Chicken feather color genetics question

[SpringhouseFarm]

I'm really interested in feather color genetics but have limited knowledge of it & would love to learn. I have Whiting True Blues that I'll be breeding & I have 3 roosters that I'm trying to decide on who to keep & who to cull based on which will give us the most variety of feather color in offspring, that's one of our main focuses for our breeding program, as well as breeding for muffs & beards & layers of bright sky blue eggs. First picture is of our biggest bodied black rooster with red in his hackle & saddle feathers as well as on his wings & he has muffs & beard. Second rooster has wild type feathering. Third rooster is blue with mahogany leakage. As for our hens, we have a black with muffs/beard, blue, splash, & a blue with mahogany leakage similar to our rooster with muffs/beard. So my question is which rooster would give us the most color variety of offspring? I don’t want to end up just having black, blue & splash chicks, especially since our hens are already those colors. What are the names of each roo's coloring & what colored offspring would they most likely produce with the hen colors I have? I was thinking the blue with mahogany rooster with our similar hen would be interesting to see if we can get more chicks like that since they are very pretty. The black would be good for continuing the muffs/beards. I was wondering if using the wild type roo would guarantee more color variety? Sorry for all the questions just don't want to get rid of the wrong rooster, but I don't want to necessarily keep all 3 lol Thanks for any insight anyone can provide!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Personally, I would just use all three to mix things up for more color variations, then use the offspring from each for next breedings.

#1. Is Black Copper. (Red Birchen)

#2. Is Golden Duckwing, if not Partridge.

#3. Is a Splash Pyle.

 

[SourRoses]

They all have a lot of leakage. Their combs are falling over.

Honestly, I would cull all of them and get a real Ameraucana rooster instead. That would help with Muffs & Beard, ensuring blue egg color, and help with achieving an actual feather color.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I don’t want to end up just having black, blue & splash chicks, especially since our hens are already those colors.

If all your birds are based on BBS inheritance, then that's all you're gonna get.
If you want better chances of other colors/patterns, add Buffs, Reds, or even Barred/Cuckoo to the mix(There's even more color options available too). But even these crossed may still end up with the BBS inheritance from the original birds.

 

[SpringhouseFarm]

If all your birds are based on BBS inheritance, then that's all you're gonna get.
If you want better chances of other colors/patterns, add Buffs, Reds, or even Barred/Cuckoo to the mix(There's even more color options available too). But even these crossed may still end up with the BBS inheritance from the original birds.

So is BBS it's own genetic thing? Like just because a chicken is blue or black doesn't mean they have the BBS genetic makeup? Whiting True Blues come in any color/pattern, my sister & I bought from the same place & every one was a different color. I left her pick which ones she wanted & it just happened that the chicks she picked ended up being other colors & I ended up getting the black, blue & splash.

 

[MysteryChicken]

So is BBS it's own genetic thing? Like just because a chicken is blue or black doesn't mean they have the BBS genetic makeup? Whiting True Blues come in any color/pattern, my sister & I bought from the same place & every one was a different color. I left her pick which ones she wanted & it just happened that the chicks she picked ended up being other colors & I ended up getting the black, blue & splash.

Blue is a diluter of black, 2 copies of the blue gene can make Splash.

 

[SpringhouseFarm]

They all have a lot of leakage. Their combs are falling over.

Honestly, I would cull all of them and get a real Ameraucana rooster instead. That would help with Muffs & Beard, ensuring blue egg color, and help with achieving an actual feather color.

Do you mind explaining what the leakage on them is? Like I said I'm new to understanding all the genetics behind coloring. I used that term in explaining the blue with red coloring because someone else had described the coloring as that, but I might have been using that term wrong. I do know Whiting True Blues can come in any color or pattern & that's why I like them for the color variety. I read others experiences where their roos combs were flopping at a young age but by a year old they stood back up like they "grew" into them. My roos are only 19 weeks old so they might grow into them? Is it considered a fault for them to be floppy, even if you're not planning on showing? I wanted a blue layer breed & this breed peaked my interest as opposed to Ameraucanas because they are prolific layers & are also homozygous for the blue egg gene whereas you have to be so careful about getting a true Ameraucana that is actually homozygous.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Looking into these birds, they just appear to be pretty much another color egging mixed breed like Olive Eggers. But only breeds true for Blue egg color, not so much for body type, feather color, comb type, or leg color. Pretty much just a variation of blue egging EEs.

 

[SpringhouseFarm]

Looking into these birds, they just appear to be pretty much another color egging mixed breed like Olive Eggers. But only breeds true for Blue egg color, not so much for body type, feather color, comb type, or leg color. Pretty much just a variation of blue egging EEs.

Correct, they're similar to Easter Eggers where they can be any feather color but are homozygous for the blue egg gene which is what I thought was neat about them So does BBS & typical feather color genetics not even apply to them then?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Correct, they're similar to Easter Eggers where they can be any feather color but are homozygous for the blue egg gene which is what I thought was neat about them So does BBS & typical feather color genetics not even apply to them then?

Not unless they carry blue. Any bird with the blue gene will follow the Black, Blue, Splash Inheritance.
They could have typical colors/patterns, or mixed colors/patterns really.