Blue Wyandottes

[GoldenPuppy]

Hi, can we talk about just Blue Wyandottes. There are threads about BLRWs and not much about the straight Blues.

I have 12 young Blues at my farm now. Age range between 4 and 6 weeks. 4 are Blue, 7 are Black and 1 is a Splash. The Blues and Blacks are a mix of males and females and I think the Splash is a female but lets include Splash males in the discussion.

Of course I want to breed them so I have a larger flock. These came from a breeder and I want to keep all the hard work they've already done to improve the variety.

I'm not 100% certain any of the Blue ones are pullets. I know for sure that 2 are cockerels.
I think the type on these birds should be good and since I don't have 50 birds to pick and choose the 10 best, lets just say for argument's sake that type is good and I'm trying to maintain color. (I do understand that type is most important and I'm not disregarding it. Just focusing on color right now.)

I know the best mating is Blue over Blue. What if I don't have any Blue pullets here? Is it better to use a Blue roo over the Black or the Splash? Should I use them both and take only the Blues for the next generations until I get a larger flock?

Do breeders avoid Splash and Blacks when breeding Blues? Do you cull them as soon as you know their color?

Any and all breeding tips are greatly appreciated.

Another question. I have what appears to be a pullet. She's black with cream beak and legs. She's the only bird here with fully cream legs, no darkness. I was reading a thread where Mr. Turbo says not to use hens without dark on the legs because you lose the green shimmer to the Blacks' feathers. Does this apply to Blues, too? Any advice?
Here's her picture.

Here's a picture of the little flock. They move a lot so it's hard to get the all in the shot.

And here's a picture of the little Splash. This bird is very bold and funny and I'm suspecting it's a cockerel because hens are generally more shy. And are those little waddles on that face?

 

[sjarvis00]

The best matings are from Blue x Blue never give up the lacing on the blue once lost it is difficult to get back, Assuming the lacing is weak but present you should use a black from the blue mating. This will strengthen the lacing and darken most of the blue offspring. I do not like to use splash birds, especially males, as they tend to lighten the color in general and dramatically reduce the lacing effect in the offspring. Some may disagree with this practice but that has been my experience.
The ideal Blue mating would be very well laced Blue x very well laced Blue.
You should also watch very closely for brassing in the hackles of both sexes, and wing bow, bay and saddle of the males. this is very common with blue as black is really never just black and if they carry red (genetically Gold) then the brassing effect is much worse. There are ways around that too but will leave for future discussion if it is a problem.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

In my experience with blue birds I found that once you get good laced birds you should set up a pen of the best laced blues with blacks. If they get too dark then mate them with another blue of equal quality but otherwise I suggest the black/blue.
With the leg color its very very rare to get a line of blue/black birds that has both male and female that throw bright yellow legs. To have good leg color in males you need the dusky legged females and for good leg color in females you need the dusky leg color in males with bright yellow legged females, its just the way the genes work. I think I might have a link to a topic at the-coop that discusses this more.

 

[colby318]

I recently bought the entire flock of the Turbo's (Jerry and Rebecca Foley) blacks and blues (30 birds went home with me that day) plus their chicks I've been growing out through the course of the summer. In all, I have around 75 juveniles including several breeder age birds. I'll cull heavily in the spring and in 2013 I hope I'll be ready to sell chicks from this fine strain. I've always found the black breeds spectacular. After dabbling with the blue laced red for the past few years, I've learned much about lacing. My goal is to have consistent lacing in the dark blues.

 

[GoldenPuppy]

Colby, I'm curious about the Blacks. Do they look different than the Blues that are black colored?

 

[colby318]

Quote:
I honestly don't know. I haven't bred a black x blue or a splash x black yet. I won't start incubating until the spring. With the blr, I chose to breed for the black blr as much as possible. I love the deep bay lacing. I didn't mean to get into blue wyandottes, I originally intended on blacks and buffs but the Turbos offered me their blue breeding stock - I couldn't pass up that oppurtunity....