I'm not trying to start anything here but a blue chick is not going to hatch with reddish brown down. When you are breeding blues your chicks will come out, depending on if they are black, blue or splash, black, grey, or pale silver/white, respectively. I have never dealt with Ray, nor have I ever heard any feedback, positive or negative, about him so cannot speak from experience. I do know that he was asking for someone to explain how blue genetics work on another marans group last winter. He might be a great guy - I am not saying he is or is not. I just know that a blue bird cannot have red/brown down.
Richard