I don’t know how you’d get straight blue from a blue wheaten.
Sometimes people say "blue" to mean a chicken that is blue all over.
Sometimes they say "blue" to mean the blue gene, that turns black to a gray shade.
If someone bred a black chicken to a blue wheaten, they should get some blue chicks because the one parent gives the genes to make a black chicken, and the other can give the gene to turn the black color into blue. Such chicks would be "blue" in both meanings: have the blue gene, and blue all over.
• female and male blue bar = homogynous
Vocabulary:
"homogynous" is not the word you mean. I'm guessing it's a typo, or maybe auto-correct messed it up.
"homozygous" is a chicken that has two of the same genes (2 barring or 2 not-barring)
"heterozygous" is a chicken that has a mis-matched pair of genes (1 barring, 1 not-barring)
"hemizygous" is a chicken that has one of the gene, and cannot have a second of any kind (used to discuss any gene on the Z chromsome of a hen, because hens have sex chromosomes ZW.)
The barring gene is on the Z sex chromosome.
Males have ZZ, females have ZW.
So a flock of 100% barred birds will have homozygous males and hemizygous females, and will never produce not-barred chicks.
Breeding a barred male to a not-barred female will produce hemizygous barred daughters and heterozygous barred sons (sons carry not-barring, daughters don't carry anything.)
Breeding a barred female to a not-barred male will produce the same heterozygous sons, but will produce hemizygous not-barred daughters.
So the idea is:
• Male barred + female blue = female blue bar
• Female barred + male blue = male blue bar
• female and male blue bar = homogynous
The offspring you list are not the only ones you can get from those pairings. So I assume you mean they are the ones you will choose for breeding the next generation.
Yes, that would work.
You could get blue barred in both genders from the first cross (with the barred father), and breed siblings together instead of making a separate cross with different parents to produce a male. (But you might want to do the second cross to have more genetic diversity.)
Yes, breeding a blue male with barring and a blue female with barring will produce some blue male chicks that are homozygous for barring, and some female chicks that are hemizygous for barring. Continuing to breed from them will produce only barred chicks, although the blue part of the color will not breed true. You will get black barred, blue barred, and splash barred every time you breed from two blue barred chickens.
Your first cross, with a barred father and a blue mother, also produces hemizygous blue barred females. So that second generation is only really needed to get a homozygous male.
To add new genetics in future generations, cross a barred male to a solid black female, and add the barred daughters to your breeding group.
I was told by a breeder that used to have blues (solid) that he got them from the blue wheaten (please explain how), but an easier way to get them is to breed black and white.
If the white chicken also has the blue gene, yes that will work. Not all white chickens have the blue gene, but I will assume that the breeder knew it was present in the white birds he was talking about.
Then there’s my concern that since blue x blue from black/white mix results in splash… but then that direct result blue will have black and white genes to mix. Maybe?
If we discuss only the blue gene, and ignore everything else:
2 not-blue genes makes black (homozygous not-blue)
1 blue gene, 1 not-blue gene makes blue (heterozygous)
2 blue genes makes splash (homozygous blue)
So breeding a black to a splash makes 100% blue chicks
(The splash parent gives a blue gene to every chick, the black parent gives a not-blue gene to every chick, so every chick has exactly one blue gene and looks blue)
Breeding black x blue makes 50% black, 50% blue
(The blue parent gives a blue gene to half the chicks, and a not-blue gene to the other half of the chicks. The black parent gives a not-blue gene to every chick. So half the chicks have blue/not-blue and look blue, and half the chicks are homozygous not-blue and look black.)
Breeding blue x splash makes 50% blue, 50% splash
(The splash parent gives a blue gene to every chick, the blue parent gives a blue gene to half and a not-blue gene to half. So half the chicks have two blue genes and look splash, the other half the chicks have a blue and a not-blue and look blue.)
Breeding blue x blue makes 25% black, 50% blue, 25% splash
(Each parent can give a blue or a not-blue gene to each chick. Some some chicks get blue from each parent and look splash, some get not-blue from each parent and look black, and some get blue from one parent with not-blue from the other parent and look blue)
But in addition to the blue gene, if you start by breeding a white chicken to a black chicken, you also have the genes that made that chicken white.
There are several different genes that can cause white in chickens. Depending on which one is present, you might get white chicks in the first generation and some black/blue/splash when you cross them back to black again. If that happens, once the white is gone, it stays gone.
But you might get colored (not-white) chicks in the first generation, and have whites pop up again in later generations (recessive white). Getting rid of that gene is harder, because a chicken can carry the recessive gene without showing it. To cull every chicken who carries the recessive gene, you have to test-mate each colored chicken to a white one and see if it produces any white offspring, then cull the ones that do. Or you could just live with the gene and have a few whites pop up on occasion.
Is there anyone who knows how I can get this color? Maybe as stable as I can, unless since black/white is technically a black bird I never can. I don’t know how you’d get straight blue from a blue wheaten.
Start with solid blacks, and cross on time to a chicken that has the gene for blue, no matter what other colors that chicken has. Pick a chick that shows blue, and cross back to solid black. Repeat until you've got the results you want. You will still be dealing with black/blue/splash, but you should be able to get them producing just those colors, with no whites or wheatens or blue wheatens or whatever other color/pattern you used to get the blue gene in the first place.
If you want barring as well, then you will have both barring and blue to keep track of in your breeding program.
