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I guess I should have mentioned I do know that paint isn't a real color- around here people seem to use it for a white bird with a few black feathers-
they don't breed true (since mom's current flock is a mixed color flock- that is ok) The judge at the chicken show corrected me on that-
but I still use it to point out in a way if a splash's coloring is incorrect from what it should be.
The 5 new chicks I picked up this year are WC- a WC Blue & 4 WC splash ( I refered to the 2 as paint as they don't have the blueish cast to thier body in the sun as the 2 splash do. All 4 looked like little white chicks- but 2 have no bluish cast on the back & had a few black spots on the fuzz when I got them out in the light- the other 2 were pure white w/ a blue cast to the down on the back) The guy I got them from also keeps a mixed color flock.
HI! Glad I could help (if I did). I am a little confused by what I bolded, though. I'm not sure what you mean by splash doesn't breed true? And splash coloring being incorrect from what it should be? There is no "set" standard for splash and it isn't recognized in Polish. A splash bird can have a blue base with almost black splashes or a white base with blue splashes. It can also range from an almost totally white bird, to an almost totally blue bird. Whatever that judge told you, he seems to be confused. I have two splash girls right now, one smooth and one frizzled. My smooth is a white bird with blue and one black splash. My frizzle is a blue toned bird with blue splashes. They are both still splash, even though they don't look the same. Same goes in Silkies. My splash Silkies are a vast range of color. As for the not breeding true, yes in a way that is true. Splash to splash gives you 100% splash chicks. And, none of those chicks will look a like as they grow up. Even after a molt they won't look the same. My smooth splash girl just came out of a molt and has more splashes now that her feathers are back. I think she is more stunning now than she was before.
Ok.... thank you again for answering- it really does help, I am trying to learn about the colors & "chicken lingo". Rabbit, dog & cat lingo I do just fine with- but those are what I deal with...... the chickens are- I won't say I'm new (been around them most my life and have several friends and a mom that have raised them for yrs & yrs)- I can identify most of the more common breeds and their use- but the correct terms on several of the marking/colors, plummage, etc- I am trying to learn.
I'll try to explain from what I was told- and I'm not saying it's right, I might have been mis-told something, misunderstood something, or a combo of the two.
Before I went to the chicken show I just viewed anything white w/ colored patches as a splash (which I guess is true. funny though from the dogs- a blue chicken with black patches I would probly have called a blue merle until I was corrected)
At the show there were only 3 LF Polish being shown- 2 BIG VERY pretty WC Blacks (I got the 3 new birds from that breeder there- but they don't seem quite as big as those still), and a splash hen that though wasn't as big as those other 2- I really liked & thought was pretty. She belongs to Jesse (Chickendales) that I know from the rabbit shows- I kept trying to talk him into selling me her- but it was one of his only 2 LF Polish at the time. I told him about how crappy marked my mom's splash was (white w/ 2 or 3 black feathers) he said she would be a paint..... there were other breeders (of other breeds or bantam Polish) around that agreed with him on that.
So several people were trying to explain the Paint v. Splash birds to me at that point & answering the questions I had to better my understanding of the differance. This is what I took from it at that point- "paints" are created when a white bird is bred to another "solid" colored bird (not a splash or blue) and it is basically a white bird with a couple incorrect colored feathers. And is these birds are bred together you can get white, paint & some solid birds (black, red, etc)- because they are not true splashes. That some people will sell their white mis marks as splashes (better money?)- but they are paints- not true splashes.
When I was talking to the judges (there were 2 very nice ones that gave ALOT of pointers on speckled/mottled colored birds) I brought up the paint Polish and was told by them- that there are no paint polish that it is a splash or a mis mark. That splashes are a natural produce when you cross 2 blues. White birds with blue patches or blue with white patches.... a white bird with a couple black feathers would be a mis marked white most likely and wouldn't breed true.
I've seen ads around here with paint as a color listed, and since several of the breeders in the show barn & a few others in the sale barn used or understood the term- in a few breeds even- I've just taken it as a "laymen's term" for a mis marked white bird that could be viewed as a crappy splashed color.
I hope this helps explain
