Can pale yellow BLRW chicks just end up as white hens?

[oregonkat]

I hatched out some BLRW, 12 eggs, 9 hatched, 5 pale yellow, 3 mid grey and yellow, 2 grey, 1 dark grey. The pale yellow chicks feathers are coming in with no other color other than white. Are they going to develop any other color?

 

[oregonkat]

Sorry, math wrong. 2 mid grey, 1 grey, 1 dark grey.

 

[LilJoe]

Pictures may help.

 

[oregonkat]

Pictures may help.

 

[oregonkat]

Anyone?

 

[LilJoe]

They will most likely stay white. I'm thinking this is the same thing that occurs is Marans and Legbars.

 

[oregonkat]

They will most likely stay white. I'm thinking this is the same thing that occurs is Marans and Legbars.

So in the ideal BLRW world, what color should the chicks be that produce the correct mahogany plumage in the grown hen? BTW, thanks for the reply above. Not exactly what I wanted to read because I have 5 of them to deal with now.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

They are Splash color. Blue Laced Red are using the blue gene so offspring can be blue, black or splash. Do a google image search of Splash Blue Laced Red and this is what they should grow into.

With blue genetics if you cross a splash and blue you beget 50% blue chicks and 50% splash chicks. By your coloration of chicks this is the parentage of your eggs- a blue parent and splash parent BLRW.

 

[oregonkat]

They are Splash color. Blue Laced Red are using the blue gene so offspring can be blue, black or splash. Do a google image search of Splash Blue Laced Red and this is what they should grow into.

With blue genetics if you cross a splash and blue you beget 50% blue chicks and 50% splash chicks. By your coloration of chicks this is the parentage of your eggs- a blue parent and splash parent BLRW.

Thank you for the response. Is it possible to avoid splash coloring altogether or is it going to occur anyway, just with less prominence if your parents are blue to blue? Also, for the mahogany plumage, what are the ideal colors of the chicks? I know this is probably a daft question, so sorry about that.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I don't know much about the particulars of breeding BLRW and or how to work with the red lacing. Lacing in general is improved by using the best laced birds. But for blue genetics the only way to get all blue chicks is to cross a black and splash. What's going on is the blue gene functions as a diluter of black. With no copies the bird is black base, with one copy the black is diluted enough to look blue/grey and with both copies of blue gene the bird is splash. The base color will be white with splashes of blue here and there. When breeding blue gene birds it's best to use a blue bird in your crosses. The hue of blue varies from dull grey to dark blue. With use of black birds and selective breeding of color you'll get the hue you desire. For example a blue and black cross will darken the blue in offspring and so on.

Blue to blue gets 50% blue, 25% splash and 25% black
Blue to splash begets 50/50 blue and splash
Blue to black begets 50/50 blue and black
Splash to black begets 100% blue chicks.
Splash to splash begets splash
Black to black begets black