All 'Blues' the same for breeding ratios? d'Uccles, too?

[wegotchickens]

Black x Black = 100% Black

Black x Blue = 50% Black, 50% Blue

Blue x Blue = 50% Blue, 25% Black and 25% Splash

Splash x Black = 100% Blue

Splash x Blue = 50% Splash and 50% Blue

Splash x Splash = 100% Splash

I saw this on another thread (about Silkies & Showgirls), but I know I've seen this same infor regarding Ameracaunas & Orpingtons. Does blue not breed 'true' in any variety of chicken? Always with the 50/25/25 split?

If I have Self-blue d'Uccles, does this rule run true for them as well?

 

[Southernbelle]

Are they self blues? I thought they bred true

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
They are self-blues.
But I can't find any conclusive evidence that they will breed true. They've just started laying, so I'd test it, but by the time we get past pullet eggs I know DH will freak if the bator comes out.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Self blue is not blue (in the US), it is lavender. Yes, lavenders breed true. For that matter, any homozygous gene pairs breed true when bred together.

Blue, however, is not homozygous; it is by definition heterozygous.

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
Aha!
I've heard my babies called lavenders before, but I thought self-blue was the accepted color!
Even the guy at the poultry show called them self-blues and not lavenders.

Good to know lavenders breed true

Thanks!

 

[wegotchickens]

Wow. I can find blue and self-blue in all the d'Uccle breed standard sources and not lavender at all. Just went through them all again. Self-blues were admitted into the US standards in 1996...

My cockeral has numerous flaws. I will just have to breed the flaws out while keeping the lovely color. It's the only thing he's got going for him. I was just afraid I'd have twice as many culls due to color and not just wattle size and scrawny neck.

 

[Krys109uk]

In US when people use the term "self blue" they are referring to Lavender birds. When they use the term "blue" they are usually referring to Andalusian blue.

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
But the APA standards are for 'Self-Blue'!

The genetics is already confusing to me, and now we have all these semantics issues!!

Guess I'll go home and hug my butterscotch hen. And try not to wonder if butterscotch is the yellow homozygous equivalent to self blue (is it???).

 

[Krys109uk]

If the US APA standards say "self blue" they mean what many other countries call 'lavender', because the gene that causes the colour is called lavender. IN USA lavender & self blue are one & the same. Lavender ('self blue' in US) breeds true.

The difficulty comes when you read things from other countries where 'self blue' means something else.

Under most cirumstances what is sometimes just referred to as 'blue' means andalusian blue, this colour does not bred true..

 

[tadkerson]

Self blue refers to a blue bird that does not have any kind of pattern associated with the blue. The gene that expresses self blue is called the lavender gene.

The gene that expresses blue is actually called the blue gene. The blue gene usually has a pattern associated with the expression of the gene. That pattern is an edge or lace of black on a blue feather. A blue feather with a black lace is not self blue but blue.

Males that carry the blue gene also have black in the pyle zone which is not blue but black or dark blue . The females also have black or dark blue heads and hackles or at least black in the hackles. This black color is associated with the expression of the blue gene and not lavender.

Self blue birds do not have any other color in their feathers other than blue. They are solid blue from tail to beak.

A self white bird is completely white from tail to head.

You can have self buff birds (buff orpingtons) or self black birds (australorps).

Tim