Speckledhen here is George today.He's 8 months old now.

[speckledhen]

He wouldn't be used in most Blue Orpington breeding programs with the color issue, however, he is stunning to me. He will produce some interesting chicks, depending on who he's paired with. Thanks for the update!

 

[scgamecock]

I have two Black Orp pullets about his age that carry the buff gene.We could have an interesting development going on here.

 

[speckledhen]

Breeding projects are so fun! Wish I had the room for more experiments!

 

[banter]

Oh my! He takes my breath away-wish I could expand into that breed!

 

[scgamecock]

Well I have too many already but I was trying to get one of my pens paired down so I can convert it to a Blue Orp pen.However I did hatch two BBS chicks on Christmas from MissPrissy's egg's, one Splash and one dark blue.Depending on what shakes out with them I may decide to see what happens with George and the two blacks I have.

 

[JoanneNC]

SC, I have one with the exact same coloring that I hatched from one of BamaChicken's eggs. As he is going through a molt right now it will be interesting to see if it molts out. It looks like he is beginning to show some darker coloring coming in but too early to tell for sure. Will be very interesting.

I did breed him to a black hen and hatched out 6 of their babies but can not tell yet if the color was passed on to any of the chicks.

JoanneNC

 

[scgamecock]

Maybe Miss Prissy and Bama Chicken can chime in on this.I'd love to see what they have to say.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I just wish it didn't take almost a year to see what the next generation will look like.

But that's all part of the fun.

NNbreeder sent me some eggs this summer, and I wound up with one black naked neck with some gold coloring coming through on his wings. I mentioned it to him, and this is what he said...
"...almost 6 years ago I lost a rooster that had gold shoulders. The only reason I kept him to begin with is that a reputable breeder told me that the gold and the blue gene were one in the same and I was trying to devolop a line of blues with no out crossing.
Your bird is about ten or so generations out from that bird and this is the first time that mutation has popped back up. Amazing."

I think it's amazing, too.

I think George is stunning... I hope you'll post pics of his chicks some day!

 

[speckledhen]

It's a similar thing with the Ameraucanas I used to have. Remember Scout? He had some blue brothers and a couple of them as well as Scout had the base color showing through. I believe it must be the same thing you're seeing in this blue boy. Here is one of Scout's brothers-see the little splotch of gold in the wing area? Then you can see it on Scout over his eyes and other places. The blacks with the best beetle green sheen are usually gold-based, I understand. And Scout was a shiny fella!

 

[scgamecock]

He is a very pretty boy.What would you do Cynthia?You think I would be wasting my time and should just hope the two from MP are a cockeral and pullet or try hatching some chicks from him and some blacks or buffs?