Blue and Black on the same bird?

[Wolf-Kim]

I thought that blue was a modied "black" gene. Homozygous dominant resulting in black, heterozygous blue and homozygous recessive being splash. So I didn't think that you could have black and blue on the same bird, right?

I recently purchased an EE rooster. He was being sold as an "ameraucana" but definitely does not stick to standard, so we'll call him an EE.

He has a rather unique pattern to him. He is red with a black tail, a blue beard, and blue lacing on his breast and some blue feathers on his wings. I am pretty sure that his tail is black and not dark blue, but will double check tomorrow in the light.

I'm interested to hear what others more experienced than myself care to input about blue and black being on the same bird. Is there a BLR pattern that exhibits a black tail? I honestly thought that it was genetically improbable that blue and black would be expressed on the same bird.

 

[Mahonri]

With EEs you can get almost any kind of coloring.

I'd love to see pics of him. Sounds like a beautiful bird.

There is a gal from Oregon on BYC that has some of the most beautiful EEs I've ever seen.

 

[onthespot]

There are modifying genes that can push the black to the edges of feathers, which creates lacing, or leave some feathers darker than others, like on the head, saddle and tail feathers.

 

[Illia]

He might just be a poor type for blue. I've seen blues with random bits of black on them, some with large chunks of black.

Also are you sure it is blue up front, not perhaps a good smudging of another color into black, such as white? Do you have a pic?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Well, first, Blue is the incompletely dominant allele, with not-blue (black) its recessive counterpart. Splash is Bl/Bl, Blue is Bl/bl+ and not-blue is bl+/bl+

As others have said, the other genes present can move the black pigmentation towards or away from various body parts or various parts of the feathers. Technically, be is a blue "whatever" with "whatever" referring to the fact that you mention red as well. From your description he sounds like he might be something along the lines of a blue dilution of black tailed red--even though the tail itself looks black, the presence of blue means that genetically he is a blue. A photo would help.

I thought that blue was a modied "black" gene. Homozygous dominant resulting in black, heterozygous blue and homozygous recessive being splash. So I didn't think that you could have black and blue on the same bird, right?

I recently purchased an EE rooster. He was being sold as an "ameraucana" but definitely does not stick to standard, so we'll call him an EE.

He has a rather unique pattern to him. He is red with a black tail, a blue beard, and blue lacing on his breast and some blue feathers on his wings. I am pretty sure that his tail is black and not dark blue, but will double check tomorrow in the light.

I'm interested to hear what others more experienced than myself care to input about blue and black being on the same bird. Is there a BLR pattern that exhibits a black tail? I honestly thought that it was genetically improbable that blue and black would be expressed on the same bird.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Okay. Will go snap a couple pictures of the bird. Also to make sure that his tail is indeed black and not a dark blue. He's in isolation at the moment because he's only been here a week.

ETA: Camera is charging. He has black tipped hackles and a black tail. I'm fairly certain that the "blue" marks are in fact blue. Will post pics in a few minutes when the camera has enough charge to snap a couple pics.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Here are some pics of the new man on the farm. Not the greatest, I didn't have help and didn't think I could hold him and snap the pictures at the same time

 

[farmerChef]

He might have had a BLRW parent

 

[Wolf-Kim]

That was my guess, I just didn't think that you could have blue and black on the same bird, which is why I thought he was interesting. He's here for a crossbreeding experiment so pedigree is not of importance. My criteria for the project sire was: not white, colored egg layer, non-aggressive and of decent size.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

He is blue--you are just seeing variations in the shade on different parts of his body. Go to feathersite and look at photos of blue andalusian cocks. Note that the head, hackles saddle and tail feathers are much, much darker than are body feathers.

He s vaguely along the lines of a blue tailed red.