Blue Mille Fleur Question...

[MadamPoofyBrow]

This may be a stupid question, but here goes...

I raise Mille Fleur bantam Cochins. Regular black white and brown Mille Fleur. Great little guys, and getting better quality with each generation.

I also have, just for eggs and pets, four standard Cochin hens. They are blue.

If I were to cross one of the regular mille boys (Even though he's a bantam) to one of the standard blue girls, would it be possible to get a blue mille fleur from the cross, or does it not work like that?

Is there a way to get a blue mille without starting with one? I really want to get into blue milles but can't find and anywhere.

So I was thinking if I could get a blue mille from bantam mille to standard blue, I could keep breeding back to bantam milles until I had a bantam blue mille.

Here's the rooster I'm thinking about.

And a pretty old pic of the hen last summer.

 

[donrae]

I don't know enough about how the mille fleur coloring works to have any input, just marking my spot to see what more knowledgeable folks chime in

 

[keesmom]

First, let me state that I have not tried this myself. Most of my answer is based on the chicken calculator. In the first generation you should get solid blues and blacks. If you breed some blue daughters back to their mille fleur father, you could get some blue mille fleur offspring if you hatch enough (or are lucky). The chicken calculator lists other possibilities as well - solid blue and black, blue/black gold columbian, mottled blue/black and some partial mille fleur patterned.

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

Ah okay. So it sounds like it would take a few generations if it worked at all. I think I'll give it a try. Hopefully someone who's tried before will chime in :-D

 

[donrae]

I ran it through the calculator also

. apparently the mille fleur is recessive, so it's like breeding lavender. Your first generation is split for the mille, then you have to back cross to get the recessive genes to pair up.

I think it would be a beautiful bird!

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

I'll let you know how it goes! I'm gonna try it as soon as the Cochin girls start laying again. I may put my best Mille roo with all four girls and pick the best pullets from their chicks to breed back to the father or a different Mille rooster. Which would be best with that? I know inbreeding is fine, but would it be best to avoid since I can?

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

Also, do you think it would matter if I put the girls in my Mille fleur breeding pen with the Mille hens and all the roosters? The eggs would be easy to tell apart, and the only difference would be that I wouldn't be sure which roo the chick was from. Would that matter?

 

[donrae]

I'm not sure it would matter. I've put daughter under father with no issues, as long as your parent stock is not defective in some way the offspring should be fine for a generation or two at minimum.

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

Yes, I breed father/daughter brother/sister mother/son all sorts of combinations a lot. I just wasn't sure if since I have more mile fleur roosters than I know what to do with if it would be better to breed back to an uncle or something

 

[donrae]

If you have the excess males and they have good type and coloring, I'd say why not use them. Diversity is always good.