Blue Wheaten?

[Ashleyboz]

I purchased a few Easter Egger bantams and have been watching this one and it’s beautiful color! From researching I see that it is a wheaten blue? Could someone explain the genetics when and if he/she hatched chicks and what we could expect? I found one similar and they said it was a splash. I have splash Cochins and seen many splash varieties but don’t see it here.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

I don’t think this is blue wheaten. Blue wheatens don’t have silver hackles. As for the rest of the bird, it’s definitely blue something. What color was it as a chick? Wheatens, and blue wheatens by extension, hatch out cream colored, potentially with a thin brown stripe down their back. Photos attached for example. Wheaten specifically means a gold-gened bird has the eWh gene without any pattern modifiers, and blue wheaten is that with the addition of the blue gene.
If the easter egger hatched out cream, it could definitely be based on eWh, but with the silver hackle, I believe indicating it has the silver gene, it wouldn’t be a simple blue wheaten. Do you have any chick photos of it?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

That's a typical mixed-color Easter-egger. Looks like some sort of silver/gold split with a reddening gene and blue patterning, I would suspect e+ or e^b based just looking at the plumage so far. Chick down coloring could certainly help to figure out more there. He is beautiful, but definitely not Blue Wheaten. Predicting what his offspring would look like would be tricky at best because of the nature of mixed colors and all the genes that could be at play here.

 

[NatJ]

Could someone explain the genetics when and if he/she hatched chicks and what we could expect?

Predicting what his offspring would look like would be tricky at best because of the nature of mixed colors and all the genes that could be at play here.

I mostly agree about predicting the offspring.

The blue gene itself is pretty easy to predict, but that doesn't help much with any of the other details.

That bird is blue.
Blue x blue gives about 1/2 blue chicks, 1/4 black chicks, 1/4 splash chicks.
Blue x black gives about 1/2 blue chicks, 1/2 black chicks.
Blue x splash gives about 1/2 blue chicks, 1/2 splash chicks.

The blue (or black or splash) applies to any part of the chicken that would otherwise show black. That can be the whole chicken, or just the tail, or any kind of patterning on the chicken.

If that bird is bred to one that has other genes affecting black, you might not see the black/blue/splash effects. For example, Dominant White turns black into white. That would hide any effect of the blue gene, by replacing it with white instead.

 

[Ashleyboz]

I don’t think this is blue wheaten. Blue wheatens don’t have silver hackles. As for the rest of the bird, it’s definitely blue something. What color was it as a chick? Wheatens, and blue wheatens by extension, hatch out cream colored, potentially with a thin brown stripe down their back. Photos attached for example. Wheaten specifically means a gold-gened bird has the eWh gene without any pattern modifiers, and blue wheaten is that with the addition of the blue gene.
If the easter egger hatched out cream, it could definitely be based on eWh, but with the silver hackle, I believe indicating it has the silver gene, it wouldn’t be a simple blue wheaten. Do you have any chick photos of it?

I mostly agree about predicting the offspring.

The blue gene itself is pretty easy to predict, but that doesn't help much with any of the other details.

That bird is blue.
Blue x blue gives about 1/2 blue chicks, 1/4 black chicks, 1/4 splash chicks.
Blue x black gives about 1/2 blue chicks, 1/2 black chicks.
Blue x splash gives about 1/2 blue chicks, 1/2 splash chicks.

The blue (or black or splash) applies to any part of the chicken that would otherwise show black. That can be the whole chicken, or just the tail, or any kind of patterning on the chicken.

If that bird is bred to one that has other genes affecting black, you might not see the black/blue/splash effects. For example, Dominant White turns black into white. That would hide any effect of the blue gene, by replacing it with white instead.

I appreciate the info! I do have dominant whites (Smokey Pearls and Isa Browns). I also have blue Cochins that are mostly splash and blue, blue frizzles and silkies, blue jersey giants, blue breasted brown leghorns, blue marans, blue barred rocks, and now this one with some blue. I want the best egg layer with it being super cold hardy (ND) and I love pretty!