5 toes cockerel

[maxsgoldens]

But black feathers in chickens always comes out as blue

This is a welsummer

 

[donrae]

How does black come out as blue? Black is black, blue is blue. Or Black breasted red would be called blue breasted red.

 

[maxsgoldens]

Blue in chickens is lavender or grey. Black feathers always end up blue because of beetle sheening

 

[donrae]

Sorry, not my experience at all. I'm seeing a bird with a blue breast, not black. I completely understand the genetics behind lavender/self blue and blue/black/splash.

 

[maxsgoldens]

What are these then?

 

[kimehag]

Fanks for reply

 

[kimehag]

Wow these are nice cockerals

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

The beetle green sheen on black feathers has a lot to do with feather quality. Black can come with or without the green sheen. Black, blue and lavender are not the same at all. Blue is a dilution of black and does not breed true, which is why you get blue, black and splash when mixing those colors. It all depends on how the genes add up. Lavender (self blue, I hate that its called that, it creates a whole lot of confusion) is something else entirely. If you mix a lav and black, the lav doesn't show up because its recessive. Mix the black birds from the original breeding with lav and you'll get some lavs and some blacks. Lavender requires 2 copies to present itself.
Maxgoldens- the birds you've shared are black breasted reds. I'm not seeing any blue there, but black with a nice beetle sheen due to some great feather quality. Lovely birds, but black, blue, lavender and grey are all completely different colors.

All of the OPs birds appear to be mixes to me as well. Very pretty ones.

 

[kimehag]

Thanks for your reply

 

[SweetSilver]

Am I going to be a complete idiot commenting that I see some sizeable spurs and 4 toes, not 5?????