Help me understand the blue genetics here, and patterns.

[CoopsNPoops]

My ER Rooster apparently has some strong blue genes. 25 chicks out of 14 hens came out mostly blue. I think 1 BR boy was black, 2 BCM chicks were black, and 3 chicks are white, but the rest are grey (blue?) Even the BR mixes and the BCM mixes. Those hens are obviously black and dad is mostly black, so i was shocked to get so many blue babies. I don't see any indication of blue coloring in dad. Ill post a photo of him, but he was soaking wet from rain so it may be hard to see his colors right. The blue genes obviously didn't come from the hens. Look at me talking like i know what the "blue" gene even means or where it comes from or anything long story short, bunch of blue EE chicks and no "blue" EE parents. Well, a couple hens, but they dont explain the whole batch. Also, what would you call their markings/coloring? Its unique. Or atleast to me. I've never seen chickens colored like this. My hens aren't colored this way to contribute either. Anyways, here's dad and chicks. The first 4 single chick photos are some of the BR and BCM babies to show how even the jet black hens made blue babies with him. The rest are some of the EExEE crosses.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

My ER Rooster apparently has some strong blue genes. 25 chicks out of 14 hens came out mostly blue. I think 1 BR boy was black, 2 BCM chicks were black, and 3 chicks are white, but the rest are grey (blue?) Even the BR mixes and the BCM mixes. Those hens are obviously black and dad is mostly black, so i was shocked to get so many blue babies. I don't see any indication of blue coloring in dad. Ill post a photo of him, but he was soaking wet from rain so it may be hard to see his colors right. The blue genes obviously didn't come from the hens. Look at me talking like i know what the "blue" gene even means or where it comes from or anything long story short, bunch of blue EE chicks and no "blue" EE parents. Well, a couple hens, but they dont explain the whole batch. Also, what would you call their markings/coloring? Its unique. Or atleast to me. I've never seen chickens colored like this. My hens aren't colored this way to contribute either. Anyways, here's dad and chicks. The first 4 single chick photos are some of the BR and BCM babies to show how even the jet black hens made blue babies with him. The rest are some of the EExEE crosses.

You’re gorgeous boy is blue based.
Once you get blue in the mix, it’s hard to get rid of but most people don’t want to. Blue is actually my favorite chicken color!
To understand where all the blue comes from you just need to review BBS genetics and it’s really not that complicated. You may have seen these charts other places.

So your blue based boy crossed with BCM, will give you 50/50 blue or black chicks.

Hopefully other more genetics savvy will also respond.

 

[CoopsNPoops]

You’re gorgeous boy is blue based.
Once you get blue in the mix, it’s hard to get rid of but most people don’t want to. Blue is actually my favorite chicken color!
To understand where all the blue comes from you just need to review BBS genetics and it’s really not that complicated. You may have seen these charts other places.
View attachment 2666556

So your blue based boy crossed with BCM, will give you 50/50 blue or black chicks.

Hopefully other more genetics savvy will also respond.

That looks about like the way crochet patterns look to me. So he don't have to be blue colored himself, just have a blue gene? How is he not blue if he "is" blue? I'm still so lost, lol.

 

[CoopsNPoops]

You’re gorgeous boy is blue based.
Once you get blue in the mix, it’s hard to get rid of but most people don’t want to. Blue is actually my favorite chicken color!
To understand where all the blue comes from you just need to review BBS genetics and it’s really not that complicated. You may have seen these charts other places.
View attachment 2666556

So your blue based boy crossed with BCM, will give you 50/50 blue or black chicks.

Hopefully other more genetics savvy will also respond.

And im lost on the splash too. Is that what their weird markings are considered? And why are they marked this way if the roo and hens aren't? This is gonna take awhile...

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

Blue is a gene that acts on black by diluting the black. A simple way of explaining how blue works is as follows:

No blue gene present = black bird
One blue gene present = blue bird
Two blue genes present = splash bird

It has been reported by many, and therefore generally accepted, that continued breeding of splash to splash results in a cumulative dilution over time - resulting in lighter and lighter splashes with each generation.

It "is" possible for a bird carrying one or two blue genes to not actually look blue or splash - but ONLY if they carry some other combination of color(s) that is dominant or visually "overrides" the blue expression.
Off the top of my head I think a recessive white might do this. In this scenario the bird is still genetically blue or splash but you just cannot see it because the white takes over.

To get your combination of chick colors it's a certainty that you have one parent that is blue (one blue gene).

If your "white" chicks are splash - then the other parent is also blue.
If your "white' chicks are blue but just patterned to show very little blue - then the other parent is black.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

As an added note - blue can vary in shade, from quite light silvery blue to very very dark blue, sometimes mistaken for black.

It appears probable that your rooster is blue but perhaps so dark that he looks black? And it's equally possible that you may have a blue hen in there pretending to be black?

Either way - Those are some GORGEOUS chicks!! I especially am intrigued by the chick with the blue body but black head <3 <3

 

[CoopsNPoops]

These are my white hens, which i just assumed must be the white chicks moms. Would it help if i posted colors of all my hens?

 

[CoopsNPoops]

I do have a couple blue hens. Here, ill just post them and get ahold of Rusty tonight and see if his black penciling may actually be blue. And correct me if im wrong, but wouldn't dad definitely be blue if he threw blue chicks with the BCMs and the BR? And now that im uploading photos, some of the moms do have the dark heads and splotchy coloring.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

What a pretty selection of hens!!

If you are "certain" that the blue chicks came from the BCM's eggs - then yes that suggests that your rooster is also blue

Additional Note: If he IS blue then his chicks with those hens that are also blue, you'd expect to get a proportion (roughly 25%) of splash chicks. Can you offer closeup pictures of the "white" chicks? To determine if they're actually splash, or rather a different color/pattern combination.

 

[CoopsNPoops]

What a pretty selection of hens!!

If you are "certain" that the blue chicks came from the BCM's eggs - then yes suggests that your rooster is also blue

I am. I watched them all hatch and labled who was who, as well as wrote down physical appearance descriptions. I also know the blue sex link barred rock crosses came from the Plymouth Barred Rock.