose of blue from the Splash would lighten the lacing too much, and make it almost white.

If I use the GL male X the Blue hen, do I get the same results as with the Splash hen, but just a different % of blue chicks?

I think I'm letting this single vs double dose confuse me too much. If I start with the double-dose Splash (Bl/Bl), then crossing those back to the GL's for the F2's gets me back to single dose (Bl/bl)?