Old and Rare Breeds

[cubakid]

Blacks genetically cannot carry blue. Splash is pure for the gene blue is a carrier and black is complete lack of the blue gene.

 

[gjensen]

A few of my Crele Penedesenca are starting to lay. Two eggs Today !

Good looking eggs.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Blacks genetically cannot carry blue. Splash is pure for the gene blue is a carrier and black is complete lack of the blue gene.

It's been my understanding, and I am FAR from an expert, that in the blue family mating that the black, nor the white in the splash is dominant so when you cross them, the two colors mix and make gray (blue).

There is a difference also, between a blue-bred black bird and a purely black bird. The blue-bred black is not quite as remarkable as a pure black in that the green sheen is mostly absent. You get more of a white-ish sheen on the black hackles. You can take a blue-bred black out into the sun and you can see the lacing on the edges of the feathers if their parentage has good lacing. However, I did mate two blue-bred blacks together last year and the cockerel I still have from that mating has a nice green sheen to his feathers. I haven't really noticed whether the pullets do or not. Next time we have a nice sunny day, I'll check.

 

[ramirezframing]

I'm asking because my parents have a blue copper marans pen and a black copper pen. The chicks off the blues go like this ...blue stays there, splashes went to a friend and the blacks got sold because we wont sure if putting them in with the black coppers would make blue babies. But I told them to put the black looking babies in with the blacks for new genes as these two lines are form different people, and they could replace the older black hens with young ones. Mom said no because she is worried that being from blue parents they might throw blue babies even with a black rooster for the babies father. Hope this makes sense for y'all. So could we use the black babies from the blue parents in the black pen without fear of getting blue babies? Thanks for all the help

 

[saladin]

Yes, you can breed those blacks with your other blacks and you should only get black.

 

[hallerlake]

If you can manage to wait 2 years to breed your birds your breed will be all the better for it. There is simply a major difference in MOST if not all breeds between a 6 month old bird and a 2 year old bird. I can understand not waiting if you only have one or 2 and you need to get chicks out as an insurance policy, fine, no problem. You often just don't know what you have if you breed young birds. Not to mention non standard attributes such as laying ability, broodiness, disease resistance, temperament , etc. . How can you tell what to breed for I'd you want to say select for or against broodiness and you only hatch from pullets? By using mature fowl for breeding, you automatically select for disease resistance, hardiness, and production over the long term. Which are the very characteristics most worth saving in the old breeds anyway, right?

Food for thought.

 

[JulieNKC]

It's been my understanding, and I am FAR from an expert, that in the blue family mating that the black, nor the white in the splash is dominant so when you cross them, the two colors mix and make gray (blue).

There is a difference also, between a blue-bred black bird and a purely black bird. The blue-bred black is not quite as remarkable as a pure black in that the green sheen is mostly absent. You get more of a white-ish sheen on the black hackles. You can take a blue-bred black out into the sun and you can see the lacing on the edges of the feathers if their parentage has good lacing. However, I did mate two blue-bred blacks together last year and the cockerel I still have from that mating has a nice green sheen to his feathers. I haven't really noticed whether the pullets do or not. Next time we have a nice sunny day, I'll check.

Just curious, is there anyway to tell a really dark blue and black apart other than test breeding? Is the down underneath a different color or anything? I have a serama cockeral that I'm not sure which it is. It has the lacing you are talking about, and has had me really confused on color. The pic was taken indoors with a flash.

 

[JulieNKC]

BTW, I realize that seramas are neither old nor rare.

I do have japs, d'uccles, and calls which are old, though not rare. And bantams, and I can't find a nice informative thread like this for bantams. So I'm lurking and absorbing everything I can apply to them anyway.

 

[OSUman]

That bird looks blue to me, some of the very dark blue birds I have seen the owner only knew they were blue because of what they looked like as chicks, though you can see a blue hint in the fluff underneath on her birds

 

[JulieNKC]

Thanks. He does have some silvery fluff under his saddle feathers too, I wasn't sure if that meant he was blue or if black chickens can have a lighter down.