color question for me

[ma hen]

i have two blue standard Cochin's. i would need a black rooster to get 50% black chicks and 50 % blue chicks? and if i get a blue Cochin rooster would i get 50 % blue and 25%black and 25% splash or no splash

thanks just learning

 

[catwalk]

You're right! Blue is an incompletely dominant gene that dilutes black. No blue gene, your bird is black (assuming he has the genes for black). One blue gene fades the black to blue, and two blue genes fade it further to splash. So your hens will give the blue gene to half her offspring. A black rooster doesn't have the blue gene, so he doesn't contribute. Half your chicks will be blue, half will be black, on average. A blue rooster will contribute the same as the blue hens. Half of your chicks will get one blue gene, a fourth of them will get two of them, and the other fourth won't get any.