Splash?

[happylife05]

Quick question. I am trying to breed for blue Cochins. I have a rooster that is four months old. I am curious to see other opinions if he is splash or just white. He is white but upon close investigation he has some blue-ish spots on his feathers. But only around four feathers on his whole body. Splash or white?

 

[junebuggena]

Looks like a white to me. Do you know what his parents were?

 

[happylife05]

Nope. He was a random draw from a tractor supply.

 

[junebuggena]

You can try breeding him to a black hen. If any of the chicks are blue, then you would know for sure.

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

Breeding him to a white hen will also yield blue chicks,, IF, he is a true splash that is. if it is just a "wild" color chances are all you will end up with are white chicks,, or all black ones if you breed him to a black hen

 

[junebuggena]

That's why I suggested breeding to a black hen. If he is a splash, than most of the chicks would be blue. But if bred to a white hen, and if you got white chicks, you wouldn't know which parent gave the white. Breeding to a black hen would make it obvious what color he is.

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

So will pairing him with a white hen. If he is a TRUE splash it doesn't matter if the pairing is splash/white or splash/black,, the outcome either way will be ALL blue chicks. It doesn't even matter the sexes,, as long as one is splash and the other either white or black,, the outcome will still be all blue chicks. Now when I say ALL,, that means like 95% or higher,, due to the quirkiness of blue genetics you MAY possibly get 1 or 2 that look white or black. Or MAYBE even one that looks like happylife's, with just one blue feather.
Carrying a "wild" gene only means that a minimal amount of his chicks will be affected, if any,, It only means that somewhere down the line he got something odd mixed in and it happened to surface in him,, so if he is white with a "wild" coloration the chicks are going to either come out all white,, or all black,, depending on if you paired him with a white or black. Occasionally he MIGHT pass on his wild gene but it is more likely to disapear.
Even pairing him with a splash hen would determine what he is. If he is a splash the outcome will be all splash chicks. If he is white,, they will all come out white.. Easy enough to tell from white chicks which come out yellow while splash chicks are gray.
Blue and splash outcomes are not just the outcomes of black/white pairings,,, all that will yield you are black chicks,,, it is a unique gene sequence passed on to blues and splashes.

 

[happylife05]

Ah ok. I was hoping for a definite answer that didn't require waiting. Lol thanks for the answers. My intention was for black hens. Good to know that I can have a splash or a white hen too. Do you want to take a guess mysteria on if he is white or splash based on his pic?

 

[Amina]

I am almost certain that he is white. I would be very, very surprised if he were splash.

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

As a breeder of blue and splash cochins myself,, I tend to agree with Amina. I am thinking he is a white with a wild trait that showed up,, the breeding stock for TSC is not the greatest and I am not aware of any larger hatcheries that carry blue or splash frizzle cochins. There is Frizzle Feathers Farm in Missouri,, but I doubt TSC would be contracting with them. Sorry,, I don't want to disapoint you by getting your hopes up. However,,,, I have been surprised before,, and the eternal optimist in me would HOPE for the blue gene and that he is a splash and mate him just to find out,, sometimes not knowing the outcome and surprising outcome

can be more fullfilling than actually knowing the whole time.

I would like to know the outcome actually,, so keep us posted?