"Black Spanish" - breed/color question

[AraucanaAnne]

I ordered McMurray's 15-bird rare/heritage turkey assortment, which they said would include three different breeds of hatchery's choice. From comparing my poults with photos on the Internet, it looks like I got 5 Narragansett, 5 bourbon red, and 5 "black Spanish." The black Spanish have jet black bodies with black & white mottled heads. One of them was a slightly more faded black, the color of a black shirt that's gone through the laundry too many times, and now that its wing feathers are growing in, I can see that they are blue/gray, not black like the rest.

I guess my question is, does a blue bird pop up occasionally in this breed, or maybe it's a cross, or something else entirely?

Thanks!

 

[retlaw]

Blue slates produce blacks.
Your blacks might be from them.
I have noticed that the blue slates that come out black are usually bigger birds.

 

[AraucanaAnne]

Interesting. The one that has feathers growing in blue is definitely smaller. So do you think it's possible I got 5 slates and 4 just happened to be black? I'm guessing the color blue in turkeys is similar to in chickens, where if I mate black to black I won't get blues, but if I mate black to blue I will?

 

[retlaw]

Very well could be possible.
Black to black gets you black.
Black to blue will get you black and blue.