Blue Barred Genetics

[LoneStarHen]

This may have been addressed before, so excuse me if I am repeating history. I know there are people here who know blue very well.

Let me start with some background info. I have a mixed flock of hens: Easter Egger, Cuckoo Marans, one Jersey giant and some Black copper maran/EE crosses (Olive Eggers) and several EE roos. Several months ago a dog got in the yard and killed a bunch of my birds, including my favorite rooster. So I spent the next week gathering all of the eggs hoping to get some chicks out of my roo. I got a very nice batch of chicks, including many that look like him!

Now for my question. I had several chicks that looked just like cuckoo marans when they hatched. (They were black with white on their heads and tummies and they had what I call the maran roman nose beaks) Those chicks have grown into solid blue barred birds with blue legs. My very favorite of the chicks is a large blue barred rooster that has a pea comb and a muff. He does have a few red on the sides of his wings similar to a blue copper maran, but so far his head is all blue. I figured that because of the barring plus pea comb that they have to be Cuckoo Maran Hen X Easter Egger because all of my roos are EE. I cannot figure out where the blue came from. My EE roos are White/Red, all red with some blue/grey wing and tail feathers, and my favorite EE roo was red and black with a green tail.

I know where the barring came from, but I can't figure out where the blue came from. I'm also curious as to what are your thoughts on the colors that my blue barred rooster might produce. Should I breed him to some of my black hens? I plan on hatching again later this year. I am planning on setting up two breeding pens and using two different roosters over my hens.

I will have to take a picture of him and post it.

 

[Illia]

It came from your EE's. As you even stated in your description, some of your EE's have blue coloration in them.

Blue is simply a color that dilutes any black, so you won't see much of it in EE's but it can be there. Once you breed to a solid barred bird like Cuckoo Marans, you get a mostly solid offspring with some leakage from the EE parent. (the extended black gene from the Marans is dominant over the duckwing or wheaten from the EE) So with the blue involved, since the offspring are mostly black barred, they're now blue barred.

If a significant portion ended up blue it might be from yourd red/white colored EE. She might be a splash duckwing or something.


Pics would help. Either way, it's from the EE parents.

 

[LoneStarHen]

I figured it was from the EE, but he only has a couple of blue feathers. His body is mostly red. I wasn't sure if that could cause an offspring to be all blue. I've got three solid blue hens out of this hatch too. There were some chicks that look just like that roo. I'll post a pic when I get to a computer. Thanks!

 

[Illia]

As long as you have a solid barred or even solid black parent to breed to whatever brown, red, orange, etc colored bird - Your offspring will be mostly black. Or, in this case, mostly blue. So thus even if you've got a mostly red bird but with a tiny bit of blue - Breeding it to a solid will bring out that blue.