I know it doesn't show them off, but I love how they have to be right with me every time I'm in the pen with them. The two on the right were blues when hatched, the one on the left was splash.
too bad you didn't live closer to Seattle as I have several mature and teenagers available.
I went out to get pictures and then deleted them. The iridescence is NOT purple (that is the MFL cockerel in the next pen over). The dark MF cockerel has pure bottle green iridescence. Does that make him black based?the key is looking at their TAIL AND WING feathers... a lot of times birds have melanizing factors that enhance the black pigment on the hackles, so that's not always a sure sign. melanizing factors don't affect the tails.
black is easy. in adult birds, it typically has a bit of a purple/blue/green iridescence to it, especially in roosters.
splash is also pretty easy usually... look at the tail feathers. if they're nearly all white(ish) with a few streaks here and there of blue or black, it's a splash (named for the 'splashes' of color here and there).
blues are the most variable and can range anywhere from a dark, nearly black, blue to a very light almost silver shade. the key to telling a blue is the UNIFORMITY of the color. if the majority of the tail feathers are any shade of blue and they're all the same, then it's a blue. the mottling may change the tips, but I'm talking about the basic color of the tail feathers. some blues are a solid uniform blue, others may have a darker edge to the feathers, bordering on almost black, but it's just the edging not the whole feather. in solid blue breeds, that is the preferred type of blue.
the only breed I have to compare the bbs colorations I'm talking about are my blrw, but this might give you some ideas...
black (laced red Wyandotte) pullet - you can see the iridescence I'm talking about...
next is the blue laced red wyandotte...
smee, my bantam roo, has the dark edging I'm talking about, while CD is a more uniform blue.
one of my own breeding, CD stood for Chicken Dinner but I bought him back from a friend when I lost a few blrw to predators.
you can see smee's dark outlines if you zoom in the pic. (CD at a younger age behind)
and Lacy's a splash (laced red Wyandotte)
zoomed in some to show the 'splashes' I was talking about...
even tho her hackles and head are much darker than the body/tail.
she carries melanizing factors that intensify the color on her head/neck.
the iridescence can be blue green OR purple... that's just a matter of genetics as to which one that line might throw. in bantam cochins "beetle green" is the required color.
