what are some traits that i want in my blue laced red wyandottes? (leg color,ect...) and what are some bad traits i dont want. thanks.
you want proper type (look back a couple pages for the pics i posted showing profile, front, back etc...)
yellow legs, rose comb, and as for color, the deepest mahogany red you can find, with clear, well defined lacing in either black, blue, or splash (sometimes nearly white).
try to avoid any birds with orange-ish coloration, as they lack the mahogany gene. but if it's a hen and the roo has dark dark red, then it could be worked on, as long as her type is good.
splash birds may have a bit lighter red than the blues, and blacks will have the darkest, as the blue gene does tend to lighten the reds a bit too. but if all the birds are orange-based, you will never have a good deep red. since the mahogany gene is dominant, at least one bird MUST show it. i would try to avoid any orangey roos at all, since the roo accounts for 50% of the chicks' genes, regardless of which hen is bred.
if the lacing is incomplete, smudged or shafted, that can be worked on. again, as long as type is good. it's easier to fix color than it is to fix a bird that's shaped wrong.
to quote a friend (and others) "You don't paint the barn until it's built." so as long as the requisite genes are present, in whatever combination, once your type is set, then you can perfect the color. (you could have the best typed birds in the world, but if they don't have that mahogany gene, then they're just golds. if the blue isn't present either (as either splash or blue), then you're back to gold laced birds, and would have to essentially start over with the color, losing type along the way.
edit:
one of my planned projects is to create a blue laced red bantam cochin. the FIRST thing i'm doing is assembling breeding pens for each of the basic color varieties that will be used.
gold and silver laced, red, partridge, buff columbian, blue/splash. in addition, i also have some blue buff columbians and blue partridge, which are a step closer to getting what i want, but their type isn't quite there yet...
so i'll get the pure lines established as far as their conformation, then i'll work on crossing the lines to build the blue laced red. i don't anticipate good results for several years at the soonest, probably closer to 5 years.