Production Blue Variants?

[TheGreatEscapees]

RIR is Rhode Island Red, but what kind of "BA" is supposed to be involved?

@NatJ the Blue Australorp.

 

[NatJ]

@NatJ the Blue Australorp.

If Blue Australorps have the silver gene (very likely), then yes a cross of Blue Australorp rooster with Rhode Island Red hen could probably produce daughters with silver leakage, and some salmon or gold/brown color in the breast.

If the cross is the other direction, Rhode Island Red rooster and Blue Australorp hen, I would expect all leakage to be gold (cream, red, brown, buff, something in that general set of colors).

 

[TheGreatEscapees]

If the cross is the other direction, Rhode Island Red rooster and Blue Australorp hen, I would expect all leakage to be gold (cream, red, brown, buff, something in that general set of colors).

Oh ok! So would that just mean that the "standard" Production Blues are Rhode Island Red rooster x Blue Australorp hen, and Yogurt and Ombre are the other way around? Would Spidey being black instead of blue cause the flecks instead of lacing on the hackles? But that still leaves the mystery of the green legs and mulberry coloring though. . .

 

[NatJ]

Oh ok! So would that just mean that the "standard" Production Blues are Rhode Island Red rooster x Blue Australorp hen, and Yogurt and Ombre are the other way around?

That is definitely one possibility. Or they might be doing some other kind of cross that gives similar results.

Would Spidey being black instead of blue cause the flecks instead of lacing on the hackles?

Maybe. I'm not really sure about that.

But that still leaves the mystery of the green legs and mulberry coloring though. . .

I forgot to mention that I do suspect Silkie and EE interference. As a chick, Spidey had a mulberry face(and still a little bit now) and earlobes, and had blue - yes bright blue, spots on her ear. I don't have any photos of that but I do have one of Yogurt when she was a chick, and she had green legs and feet back then. I was wondering if that had anything to do with how when you mix yellow and black you get green?

The genes for black feathers will sometimes have an effect on foot color too, and maybe on the skin of the face. Yes, that could be why the feet looked rather green. Some black chickens do have dark faces when they are young, that mostly turn red as they grow up, and apparently that happened to one of yours.

I would not expect Silkie or Easter Egger to be in the mix. Silkies tend to add crest, feathered feet, extra toes, broodiness, and poor laying ability. None of those traits are desired in this cross. Easter Eggers are mostly useful for laying colored eggs, but I can't see much reason to cross them with anything else and then breed out the blue-egg gene. There may be some other breeds crossed in somewhere in the background, maybe something like a Blue Andalusian (another source of blue color, probably brings a gene that allows blue or green eggs, also the genes for white earlobes which can then turn yellow, green, or blue in some cases.)