Blue coming out of blacks?

[NellaBean]

Seems like in theory this is not possible. However, I ended up with a blue mottle out of two black mottles......and a blue mille fleur out of a black mottle and buff (I think). These were not birds I bred, but birds another BYC member bred and ended up with and I am just curious.

I thought you had to have blue or splash x black to get blue? How would you get a blue mottle out of two black mottled birds??? She does not like blue mottles and so has none on the property.......and her birds are in breeding pens that are covered.

 

[pinkchick]

To get blue a blue or splash bird must be used. However, blue can be deceptive and can express itself to appear black and a person would not know if the bird was blue. To confirm if a bird is blue.. one would need to test mate the birds suspected to a genectically black bird, for example a Barred Rock is genetically a black bird, if any offspring come out blue from test matings, you have a blue bird that appears almost black.