BLRW Dark vs. Light

[MyBabiesTheChickens]

We have purebred Blue Laced Red Wyandottes(BLRW), the roo and one of the hens are DARK Blue Laced Red Wyandottes while the other two hens out of the three we gave the roo are regular BLRWs. We hatched some chicks where the ones with the dark stripes have started feathering much darker than the washed out looking ones. Does this mean it is a pure DARK BLRW from our dark pair?

DARK


STANDARD

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Trying to wrap my head around what you are saying...

When you say "dark" are you meaning black or just dark blue?
When you say "light" are you meaning splash or light blue?

The top bird of the two chicks pictured could be black or it could be a dark shade of blue. Hard for me to tell.

To recap what it means to be a blue variety and why they have three colors Black, Blue and Splash:

The Blue gene is a diluter of black. It stacks, as in two copies dilute more than one. A black bird from Blue variety carries no gene, blue color expression bird carries one copy of gene, and a splash color bird has both copies of the gene.

With this knowledge we can easily predict the percentage of birds that will be of each color from any crossing. If a black (no gene) is mated with splash (two copies) then all offspring will carry one copy- all express blue. If blue is mated to blue then 25 percent chance offspring will carry two copies, 25% chance offspring will carry no blue gene and 50% of the offspring will carry one- express blue color.

 

[MyBabiesTheChickens]

End of 2018 begin 2019, a new standard of BLRW was claimed to be selling in the US now, and we got our first pair of BLRW. We noticed that they looked different from what everyone else had and had to look into it, that is when we saw there was a new standard for this breed. There is a big difference between the original standard and the new one. I managed to get a good picture of our breeders in their pen.


As you can see, our rooster is already different from the typical BLRW from his dark mahogany and blue colors as well as his tail feathers being a single color rather than the black and blue mix of the usual. The same goes for the darker hen in the back. We have the splash BLRW which appears almost to have white lacing. Then we have the regular standard BLRW which are truly blue lacing. Finally we have this dark pair which seem to be very different from the usual, though it is the same breed. We are just wondering if the coloring of our chicks represent the parents' colors, for example, the Dark BLRW crossed with a regular BLRW vs. both Dark BLRW.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

There is no new standard. There actually is no standard at all. Likely won't be for some time as many of the reintroductions were crossed with Golden Laced Wyandotte. Now there are two groups of the BLRW; one being carmel colored red and other the dark mahogany red. I personally feel it should be the dark red and there in lies the problem of coming up with a standard for variety that basically has two colors.

What you are seeing in your birds is blue and splash. One of your hens is blue and two are splash. The two "dark" birds are blue. There is subjective difference as to what the exact shade of blue should be. And that's preference. The correct shade for blue is described as slate blue or pigeon blue. Strive to keep the color close to that. We are talking about birds expressing blue color. Not splash birds. The closer in color each parent is the better the consistency of color in offspring. Blue to blue mating over time will lighten naturally. You need to use a black to darken back up. If you use a splash in mating ensure it's red in hackles.

It's not recommended to use splash to mate unless they have something to offer and of course the red in hackle. Not to be critical, and you didn't ask so perhaps I'm misspeaking- one of the splash birds above has pinching to tail. No offense, trying to help. Wyandotte should have wide tails. I wouldn't breed her regardless of color.

Let's get back to what you'd get mating your blue cock to your only blue hen. Half the offspring will express blue, 25% will express black and 25% will be splash. As I stated earlier the first photo of chick is black or a dark blue. Likely it's black. Half the chicks from your blue cock over splash hens will be blue and half will be splash.

 

[MyBabiesTheChickens]

Great! That helps a lot! Thank you.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Thinking about what you are saying- a new strain (you didn't mean standard) of BLRW was introduced in 2018. Where did they come from?

 

[MyBabiesTheChickens]

Thinking about what you are saying- a new strain (you didn't mean standard) of BLRW was introduced in 2018. Where did they come from?

I'm sorry, I am bad with words sometimes. :/ Claims they came over from Europe since Germany favored the BLRW. Or so the article claimed. Don't remember where I saw it though. We got this breed over a year ago and are only now seeing the different colors in the chicks.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

OK, it was an article stating reintroduction of BLRW. Yes the stock came from Germany back almost two decades now. Some American breeders decided to recreate them also. Here's a good article on origins, summary is created USA pre 1900, stock sold to England and Germany breeders were the ones to keep it going for century.

http://www.foleyswaterfowl.com/uploads/4/8/6/0/48608711/originblrw.pdf

 

[MyBabiesTheChickens]

OK, it was an article stating reintroduction of BLRW. Yes the stock came from Germany back almost two decades now. Some American breeders decided to recreate them also. Here's a good article on origins, summary is created USA pre 1900, stock sold to England and Germany breeders were the ones to keep it going for century.

http://www.foleyswaterfowl.com/uploads/4/8/6/0/48608711/originblrw.pdf

Thank you! I also have one more question. One of our hatching chicks has been trying to hatch and it is running at the end of day two. It seems to only be pushing rather than "unzipping". We've had a lot of chicks that needed aid in hatching and our judgements have been correct so far, trying to keep it as natural as possible by picking away at the edges in an "unzipping" imitation way to encourage them to push the last bit on their own and develop a strong neck, but it is just sitting there with yolk and blood fully absorbed.

 

[LuvinBlueBirds]

OK, it was an article stating reintroduction of BLRW. Yes the stock came from Germany back almost two decades now. Some American breeders decided to recreate them also. Here's a good article on origins, summary is created USA pre 1900, stock sold to England and Germany breeders were the ones to keep it going for century.

http://www.foleyswaterfowl.com/uploads/4/8/6/0/48608711/originblrw.pdf

Thanks for sharing! Great article.