Is my Marans hen splash ?

[Aris]

Hi all,
I have a Marans pair a 2 years old black copper rooster, and a hen I hatched from shiped eggs last year , i set 6 eggs under a broody bantam and these 5 hatched

Sorry for the poop anyway they all look blue to me even the darker one in the front .
So this is the father

And this hen is the mother , sorry for the blur ,she can't sit still , and this is my question , since I dont have excperience with splash color can you tell me if she is ,that would explain the genetics of all blue ckicks

So far I though she was light blue

 

[Aris]

oh and thats some of her first eggs ,that is just for braging since she is my first Marans hen

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Yes.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

So for I though she was light blue

Your hen is splash.

Splash crossed to black equals 100% blue offspring. Here's a fun little chart to aid your understanding..

Your other hen looks to be a blue based EE... Seems like bearding is dominant and so are feathered legs for the most part in my experience. Her offspring with him would be either blue or black with some pattern leakage likely,

Hens egg color is important... but rooster's egg color has more influence over offspring outcome according to my current understanding... keeping a rooster from your darkest egg is a great way to impact overall color. Your eggs are lovely! Marans are considered their true color around egg # 20. The shade may darken and lighten throughout the season as light increases lay rate and decreases time spent in track (to a point), but her genetics are still the same...

 

[Aris]

I know the BBS genetics , just never have seen a splash upclose and googling splash marans returned images with,well more blue splashes on them, so I needed a conformation , thanks .

 

[Egghead_Jr]

The mottling of blue on splash birds is variable. They can be nearly white.

 

[Aris]

That information helps , thanks . Since I don't have any other Marans I will hatch more with the next broody and next year I will breed the darkest egg laying hens back to the father ,good thing that the original pair is not related.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Breeding back to the sire will darken the blue you will have in the chicks grown out this year. This years call F1 generation.

The color you're looking to achieve is slate blue or pigeon blue, however it's easier to mentally visualize. Some preference as to tad darker or lighter is fine but the standard slate/pigeon blue.

All things being equal as to body type and so on; only taking into account for color- You'll target the color you want by mating the F1 group together that are closest to the blue hue you want. Tad darker to touch lighter and spot on are what you'd choose to breed. This will beget F2 generation that is right where you want it.

By mating back to sire, Black Copper Marans, you'd be darkening all the blue offspring. So unless his body type and other traits are superior to any cockerels grown out this season he'd not be your first choice for next season. You'd not want to dip back into the copper on a blue bird nor is mating any color other than blue very desirable.

Don't be concerned about "inbreeding". The F1 are from two completely unrelated birds. You've all the depth of gene pool to start a line of blue right in the F1. Mating back to the Dam would be better than back to Copper. But I'd avoid both unless there is little quality of in the F1's when grown out.