Breeding Blue

[Hillschicks]

Often "blue" chickens hatch out either black or splash.. My question is if i breed 2 black chickens that are a "blue" breed, do they still have the potential to produce actual blue offspring or has the blue gene left the building?

For instance, if i mix my blue andelusion and my blue americauna, which are both black, will all offspring just be black?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Your chickens from a "blue" breed are not necessarily blue. If they are black, they do not have the blue gene, and cannot pass it to their offspring. Black X black will never give blue offspring. On the other hand, blue X blue only has a 50% chance of blue offspring. 25% will be black and 25% splash.

 

[Hillschicks]

Ok.. Is black a dominant? Like my black "blue andelusion" x black "blue americuana" guarenteed to be black?

 

[Michael OShay]

Ok.. Is black a dominant? Like my black "blue andelusion" x black "blue americuana" guarenteed to be black?

The black gene is not dominant, but it takes both a black gene and a splash gene to produce a blue chicken. If an Andalusian is black, that means it carries only the black gene (if it had both black and splash, it would be blue, not black; and if it had only splash genes, then it would be splash). Since both black parents have only the black gene, then their offspring can have only the black gene. There is a good article explaining the genetics of blue chickens at http://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-breeding/genetics-blue-birds

 

[keesmom]

Ok.. Is black a dominant? Like my black "blue andelusion" x black "blue americuana" guarenteed to be black?

They are black. Blue is not a recessive gene. If the bird has it, it will show. One copy of the gene turns black to blue. Two copies of it turns black to splash.

 

[Hillschicks]

Excellent.. Thank you for the information

 

[Michael OShay]

You're welcome.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Your chickens from a "blue" breed are not necessarily blue. If they are black, they do not have the blue gene, and cannot pass it to their offspring. Black X black will never give blue offspring. On the other hand, blue X blue only has a 50% chance of blue offspring. 25% will be black and 35% splash.

Quote:
There is no "black" gene. What there is, is blue and not-blue alleles of the blue gene. This gene is incompletely dominant, meaning that there is a significant difference between one copy and two copies pf the blue allele. One copy is intermediate between no copies and two copies. The blue gene dilutes black pigment. If only the not-blue copies are present, black pigment is not diluted. If one blue allele is present, black pigment is diluted to blue, and if two blue alleles are present, the bird is doubly diluted--to splash

 

[Michael OShay]

Your chickens from a "blue" breed are not necessarily blue. If they are black, they do not have the blue gene, and cannot pass it to their offspring. Black X black will never give blue offspring. On the other hand, blue X blue only has a 50% chance of blue offspring. 25% will be black and 35% splash.

There is no "black" gene. What there is, is blue and not-blue alleles of the blue gene. This gene is incompletely dominant, meaning that there is a significant difference between one copy and two copies pf the blue allele. One copy is intermediate between no copies and two copies. The blue gene dilutes black pigment. If only the not-blue copies are present, black pigment is not diluted. If one blue allele is present, black pigment is diluted to blue, and if two blue alleles are present, the bird is doubly diluted--to splash

Excellent information. Hillschicks, the answer to your original question, "Is black a dominant?" is definitely a "no," especially since there is no actual black gene.

 

[donrae]

If you want to get 100% blue birds, you need to breed black to splash. that will do the trick.

Or, look into lavender. It's close to the same color but is genetically different and breeds true.