If you cross a.....

[The Poultry Peanut]

....black frizzle cochin bantam with a white frizzle cochin bantam will you get a blue frizzle cochin? I think that is how they get the colour blue in other blue breeds. Just wondering

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Depends on what kind of white it is but I don't know enough to get into it.

And blues are not made by crossing blacks with whites. Black Blue and Splash birds (BBS) are used for this.

Black x Black = Black.
Splash x Splash = Splash
Blue x Splash = 50% Blue, 50% Splash
Blue x Black = 50% Blue, 50% Black
Splash X Black = 100% Blue
Blue X Blue = 50% Blue, 25% Black, 25% Splash

 

[The Poultry Peanut]

ohhhh thanks now stupid question: is a splash the same as a mottled?

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
Don't worry there's never a stupid question especially when it comes to their genetics

No, splash is not the same. Mottled... well its hard to explain the difference. I'll see if I can find a picture.

 

[The Poultry Peanut]

 

[Year of the Rooster]

This is a splash silkie rooster. He is not mine. I found these on photobucket.

Splash Silkie

Mottled Cochin hen

I hope these pictures helped distinguish the difference. Someone more experienced would have to tell you genetics-wise.

 

[The Poultry Peanut]

your right there different both are pretty. Do you get a splash by crossing a black and a white?

 

[Year of the Rooster]

I don't think so. If you look at the list I gave you then you'll see. I'm not sure how splash originated though. Black and white will either give you all black offspring, all white, or something else, depending on what type of white it is (dominant or recessive) and what traits the white may be covering. That's all I know about breeding white. Sorry.

 

[wclawrence]

The only way to get blue is to breed from a bird that has blue, OR (the more rare case) possibly a new mutation or sport. anyways, so the only way to get blue is breed a bird that has it. There is a misconception about how to 'get' blue.
People think that you get blue by breeding white to black, and that is true in some cases, but not all, sometimes breeding a white to black can throw all black, or all white, or any color at all. It depends on what kind of white, the E-locus of both parents, and what ever else the white is covering.

IF a white bird is ALSO blue, then you can get blue birds from a white/black cross.

How to tell if your white bird has any blue: breed it to a black bird and see what hatches.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

But if you get a blue from your blackXwhite breeding, don't then assume that all blackXwhite breedings will give you this result; they won't.

The white genes (there are two different ones) act as OFF switches. They prevent all pigment from being placed in the feathers, regardless of the presence of other colour genes. Dominant white is leaky, allowing some pigment through, and you can get birds with patterns such as red pyle as well as completely white birds. Recessive white is less leaky, but takes two copies to have any affect.

So a bird could genetically be red or blue or partridge or laced or mottled or purple & pink polka dotted and you would never know it if the bird also has the genes to make it white. However, those other genes can be passed on to offspring.

The blue gene acts as a diluter. With one copy it dilutes the black pigment to a lighter colour; with two copies it further dilutes the base colour, leaving dark blue irregular splashes throughout the plumage.

If you want blues, breed your frizzled black to a blue or splash non-frizzled bird. (Frizzle is a different discussion--there are several recent threads on it, but you don't want to breed two frizzled birds together.)