Blue or Black??

[my sunwolf]

I know this sounds stupid, but I can't seem to figure out which are the blues and which are the blacks in my flock. I understand blue genetics, I've seen both colors of birds. But I saw a photo of a bird that I thought was blue was captioned with "black" the other day, and now I'm questioning myself. What colors would you say my Ameraucanas are? I know their quality's not the greatest.

(These are the unedited photos for better color analysis, I hope.)

Pretty sure this is a Blue girl:


The one on the right in these photos is the one that's confusing me:






Any ideas?

(Edited for spelling.)

 

[BGMatt]

The one on the right is also a Blue. That's why blue is such a hard pattern to breed, many different shades. The lighter one on the left doesn't have much lacing, I think you'll find the one on the right has much better lacing. Blue is a lot of fun to work with but is a challenge.

 

[my sunwolf]

The one on the right is also a Blue. That's why blue is such a hard pattern to breed, many different shades. The lighter one on the left doesn't have much lacing, I think you'll find the one on the right has much better lacing. Blue is a lot of fun to work with but is a challenge.

Oh good, I had hoped they were both blues. Thank you!! Now just need a Black roo to cover these girls to maintain/improve that lacing. Would a Blue roo with very nice lacing do the same job in producing offspring with good lacing? Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge, the more I learn the more I realize how much there is to learn.

 

[my sunwolf]

Eh, just saw your signature, pretend I didn't just use the term "roo"

 

[BGMatt]

There are a million theories on how to get the best blue color. If you're trying to improve lacing I would definitely use a good laced male over the hens there. I personally always felt my best color came from splash to black (that came from blue/blue breeding) but have seen a lot of people that swear Blue to Blue is the only way to go to get good color. Either way I'd use Blues to fix the lacing and then once that is set in your line then play with the different combos to get the shade of blue you want.

 

[BGMatt]

Re-read what I posted and realized it wasn't clear. If it was me, I would breed Blue to Blue until I got the lacing I wanted (and not worry about the shade of the blue inside the lacing) and get rid of the Splash and Black for the next couple years, then once you get lacing you like try the different combinations (blue/blue, splash/black, blue/black, splash/blue) to get the right shade.

 

[my sunwolf]

Thank you so much, both explanations were perfect. Can't wait to get started on this lacing project.

 

[CB and CG]

Hi there, I breed blue and black australorps in Australia and we have had lengthy discussions on what combination of black blue and splash gives the best lacing.
Firstly, splash to black tends to give a consistent even shade of blue in he ground colour throughout all chickens hatched.
To get the crisp dark Lacing you are after you need to breed black to blue. If you want I can post some examples of the offspring from this mating if you like.
Blue to splash tends to give washed out, blotchy coloured blues. Great as pets but not really for showing or breeding.
I run a black roo with black and blue hens. This gives me nice blues from the Blue hens and nice blacks with a green sheen from the black hens.
Hope this has helped.

 

[BGMatt]

The blue to black only does anything for lacing if the black carries the lacing gene underneath the black which if it was a black from a blue/blue mating it would, but thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[CB and CG]

With respect I would disagree. Any Black improves lacing. Here is a pic of the resulting cross between a black from a pure black line and a blue. IMO this bird has great lacing. As it matured the lacing got even better on the wing after it's first moult. This blue Australorp is only 5 months old in this pic.