Blue or self blue?

[Ylva]

(Sorry for the bad English, it’s not my first language and I refuse to use ChatGPT )

Is this very-backyard chick blue or self blue?

MOTHER:
His mother is a bantam hen, and I have no blue in any of my bantams. One of my bantams is a self blue/lavender Mille fleur, and several of the other bantams is carrying the self blue gene.

FATHER:
His father is a completely black rooster with a lot of Ayam Cemani in him (father is purebred AC). It doesn’t look like he is a very dark blue, he is jet black. But (I’ll try to make this understandable):
- The fathers mother is recessive white. Her father was a red rooster, no blue. Her mother - the chick’s «great-grandmother» - is unfortunately carrying both blue and self blue genes. I don’t know for sure whether the white «grandmother» is carrying or expressing either, but she has never had blue chicks.

So I have self blue on both sides, BUT also a blue great-grandmother on his black father’s side. I am terrified of adding blue into any future chicks, but I’d love more self blue. What are the likelihood of this chick being blue, and not self blue? And is it possible to spot the difference just by his looks?

 

[Cloverr39]

From what I understand, the chick's grandmother from the father's side might’ve been blue under her white. You have no blue hens, only self blue/lavender, right? And the father looks black.

If the grandmother was hiding a blue gene, half of her chicks would've been blue, so since you're saying she's never had blue chicks (I'm assuming you've hatched more than one or two chicks from her) it's very unlikely that she had a blue gene. That, plus the fact that the father definitely looks black, I think it's safe to assume the chick does not have blue.
Blue isn't recessive, it cannot be carried. If the father is black, there are absolutely no blue genes present in him.

And I have never seen blues that light, your chick looks like a typical lavender/self blue to me.

 

[Amer]

From what I understand, the chick's grandmother from the father's side might’ve been blue under her white. You have no blue hens, only self blue/lavender, right? And the father looks black.

If the grandmother was hiding a blue gene, half of her chicks would've been blue, so since you're saying she's never had blue chicks (I'm assuming you've hatched more than one or two chicks from her) it's very unlikely that she had a blue gene. That, plus the fact that the father definitely looks black, I think it's safe to assume the chick does not have blue.
Blue isn't recessive, it cannot be carried. If the father is black, there are absolutely no blue genes present in him.

And I have never seen blues that light, your chick looks like a typical lavender/self blue to me.

X2
Looks self blue to me!

 

[Ylva]

From what I understand, the chick's grandmother from the father's side might’ve been blue under her white. You have no blue hens, only self blue/lavender, right? And the father looks black.

If the grandmother was hiding a blue gene, half of her chicks would've been blue, so since you're saying she's never had blue chicks (I'm assuming you've hatched more than one or two chicks from her) it's very unlikely that she had a blue gene. That, plus the fact that the father definitely looks black, I think it's safe to assume the chick does not have blue.
Blue isn't recessive, it cannot be carried. If the father is black, there are absolutely no blue genes present in him.

And I have never seen blues that light, your chick looks like a typical lavender/self blue to me.

Thank you!
I’ve hatched at least 15 chicks from the white grandmother (crossed with a black rooster), and I only get black chicks from her.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

And is it possible to spot the difference just by his looks?

Yes. A self blue (also called lavender) looks like a smooth grey color all over. A blue chicken is also grey, but each feather will appear to be outlined in a darker grey. I think I have a picture, stand by.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Here you go. Hen on left is a self blue. Hen on right is blue. The one behind her is as well. The two light grey hens further back are also self blue. Enlarge to see the markings on the blue hens, how their feathers are outlined.