Interbreeding Brahma Color Varieties - Blue Rooster with Partridge Hen

[BavarianRunners]

Hello I was wondering if you could please help me clarify interbreeding of colour "varities" (partridge & Blue or Buff columbian & blue) in Brahmas? For example, what would happen when you breed a partridge colored hen with a blue (not partirdge) rooster? Do you loose some of the penciling? or do you get either blue or partridge offspring or is it possible to get blue partridge this way too?

Or a Blue rooster with a Buff columbian hen = blue buff columbian? or a mix?

See below the blue rooster and partridge hen (with farm friends).

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

 

[Debbie292d]

That second picture is priceless. You should post that in the Caption Contest. Look under BYC Contests and it's a sub forum.

As for breeding a blue to a partridge, @NatJ is one of the resident experts here and I just google or dabble. My guess is you should get some blues, some blue partridge, and some partridge. With the latter, sometimes in my experience, they are a wildcard as to what color partridge they wind up being and I've gotten splashes too off them.

I found a picture of a blue partridge Brahma but didn't steal the picture so here's the site. https://images.app.goo.gl/x4A4ZxovLWfzGzM58

 

[NatJ]

For example, what would happen when you breed a partridge colored hen with a blue (not partirdge) rooster? Do you loose some of the penciling? or do you get either blue or partridge offspring or is it possible to get blue partridge this way too?

You will probably get blue offspring and black offspring, with about equal numbers of each. They will probably have some leakage of white, yellow, or red. Leakage is especially common in the shoulders of males and the breasts of females.

If you take one of those blues and breed back to the partridge mother, you can probably get some partridge and some blue partridge in that next generation, along with plain blacks and blues, and perhaps some silver partridge and silver blue partridge (not sure about those names: I mean silver in place of the red/brown that partridge normally has). I would not expect any of them to be very good quality: the blacks and blues will have leakage, the partridge and blue partridge will probably have poor lacing, maybe too much black or blue in the lacing, maybe some other color/pattern flaws. If you want better blue partridge birds, you can probably get them with several generations of crossing back to nice partridge birds.

Or a Blue rooster with a Buff columbian hen = blue buff columbian? or a mix?

Blue chicks and black chicks, all with some leakage (white or yellow/gold).

Breeding a blue male back to the Buff Columbian hen will probably give some blue columbian, some buff columbian, some plain blues (with leakage), some plain blacks (with leakage), and possibly some silver columbian and blue silver columbian. The "columbian" chicks from that mating will probably have too much black, but the fix would be about the same as the fix for the partridge ones: breed the best to some good columbian or buff columbian birds, probably for several generations.

 

[BavarianRunners]

You will probably get blue offspring and black offspring, with about equal numbers of each. They will probably have some leakage of white, yellow, or red. Leakage is especially common in the shoulders of males and the breasts of females.

If you take one of those blues and breed back to the partridge mother, you can probably get some partridge and some blue partridge in that next generation, along with plain blacks and blues, and perhaps some silver partridge and silver blue partridge (not sure about those names: I mean silver in place of the red/brown that partridge normally has). I would not expect any of them to be very good quality: the blacks and blues will have leakage, the partridge and blue partridge will probably have poor lacing, maybe too much black or blue in the lacing, maybe some other color/pattern flaws. If you want better blue partridge birds, you can probably get them with several generations of crossing back to nice partridge birds.


Blue chicks and black chicks, all with some leakage (white or yellow/gold).

Breeding a blue male back to the Buff Columbian hen will probably give some blue columbian, some buff columbian, some plain blues (with leakage), some plain blacks (with leakage), and possibly some silver columbian and blue silver columbian. The "columbian" chicks from that mating will probably have too much black, but the fix would be about the same as the fix for the partridge ones: breed the best to some good columbian or buff columbian birds, probably for several generations.

Thank You for the quick and detailed response, makes sense. I probably wont go down that route of crossing outside of colour varities, and try to get my hands on a blue partridge rooster and/or blue buff. Thank you again